The next stop on our trip was Anacortes, WA to visit the Bobrowskis. They came to visit us a few months ago in Jordan, and it was so much fun to get up to their neck of the woods and reunite the cousins again. We arrived late in the evening and enjoyed tim relaxing and catching up. And the next morning we went whale watching! We took a ferry to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, ate a quick lunch, then hopped on a boat for several hours.
Getting ready to board the boat.
It was chilly and windy on the water, but the kiddos loved being right out front.
The scenery was beautiful. We cruised around for about an hour and a half well into Canadian waters, and then....
We found the orca killer whales. There were a couple of resident orca pods in the area, and the naturalist was naming them individually, it was amazing...they all looked the same to me :). This is a male orca, whose dorsal fin is about 6 feet tall.
If I saw this in the water, I would have though shark for sure!
The whales got pretty close to our boat, and we even caught a couple of rolls, tail flips, and what they call spy hops when the whale sticks their head out of the water to check out their surroundings.
Look how close to shore they were.
Caleb really loved being on deck during the day, and looking through Michael's binoculars. Benjamin was awake on the ride out, and crashed for a 3 hour nap right before we got to the whales. Something about the waves and humming boat motor to keep a little boy sleeping.
On our way back to shore, the naturalist spotted a few humpback whales. We were told they are as long as a school bus and weigh 45 tons. Their tongue alone weighs 1 ton! They can hold their breath for much longer underwater than orcas.
Their tails can span 15 feet long!
We also saw a bald eagle.
And lots of sea lions!
These were called Stellar sea lions. They were very active and fun to watch.
It was a really fun day had by all!
