Gray whale at Salmon Bank and two sea otters

May 4, 2021 – Awesome half day trip sailing south today.

We found a bald eagle sitting in her nest on Shaw Island, and we’ll be watching this nest to see if we spot any chicks peering out in the weeks ahead. A gray whale had been circling the glassy waters between Deadman Island and Whale Rocks so we headed that direction. However, just ten minutes prior to our arrival, the whale began traveling out to Salmon Bank with the ebb current in his/her favor. Sea state had some rolling waves causing us to take it slowly making it hard to catch up and keep up with the gray whale. The blow could be spotted easily with the lighting but the low profile made it challenging to get many photos of the actual whale. We managed to parallel the whale for a bit and got to see it’s tail flukes as it descended on a deep dive.

Whale Rocks was full of sea lions and a bald eagle was perched above. And, to top off an already exciting day… we saw not one, but two sea otters near Whale Rocks. Spectacular! Harbor seals were hauled out snoozing by Deadman and Turn Islands enjoying the sunshine.