Cross This Off My List

The shear power of these marine mammals is difficult to explain. They move through the waters off San Juan Island like a warm knife through butter. The orca watch we went on was totally successful. We had the pleasure of seeing members from two of the three resident pods, more than forty killer whales in all. And, in the distance, most likely, was the third. I'll have one or two images in production when we return home. We could see lots of activity, whales spy hopping and breaching, near other boats. Other highlights of the trip included a sighting of a beautiful mature bald eagle high up in a tree, impressive specimens of the red barked Madrona trees and harbor seals "sunning" themselves on a rocky shoreline. The joke's on them because we didn't see the sun for the first three days of our visit to Bellingham, WA. That didn't stop us from enjoying the company we were with and I got to scratch another item off my list; to see wild orcas at play. I hope I can do this again real soon.