Rainy Days and Mondays

4th of July Beach, Friday Harbor

The weather was awful! Wind. Rain. Even 4th of July beach wasn't as beautiful. We went out to see the white caps, just because we could, but there were no whales this day even though the spray of the waves looked like when the Orcas surface and purge their spout to get air. We had more fun inside afterwards at the Downrigger restaurant watching the ferry boats coming and going, and eating clam chowder with warm fresh bread. Roxie was NOT allowed, but she would have approved of our value lunch a bowl of soup and salad for $9.95 each. It states on the menu that they charge for the warm bread with sun-dried tomato and garlic whipped butter, but they never do. I hear they have an excellent happy hour (with the best indoor view in town).

It's tough to keep your spirits up on days like this one. We entertained lots of ideas about what to do, and ended up opting for a visit to the Whale Museum. I adopted a whale there (Notch J-47), so it's free for me to visit. Earlier we had entertained the idea we would go to the movie theater. But since the museum was showing a fantastic documentary (also free for me) inside titled, Orca: Killer Whale or Gentle Giant, we decided to watch that instead. My suggestion to remember: bad weather? Go to the museum.

The people inside The Whale Museum are quite knowledgeable and friendly too. They even allowed me to bring Roxie inside (I had to promise I would hold her). We enjoyed reading about the J, K and L resident pods as well as the cultural behaviors that are different from the transient whales who pass through the San Juan Islands less often. The resident pods eat Chinook salmon and the transient orcas eat other marine mammals. Researchers believe that the transient and resident Orca whales are the same species, but because they are taught their hunting behaviors by their maternal ancestors they have different cultural habits - mainly migration patterns and hunting preferences. People are quite hopeful that the resident pods' numbers will increase because the Chinook salmon population is on the rise, and this is the main diet of the resident Orca whales.

For some excellent reading about the Chinook, click here: Glenwood Springs Hatchery

To watch a video or read a list of things you can to at your home to help the Orcas click here: 

Save the Orcas