South to Whale Rocks and Long Island

April 12, 2023 – After casting off from Friday Harbor we went to second reef on the main sail after seeing bunches of white caps in the channel. We cut across to Shaw Island to enjoy a piece of the beautiful coastline before sailing southwest taking the narrow pass behind Turn Island. There were a few raccoons foraging on the beach, buffleheads, and harbor seals hauled out on nearby rocks. With a fast sail we made great time heading down to Cattle Pass with the ebb tide in our favor.

Sea lions were noisy as usual on Whale Rocks, and there were others swimming around everywhere one of which was chomping down on a fish. There was a branded sea lion on the rocks with the number 864R. Three bald eagles were perched on the rocks as well. We sailed down to Long Island spotting more bald eagles hanging around the massive nest including a juvenile bald eagle with bands on his/her ankles.

We thought about heading out to Salmon Bank to scan for minke whales, but conditions were much more windy and seas were looking chunky we we came back in to Cattle Pt Lighthouse and had a look at the cormorants on Goose Island. Winds dropped substantially in San Juan Channel so we shook out the reef and had to use the iron Jenny to make tracks back towards Friday Harbor. When we came back through the pass behind Turn Island, the harbor seals were still napping on the rocks.