Wildlife sail up to New Channel and Flattop Island

May 6, 2024 – With a brisk Southeast wind we reefed the main and set course to the North. The quiet in the lee of Point Caution was broken by a passing Stellers sea lion. Winds quickly changed from calm to somewhere approaching 15 knots for a fast close hauled sail North in San Juan Channel. It was time to switch to second reef on the main sail. We pointed high to Limestone Point riding the back eddy into Spieden Channel before crossing the channel and drifting by the Steller sea lion haul out. There’s been reports of an elephant seal hauled out here recently, but we didn’t see that today. We took New Channel close to the Spieden shoreline and saw a juvenile bald eagle eating perhaps a fish on the shoreline. Cut through the Cactus Islands and sailed backwards in the current with harbor seals hauled out off Ripple Island before heading on the fast flood for Flattop National Wildlife Refuge. Here we found the first Pigeon Guillemots preparing for their seasonal nesting here. A bald eagle was also keeping guard on its nest. Winds were quite variable so we were back to full main for our sail South through Spring Pass and the Wasp Islands. A pair of bald eagles was roosting on McConnell Island.