Sail down to Salmon Bank

June 6, 2023 – After leaving Friday Harbor we took advantage of the ebb tide and North wind to sail south. Sailing around Turn Island we spotted racoons foraging on the beach and harbor seals snoozing on the rocks. More harbor seals were sleeping on the rocks at Shark Reef. Drifting through Deadman Island we continued out to Whale Rocks where Steller sea lions were gathered on the South rock. Young ones were engaged in rambunctious play fighting and two bad eagles watched the spectacle. The current was ripping so we picked it up to drift sail out Salmon Bank. Quite a number of groups of harbor porpoise surfaced along the edge of the current.

Criss crossing the bank we saw many gulls and rhinoceros auklets engaged over bait balls and seas were calm with good spotting conditions, but despite our rigorous scanning we did not find any minke whales. Ironically after giving up and heading home we met a minke whale surfacing next to the boat as we passed the lighthouse in Cattle Pass. The current was turning to flood and favourable winds gave us a fun run back to Friday Harbor.