Popeye the Harbor Seal

Much of the whale watching of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales centers around the port of Friday Harbor. While the SRKW's never actually come into the immediate port that houses so many of the whale watching tour boats that follow them, the port is home to one very famous marine mammal, Popeye the harbor seal.

I'd heard of Popeye my first two times at Friday Harbor but never spied her. On my third trip, my boys and I diligently searched for her along the Spring Street dock. Finally, on my fourth trip to the island, I docked at a different pier and noticed a group of people standing along a corner dock near a food shack. There was Popeye, bobbing for food which the crowd readily provided her. I immediately noticed that her eye was oddly colored and swollen. Didn't anyone else notice it? Had a vet checked her out?! Why did no one else seem concerned about this obvious disabling condition she apparently had? I got back to the Victoria Clipper to hop on board for the 2nd half of our day tour and ran my concerns by the naturalist on board. Her response?

“Um, that's why she's named Popeye.”

I slapped my hand against my forehead. How did I fall into that trap? For fifteen or more years, Popeye has frequented the port of Friday Harbor with that very same disfigurement. Hence her name of Popeye. I'd even seen the statue of her the city erected at the small park along the water, a statue which included her bad eye. Yet, I still had somehow missed that Popeye was so named because she was blind in one eye. I share this information to save any reader from the embarrassment I faced when they too first see Popeye. :-)

Here's an interesting article on her history.

Orca Encounter of August 28, 2012

I headed out for Friday Harbor Tuesday the 28th with the Victoria Clipper and their naturalist, who graciously allowed me to shadow her for my practicum to finish my certification as a naturalist in the Salish Sea.  It looked like it would be a dry day, and I dreaded cutting my teeth on a whale watch tour with no whales.  The residents had headed out the Strait of Juan de Fuca earlier in the day and were out of our range to view them.  So we made a plan to spend time watching Stellar Sea Lions on Whale Rocks at the south end of San Juan Island before looking for Minke whales along Salmon Bank and heading to a rookery to look at Bald Eagles.  As we got closer to Whale Rocks with several big Sea Lions in view, the boat took off and raced right by the rocks with several passengers straining to view what they thought we were going to see.  Turns out that the Captain had gotten word of a sighting of orcas around Constance Bank, a little west of Victoria.  So the Victoria Clipper that doesn't go to Victoria ended up right around there anyway.

We pulled up to a group of orcas, at least one big male with a left leaning fin--tentatively identified as T030A.  We saw at least 7 surface at once, though there may have been more.  We observed the 200 yard rule, staying out of the whales' path as best we could. Yet, the whales delighted us several times by going down for 4-5 minute dives and coming up well closer than that to our boat.

Overall, it was a great day to cut my teeth on what it's like to educate on a whale watch tour.

Transient ID Chart

I found this 2008 ID chart from Orca Network very helpful in identifying Transients in the area.