"Whale Watching" Trip

Part of our trip included a whale watching tour. This was something I was really looking forward to, though we were only likely to see Orcas, not any of the larger whales -- but that was ok. I just wanted to see whales!!

Of course, the first thing we saw were Bald Eagles -- a lot of them on this trip. However, as I was later to discover, we were mostly moving the whole time, so not all of the photos turned out this well.

We saw three types of "seals". These are Elephant Seals. Awww, what a sweet picture of cuddly seals.

This next bunch are Harbor Seals. They really blend in with the rocks. I call this "What I did for my summer vacation" -- just lay around and blend in with the surroundings. [grin] Note the one seal in the water -- if you can find him!

The third type of seal we saw was the Northern Sea Lion. I have cropped out this one individual from the herd on the rocks. It may not be obvious from the photo, but what really impressed me was the coloring on these beautiful animals. From their dark brown flippers (and wet underbellies) to the very light tan on top, they seemed to display every shade of a rich brown. I just thought they were really beautiful.

We were able to add another bird to our life list. I saw these birds everywhere, but couldn't quiet identify them, so I got some help from one of the crew. These are Pigeon Guillemots. Note the red feet!

And of course, leave it to me to spot the raccoon climbing up the rock face.





Here's a close up.

Now, if you look through all these photos again, you'll notice that there is something missing. Yep, that's right. We did not see a single whale of any kind on our "Whale Watching" tour. Sigh. Well, sometimes that's just the way it goes.