The Island Adventures Whale Report from June 6, 2014
Island Explorer 4 9:00am
What a treat for our second graders from Seattle! We headed off on our trip through the inner San Juan Islands. We saw several harbor seals hauled out on Pointer Island. We had a mature bald eagle on Willow Island. We continued down to the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward Hein Bank. At Hein Bank, we came across a humpback momma and calf! As soon as we got on scene, the baby began breaching! Multiple times! It was amazing! Then the baby started chin slapping too! Fantastic! The mom was BCY0324, nicknamed "Big Momma", and she brought her new calf! Our second graders were thrilled! They were going crazy with excitement! We spent some quality time with the mom and calf before we headed off, continuing on our search. We did a slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and we pulled some bull kelp out of the water for the kids to play with! We also spotted a couple of bald eagles and a turkey vulture! We had such a wonderful time on the water with a couple of humpbacks and sunshine!
Island Explorer 4 9:00am
What a treat for our second graders from Seattle! We headed off on our trip through the inner San Juan Islands. We saw several harbor seals hauled out on Pointer Island. We had a mature bald eagle on Willow Island. We continued down to the Strait of Juan de Fuca toward Hein Bank. At Hein Bank, we came across a humpback momma and calf! As soon as we got on scene, the baby began breaching! Multiple times! It was amazing! Then the baby started chin slapping too! Fantastic! The mom was BCY0324, nicknamed "Big Momma", and she brought her new calf! Our second graders were thrilled! They were going crazy with excitement! We spent some quality time with the mom and calf before we headed off, continuing on our search. We did a slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and we pulled some bull kelp out of the water for the kids to play with! We also spotted a couple of bald eagles and a turkey vulture! We had such a wonderful time on the water with a couple of humpbacks and sunshine!
Another day at the office! What a great experience this was. We could not have asked for a more beautiful day or better whale experts to share this time with! This was a tremendous way to wrap up our PBL and the school year. HUGE tail flaps to:
- James Allen, Dan Archer, Marika Reinke, Steven Tanabe, Kristi Barnes, Joe Bailey, Heidi Roth and Jinky Ruljancich for driving/chaperoning. (as well as the chaperones from the other classrooms).
- Kristi Leland for your continuous PBL support and arranging this trip!
- Mr. Elliott and Carla Kirch for allowing this to happen and taking care of legalities!
- To my amazing colleagues, especially Julie Colando and Jen Dickens-we make quite the team! And Niki Meyers for joining us and supporting our kids.
- And to all of you who continue to feed our 2nd graders' curious minds and encouraging this adventure!
Thoughts from the experts...
Max: I'll always remember that I got to see a humpback whale breeching.
Rowan: I won't forget that I saw humpback whales breeching.
Corrina: I'm surprised that the baby humpback whale was chin- slapping. My favorite part was seeing the harbor seals.
Gordon: We got to see the mom and baby humpback whale breeching, lobtailing and chin-slapping!
Peanut: I wonder if they spyhopped, but we saw them breeching!
Mackenzie: Surprisingly some kids were not there, but even though they weren't there they can learn from us.
Andrew: I'll always remember Nicholas saying "This is the best day of my life!"
Esther: I'll always remember seeing moon jellyfish floating in the water.
Sydney: I'll always remember seeing a humpback whale which is the whale I'm studying! I don't know if I'll ever see one again.
Juliet: I'll always remember how much fun we had and how much we learned.
Marley: I'll always remember the humpback whales breeching and all the harbor seals.
Santi: I'll always remember the porpoises and the bull kelp-I didn't taste it!
Abby: My favorite part was seeing the humpback whale and its baby doing all the tricks.
Lachlan: This day was at least in the top-10 days in my life. I like the part where we saw that the humpbacks chin-slipped and that only happens in Hawaii.
Matteo: I will never forget the harbor porpoises and the humpback whales.
Kacey: My favorite part was when we saw the humpbacks breech and the lobtailing. It's surprising that they never saw them chin-slap in Seattle, only in Hawaii.
Nicholas: I am probably never going to forget that if you look with the binoculars how cute the harbor seals looked and they had gigantic eyes.
Finnegan: I loved how I saw humpback whales doing the behavior I never saw in real life and it made me feel really happy seeing them.
Angela: I think it's surprising that they didn't see chin-slapping in Washington, only in Hawaii.
Margaux: My favorite part was seeing all the pretty islands and they made me think more about them.
Dana: I enjoyed hearing my mom say that she didn't see a whale until she was an adult. I also like seeing the harbor seals.
Rowan: I won't forget that I saw humpback whales breeching.
Corrina: I'm surprised that the baby humpback whale was chin- slapping. My favorite part was seeing the harbor seals.
Gordon: We got to see the mom and baby humpback whale breeching, lobtailing and chin-slapping!
Peanut: I wonder if they spyhopped, but we saw them breeching!
Mackenzie: Surprisingly some kids were not there, but even though they weren't there they can learn from us.
Andrew: I'll always remember Nicholas saying "This is the best day of my life!"
Esther: I'll always remember seeing moon jellyfish floating in the water.
Sydney: I'll always remember seeing a humpback whale which is the whale I'm studying! I don't know if I'll ever see one again.
Juliet: I'll always remember how much fun we had and how much we learned.
Marley: I'll always remember the humpback whales breeching and all the harbor seals.
Santi: I'll always remember the porpoises and the bull kelp-I didn't taste it!
Abby: My favorite part was seeing the humpback whale and its baby doing all the tricks.
Lachlan: This day was at least in the top-10 days in my life. I like the part where we saw that the humpbacks chin-slipped and that only happens in Hawaii.
Matteo: I will never forget the harbor porpoises and the humpback whales.
Kacey: My favorite part was when we saw the humpbacks breech and the lobtailing. It's surprising that they never saw them chin-slap in Seattle, only in Hawaii.
Nicholas: I am probably never going to forget that if you look with the binoculars how cute the harbor seals looked and they had gigantic eyes.
Finnegan: I loved how I saw humpback whales doing the behavior I never saw in real life and it made me feel really happy seeing them.
Angela: I think it's surprising that they didn't see chin-slapping in Washington, only in Hawaii.
Margaux: My favorite part was seeing all the pretty islands and they made me think more about them.
Dana: I enjoyed hearing my mom say that she didn't see a whale until she was an adult. I also like seeing the harbor seals.