- All Aboard Sailing

May 7, 2023 – After casting off from Friday Harbor we headed north through the Wasp Islands, alongside Jones Island and over to Spieden Island. At Green Point there were many Steller sea lions hauled out and in the water including one California sea lion. Wrapping around into New Channel we spotted bald eagles near their nests and Mouflon sheep and rams exploring the north coast of the island.

We had been following reports of a humpback whale known as ’Split Fluke’ who was northbound in Haro Strait at about 3-4 knots. Our plan was to meet her near Battleship Island, but her progress was slower than we had hoped so we decided to cut inside of Henry Island taking Mosquito Pass to meet her near Smugglers Cove.

Just as we were about 2 miles out, a report of orcas came in just on the other side of Henry Island 2 miles away. Had we taken the outside of Henry Island we would’ve found them ourselves! It was a real kicker for us, because we hardly ever take the inside of Henry Island knowing that the outside has more potential to find whales! Oh well. In the end we got to see the family of orcas known as the T65A’s (minus T65A5). We had seen them the day before with the rest of their extended family which was reported earlier today north of Nanaimo some 75 miles away.

The orcas stopped for some hunting south of Stuart Island before continuing WNW. As we departed we spotted one blow of the humpback whale who was still northbound. We hugged the Southside of Spieden Island and the east side of San Juan Island as we made our way back to Friday Harbor so our folks could catch their ferry.