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One of the coolest animal encounters I experienced was the time when I was sailing in the San Juan with my friends on the Adventure Education Trip in the spring 2004 with my teacher and 25 other classmates. We were sailing on the 52’ vessel, the Cutty Sark. I happened to have a camera handy when a large group of Dall’s Porpoises decided to race our boat (even though we were only going about 6 knots.) The porpoises were diving in and out of the water which was a sight to see.
If you don’t know what a Dall’s Porpoise looks like, they are stocky with a big black body and large white sections on the belly. The heads are small and have no beak. They’re are roughly 6 to 8 feet long and they weigh up to 400 pounds. There is nothing cooler then seeing a mammal weighing equal size to a sumo-wrestler jump in and out of the water with so much grace and ease. It is impossible to get a quality picture of the porpoises because of their speed. These porpoises can reach speeds up to 30 knots. I had no idea that the porpoises were so fond of the boats and that they would actually swim along side a boat, I thought was just in the movies!
The location that most of these porpoises are found is in the Salish Sea, or the Puget Sound area.""Salish Sea" is the traditional name for the great inland waterway stretching from Puget Sound to the Johnstone Strait that was used by the First Nations peoples who historically and presently inhabit the area.
The experience was something that I will never forget. It just stuns me that I don’t have to go very far at all from Seattle to find something that is so tranquil, it is practically in my backyard. I hope that everyone who reads this entry has the chance to see the beauty and elegance of a Dall’s Porpoise.
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