Early this morning, the Sea Bird found herself in a soft bank of morning fog. Many guests listened to the fog horn from the bridge of the ship as she made her way along the southwest side of San Juan Island in the well known archipelago of islands that lie on the border of Washington state and British Columbia, Canada. We were in search of marine mammals during these early morning hours. They continued to elude us, slipping in and out of the fog that draped over the islands and close to the water surface. Again and again the bridge crew and Natural History staff would spot a killer whale, only to have it move quickly into a grey, opaque wall of mist.

Just after breakfast, we were all called back the bow, as there was a confirmed sighting of killer whales…and the fog was definitely lifting. Soon we were all on the bow, as Lourdes, Steve, David and Sharon began talking about this common marine mammal resident in the San Juan Islands. We were located just north of Lime Kiln Point on the southwest side of San Juan Island. The lighthouse located on this point was visible in the clearing fog as the Sea Bird positioned for closer looks at a small group of killer whales. Within the group, there were several large males, some smaller males, females and one cow-calf pair. The mother whale was teaching her calf fishing techniques as we sat quietly observing. The mother would surface followed shortly after by her young calf. Slowly, they approached the Sea Bird. Much to our delight, we watched and listened as mother and calf moved gracefully in their water world surrounded by morning light, diving, searching for food, passing, undisturbed by our presence.