Seals basking on rock outcrops. A Minke whale in Griffin Bay. A Stellar sea lion wrestling with an OCTOPUS? Yes at Cattle Pass. Harbor porpoise on the port side! The sea lion won. Then off to Hein Bank to view a Humpback whale. One single humpback lazily coming up for air, then a 5 minute dive – going to Victoria.
What a day.
What a difference a day makes; we had blue skies and the glorious warm sun to greet us as we cruised out of Friday Harbor. First wildlife sighting was just north of Griffin Bay with several harbor seals getting a suntan. Next we viewed a bald eagle’s nest and admired the massive construction. It is incredible to think that they can be six feet in diameter. As we rounded Cattle Point, we were on the lookout for orcas! Sure enough we saw L87 “Onyx” foraging outside of False Bay (48°28.37N, 123°05.92W). Then, we observed two females, one that we could identify as J14 “Samish”. We believe her calf born in 2009, J45 “Se-Yi’-Chn” was traveling with her. Many long, deep dives in search of salmon! Grateful for calm waters and whales today!
SJS Naturalist Jenny
It was all about the killer whales today as we left Friday Harbor heading south, but we did see a large group of harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island on the way. After rounding Cattle Point heading around the west side of the island, we spotted two members of J-pod just outside False Bay. It was an adult female and a smaller whale that looked like a calf.
The whales were traveling south but stopped moving and started to dive and surface in one spot. We turned off the boat to watch and see what they were up to. Then, we saw the white underside of the calf’s head followed by a squeaky sound. The whale was vocalizing above water! That is something I’ve never experienced before! The whole boat was silent and focused until the female, who we identified as J-16 or “Slick”, changed direction and surprised us by surfacing near our boat’s stern. The smaller calf followed, both sticking around for quite some time. It was amazing! After they swam away we circumnavigated San Juan Island before heading back to the harbor. Definitely one of my best days!
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
For today’s trip we headed south through the San Juan Channel in between Lopez and San Juan Island. Across from Cattle Point we reached our first hot spot for wildlife viewing. Here we found Harbor Seals one side of a small rocky island and Steller Sea Lions on the other. The Steller’s were fairly large and very photogenic today! We then moved on just around the south side of San Juan Island into more open water.
We didn’t have to go very far, about 500 yards, and we saw two Minke Whales! The water couldn’t have been better for viewing today! The Minkes broke through what appeared to be glass. They were so smooth in their actions and so flawless. Fortunately, we were able to cut the motor and stay with the Minkes for a while, it appeared they were enjoying their situation and had no intentions on leaving. Once everyone got a good view we headed back motoring around small islands between San Juan and Lopez. On our way home we saw a few Bald Eagles, more Harbor Seals, a Canada Goose, and even a pack of about ten Harbor Porpoises.
It sure was another amazing day out on the water.
Naturalist, Tara, San Juan Safaris
It warms my heart when I see full grown adults get excited–yelling, pointing, shouting, oohing and aahing–over marine life! ‘Cause I’m one of those adults too!
Today, with no orca reports in the Salish Sea, we headed out on the water with a boat full of curious and eager passengers and lots of hope to see marine life. South from Friday Harbor, we started off with some harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, five of which were lined up side by side like sausage links! Further on at Cattle Pass, we saw a plethora of sea life from gulls of every variety to cormorants (aroma of fecal matter included) to more harbor seals to fifteen or so big Steller sea lions grumbling at one another.
Out of the pass, we had heard, swam a minke and so we went to investigate. After five minutes of searching–with the distraction of sea lions nearby for any short attention spans–the Captain of the Sea Lion spotted the tell-tale curved Minke whale dorsal fin. And another two minutes after that, passengers noticed it too! It appeared a little on the small side–a juvenile perhaps?–and continued swimming in what looked like foraging maneuvers. After twenty minutes of watching, we decided to move on and take our luck around San Juan Island in a circumnavigation.
