Friday, September 6, 2024

Whale Watch Cruise

We take a day trip up to Port Townsend for a whale watching cruise with Puget Sound Express.  Our ship leaves the harbor and starts searching for whales (all the whale watching cruises in the Sound communicate with each other to spot whales and help everybody have a productive trip).

We leave the harbor and head south into Puget Sound, passing through a fog bank and emerging into a sunny day on the Sound.

Leaving the harbor, through the fog

We first spot a humpback whale, but this creature is not very welcoming, just coming to the surface every ten minutes or so and then immediately diving again.  Humpbacks are known for breaching and great surface behavior, none of which we see today.  They migrate as much as 10,000 miles (16,000 km) to tropical waters to breed and give birth, so maybe our whale is tired after coming back from a tropical vacation.

Humpback whale

Further down the Sound, we spot three pods of orcas.  Orcas (also known as killer whales) generally travel in small groups of two to six animals and eat salmon and mammals, incuding harbor seals, minke whales, and gray whale calves.  We follow the Orcas for a while as they cruise along the coast.



Pods of orcas

On our way back to Port Townsend, we hear reports of a gray whale and head in that direction.  Even after travelling from Baja, Mexico up to Seattle our gray whale today is energetic and gives us a good show with big blows at the surface and several dives showing off its tale.

Gray whale

What a great day on the water!  And, three kinds of whales!

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