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Published: August 7th 2007
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After two days of tough hikes and long drives, we wanted to take it a bit easy and relax on Orcas Island. We started the day with a nice breakfast at the Kangaroo House and then headed downtown East Sound to explore our options for the day. There are three main activities on Orcas Island: hiking, whale watching, and sea kayaking. We decided that hiking could wait a day, and since the island looked so nice we decided to sign up for another night at the Kangaroo House. Knowing that we didn’t have to rush helped in our decisionmaking, and we settled on an afternoon of whale watching. We also went ahead and made reservations for sea kayaking the next afternoon, thinking we would hike in the morning, kayak in the afternoon, and catch the ferry back to the mainland in time to get dinner and make it to Vancouver.
We called Deer Harbor Charters and signed up for our whale watching tour. Whale watching is a bit of a misnomer, because we were after killer whales, or orcas, which are actually a member of the dolphin family. At first we were skeptical about actually getting to see any orcas
Orca!
This Orca came really close to the boat, giving us a reasonable shot at a picture even with our cameras. because it seemed like they might be pretty hard to find. But we were assured by the owner of the Kangaroo House that it was a good time to go whale watching, and then we learned how orcas operate. They live in pods, and the J-pod, which has about 25 orcas in it, stays in the Puget sound area much of the year. J-pod was out and about, and the whale watching community stays in good contact with each other, so we felt good about tracking them down.
We left Deer Harbor and started to the west of San Juan Island, around the north end, and into the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The captain's plan was to meet the whales because the reports were they were swimming north in the straight and we were headed south. The orcas are unpredictable, though, and they turned so we ended up chasing them. The pod was pretty spread out, but we finally did manage to track down several members. We probably saw ten different orcas. The boats are required by law to stay at least 100 yards from the orcas, but one decided to swim right to the boat. The captain
cut the engine and the orca swam right by us, very close. We also saw a few "breach"---when they come nearly totally out of the water---but didn't manage to catch any pictures of that phenomenon. Rachel came close once and got a nice splash. Most of our orca photos are of the "see, it's the black dot right there" variety, so we've only posted a few here.
Asked why the orcas breach, our naturalist guide said they do not know for sure, but there are several possible reasons. They might breach in order to stun the salmon in the water below, making it easier to feed on them. Or, it could be a way of attracting potential mates. The final theory, our favorite, is that the orcas breach "just because they can."
The trip was also really good for getting out on the water and seeing some of the other islands. Speiden Island, for example, is a very interesting island. The west half of the island is green with trees, the eastern half is a treeless prairie. In the past is was used for big game hunting. They were imported especially for that purpose, and many of the
exotic animals still roam the island freely. We also got a really nice view of the aptly named Turtleback Mountain in the distance. Check out the picture.
Orcas Island is shaped like a saddle-bag, with Deer Harbor on the western bag, Moran State Park and Olga on the eastern bag, and East Sound at the top of the horseshoe. There is very little development, and most of the business are tourism centered. Driving the island is beautiful, and it's about 30 minutes from Deer Harbor around to Moran State Park. After seeing the orcas and having dinner, we had just enough time to make it up to Mt. Constitution in the park, which is the highest point in all of the San Juan Islands, for sunset. Luckily we could drive to the summit, where they have a nice viewing tower with wonderful views of the other islands. We took full advantage of those views, coming away with some great pictures. But as great as our pictures are, no camera could have captured that moment---the two of us alone on a mountaintop with nearly 360 degrees of views at sunset---and no words will either. Another fantastic day done, we headed
back to the Kangaroo House for some rest.
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