Along the West side of San Juan Island, we found several harbor porpoises headed south, and at Spieden, we saw bald eagles and non-native Mouflon sheep and fallow deer. With every wave we crested and every splash we saw, our guests were in good spirits, excitedly pointing and telling their neighbors, “Porpoise, there! NO! Over THERE!” Wildlife! It’s wild. It’s life. What’s more exciting?! Well, other than the curious humans shouting about it to each other!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
It was easy, maybe too easy, finding killer whales today. We headed up north from Friday Harbor, and just east of Spieden Island we encountered both K and L pods. They were everywhere around us! Breaching, spy hopping, and tail slapping. After watching them for a while, we headed back south towards Cattle Point. We saw harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and a juvenile bald eagle. Then, as we headed back into the harbor we encountered the killer whales again! And they were still being super active! We saw at least six more breaches. I was also able to identify Mega from L-pod. It really was an amazing day!
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
It was a beautiful trip from the beginning today! Heading out of Friday Harbor on a wonderfully clear day we were able to get some amazing views of the snow-capped Mt. Baker. The usual sunbatheing Harbor seals were all out in about swimming on both sides of the boat and we got a great view of a tiny harbor seal pup swimming along! Continuing on our way out we passed by a few stellar sea lions also in the water and one with a fish in it’s mouth! We rounded cattle point and headed up the west side of San Juan as there were reports that the elusive L-pod was in the area! And boy were they! We estimated that we saw the majority of L Pod today with sighting over 30+ members of the pod! It’s very seldom that we are able to see an entire pod together like today! They were putting on a bit of a celebration with lots of activity that started with a tail slapping youngster… then led to a mature male breaching entirely out of the water! The activity continued as we got a very good look at “Mega” (L-41) the largest male out of all 3 resident pods! As our whale viewing time started running low, we had a hard time leaving as we were completely surrounded by whales! We got a few surprise close looks as we slowly made our way out of whale territory and watched the partying continue behind us as we ventured back to Friday Harbor!
Alex Hill
Naturalist
Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!
We then headed around Cattle Point to the west side of San Juan Island. This is where we saw the orcas. There was a small group of three that were close to land. We stopped or boat to watch when one big male changed direction and the next thing we knew he swam right across our bow. I was able to identify him as Blackberry (J27). Then more killer whales started coming to us from both directions. We watched them tail slapping and milling around, and we even saw the new K-calf (K44) with his mother Deadhead (K27). Then, out of nowhere a group of 4 whales went around and under the boat next to us and then two swam under our boat! It was incredible! On the other side when they came up I was able to identify Mike (J26). This was the closest encounter I’ve had!
We then started to head back in, stopping by Long Island to see the Eagle’s nest as well as a bald eagle perched in a tree. What a great summer afternoon.
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Very unusual sighting today…a humpback! It was right on the west side of San Juan Island. We motored around cattle point and saw a bunch of boats in one area. Everyone eagerly searched for what could possibly be nearby. Then we saw the spout followed by its large back. We watched for a while and were able to see it go down for two deeper dives, arching its back and exposing its fluke. Plus, when it exhaled, it sounded like it was wheezing because it made a high pitched, scratchy sound. It was just amazing!
That wasn’t all that we saw today. We saw a minke whale, not so far from where we spotted the humpback. There also were lots of harbor seals in the water and hauled out on the rocks. Plus, at least ten steller sea lions were on top of whale rocks. One of which was attempting to scratch his back using it hind flipper. And finally, we spotted three bald eagles on the way back into Friday Harbor. What an afternoon!
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
I was a little worried waking up this morning to overcast skies, but just before leaving on today’s adventure the clouds started to part and the sun shined through. Our luck continued as we circumnavigated San Juan Island. There were tons of harbor seals with little pups in the water and hauled out on rocks. As we went around Cattle Point a bald eagle flew over our boat, giving us one of the best views I’ve seen of one. Just further ahead, we spotted our first killer whale. Then, a little further ahead, there were many killer whales, at least ten of them, traveling close together. We were able to identify the new calf (K-44) and Cappuccino. We also believe there were some J-pod members in the mix. The juveniles were being particularly playful, spy hopping and tail slapping. One little guy also breached! In the midst of all the excitement, some salmon jumped out of the water in front of our boat. The whales then started heading close to shore, and right before they reached Lime Kiln, changed direction and headed back towards False Bay.
After spending our fair share of time with the killer whales we continued our journey around the island. We slowed for more harbor seals, some sheep and deer on Speiden Island, and another bald eagle at the top of a tree. The weather was beautiful, we saw lots of wildlife, and everyone enjoyed the afternoon.
Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris