A Pod that included Baby Orcas and a Bald Eagle
Z9158RDstefanief, Jun 2025
I went on a whale watching tour in Seattle about 26 years ago, and things have certainly changed! The FRS Clipper does everything they can to ensure that you see whales on your trip, and my trip did not disappoint! When you check-in at the pier, you move into a waiting area in the building until boarding time. There is a very nice and very clean restroom for you to use (and while the boat does have four bathrooms, I suggest taking advantage of the one on land). Once we set sail, we were told that there were professional photographers on board to take photos of what we saw so that we could enjoy the experience, and for me, this sounded great! Whatever photo a professional photographer takes is going to be much better than what my amateur self will take on my iPhone. So, my suggestion is to cough of the $30 for the flash drive and enjoy the trip.We stopped at a buoy that had sunbathing sea lions. Unfortunately, they were on the opposite side of the ship from where I was sitting, and I didn't want to rush into the crowd, so I caught some glimpses of them as we pulled away. As we neared the sight where the orcas were supposedly hanging out, I realized that I was in the perfect spot as I was sitting next to the railing that had a prime view of the pod. The pod had two baby orcas, two females, and a transient male. A bald eagle flew about five feet over my head, and I opted to simply enjoy the experience. I was happy to see that the eagle was captured by one of the photographers and included in the flash drive (just the eagle, not if flying over my head :)). We stayed for the allowed time to observe the pod and witnessed a lot of small jumps from the babies.I would be remiss if I didn't mention the beautiful scenery provided by Mount Rainier, the cityscape, and mountains surrounding the islands.We did book the trip through the FRS Clipper website. I chose indoor seats on the second level (and paid for the window seats), but we spent a lot of our time on top of the boat where there was additional, unassigned seating. This is the vantage point I watched the sea lions, eagle, and whales from.Note: The photos included in this review are from the purchased flashdrive.