WESTPORT WHALE WATCHING AND MARITIME HISTORY ADVENTURE- *Sundays with Sunny and Friends!
FULL DAY TOUR

UPCOMING DATES: March 23, 2008 - Call to today to reserve your spot! 206.650.5795

Tour Length: 10 ½ Hours
Tour Code: ES03
Pick-Up: Southcenter
Departing: 8:00 a.m.
Returns: 6:30 p.m.
Activities: Whale Watching, Walking, & Educational Sightseeing
Difficulty: Easy
Carbon Footprint:
Cost: $175 per person
Season: Spring
Min No of Passengers:

Inclusions: South Seattle pick up and drop off; highly qualified and knowledgeable naturalist guide; travel in luxury vehicle; whale watching tour with U.S. Coast Guard certified boats and licensed crews; excellent casual lunch; selected fruit, energy bars, soda, juice, and tea; all entry and parking fees; and comprehensive commentary.

Description: Enjoy this Sunday with tour guide Sunny Walter, professional wildlife photographer, nature photo tour leader, and co-author of “Washington Nature Weekends, 52 Adventures in Nature.”

The Pacific population of gray whales has been making its annual migration from winter breeding lagoons in Baja California to summer feeding grounds in the Arctic seas for thousands of years. The first wave of adults and juveniles congregate and feed at river mouths from northern California to Vancouver Island as they migrate to the icy, nutrient-rich Bering Sea. We will take a whale watching tour out of Westport to see them in the ocean at the mouth of the Chehalis River.

When we arrive in Westport, we will take a quick look on the docks to see Black Turnstone and Surfbirds on the rocks. We will then board our whale watching boat and head out on a 2 ½ hour trip across Grays Harbor and out along the coast to visit the “whale-hole,” a popular place where gray whales stop and play for a few weeks. We are likely to see either the newly pregnant females or the juveniles in March; the friendly juveniles are known to get up close and personal by nudging charter boats with their noses. It’s okay to scratch them if they ask for it – and they do.

We will look and listen for whales blowing or spouting; they generally blow 3-5 times in 15-30 second intervals before raising their flukes and submerging for 3-5 minutes. If we are lucky we may see whales performing the rarer “spyhopping” and breaching. If you bring cameras to capture the majesty of the whales you will want to cover them with plastic to avoid salt spray damage. We will have binoculars for everyone.

After our whale watching tour, we will tour the Maritime Museum to discover more about the history of the Westport area. We will also visit the lens building, which was built to showcase the restored and prized 19th century Destruction Island Lighthouse Fresnel lens, and the whale house to see a blue whale skeleton (3 times as big as the gray whale).

To end our day we will drive to the Westport Historic Grays Harbor Lighthouse and climb to the viewing platform to see the lighthouse and listen as our tour guide brings its history to life. We will also take a short stroll along the dunes to experience the ocean shore and find out more about the ecosystem and history of the area.

Our quest for whales ends with a 2 hour drive back to Seattle, arriving back at Southcenter around 6:30pm.

This tour can be customized as a private tour, call or email for a quote.

For more information on natural history, the museum, and itinerary, please click here