Whale Watching in the San Juan Islands

For Christmas last year we received a whale watching trip from Brian's sisters, complete with a day of babysitting!! We planned our trip up here so that we had a few days before Elder Petersen arrived home so that we could go, and we picked quite a day! It was the hottest day of the year so far so we couldn't have asked for better weather!! After an 1 1/2 hour car ride, and a 1 1/2 ferry ride, we finally arrived in Friday Harbor. We did some walking around the town, did a little shopping, ate lunch and then left on the boat to go find some whales! There were only 20 people on board with 3 naturalists and the captain so it was really nice. This time of year only the J-Pod is around the islands so we only saw them....about 25 of them!! They were amazing! We already want to go again!! Here's some of the great pictures from the day...

The view of the boats in Friday Harbor from our table at lunch.

Again, the view from our table for lunch.

On our way to find the whales!

We chose to sit at the front of the boat on the way out, Brian sat in front of me and blocked the wind!

We were so excited to see them...no whale watching tour promises whales 100% of the time so we were lucky!

They were even more amazing in person!

Aren't the whales so cool?!?

You could hear them take a breath before you could see them.

Our favorite picture of the day!

If you look closely, you'll see a bald eagle's nest with the mommy and baby in the tree on the right hand side. Also, a few trees to the left, you'll find daddy eagle.

This was the cool little island that the bald eagles were on...it's privately owned and this was probably my favorite scenery picture of the day!

"Popeye" the seal who lives in the marina. He was there to greet us when were came back to Friday Harbor.

These California Poppies were so beautiful on a hillside!

***We went on the Western Prince....you can check them out at www.orcawhalewatch.com. We highly recommend them if you go! They have other amazing pictures on their site!***