Posts Tagged ‘Spieden Island’
Saturday, October 15th, 2011
No orca whale reports today, BUT as we pulled out of Friday Harbor the Captain received word of a humpback whale by Halibut Island, Canada. It took us nearly an hour to get to the location but there it was – a beautiful humpback whale. It looked as though it was feeding the entire time we were with it – almost ½ an hour. When it dove down, one could see many of the ‘knuckles’ on it’s back. Two of the many dives it waved it tail gently before disappearing into the water. Speaking of water, the depth of the water in that location was about 150 feet deep.
This was the last tour of the season.
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We will reopen for whale & wildlife tours April 14, 2012. See you next year!
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, Orca whale, Orcas, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Spieden Island, Stellar sea lion, whale watching near seattle
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Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Yes, we saw orca whales today on the 2nd of October – late in the whale watching season. We took off from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island heading north toward Spieden Island. As we neared Speiden, one of the guests spotted a large brown head which turned out to be a great big stellar sea lion fishing by himself. We stayed on the south side of Speiden and Shelly spotted a mature bald eagle up in a tree. Down below the Mouflon Sheep and Sitka Deer were roaming about.
We pushed on to Haro Strait and started south down Henry Island to the west side of San Juan Island. We were a bit south of Kellet’s Buff and north of Lime Kiln Point when orca whales came into view. It was part of L pod that we were viewing. We sat for about 40 minutes watching the orca pursuing fish. Surfacing for air, switching directions back and forth the whales this up the entire time we sat there. Capt. Mike put down the hydrophone and there was some whale calls that could be heard. Light calling – not a lot.
As we headed further south on the west side, some Dall’s porpoise started riding our bow. Brief, but what a treat. As the water was gliding I by, I screamed out “loon!” and sure enough it was. Then at the southern tip of the island I spotted a BROWN Pelican in a raft of sea birds. Brown pelican may be common where you are from, but they are a bit of a rarity here in the islands. Near Lopez Island, we stopped at a large rock outcropping to view at least 30 stellar sea lion, what seemed like hundreds of cormorants and gulls. One could definitely smell these animals prior to actually seeing them.
What made this trip so enjoyable for me was that every guest on the boat seemed interested in anything Shelly or I could tell them about the area, birds, trees and wildlife.
This is the last daily tour of the season for us and what a trip it was.
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, L pod, Lopez Island, Mouflon Sheep, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, salish sea, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Strait of Juan de Fuca, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
We only have a few more trips left in our season up here, but the whales don’t know that. Today we found members of our resident pods K and L, almost 50 whales, spread out in Haro Strait heading up to Turn Point. We were able to identify K20 (possibly with a new calf? yet to be confirmed), L87, L41, L88, and K40. We got to see a wide range of behaviors and all our passengers were very excited.
On the way home we stopped along Spieden and saw many harbor seals on the rocks, as well as four-legged mammals grazing on the hillside including some bucks and a few rams. The icing on the cake was the Bald Eagle standing on the shore line with a salmon in its talons, and a handful of Steller Sea Lions lazing in the water at Green Point.
Mike
Naturalist
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, K Pod, L pod, orca whales, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island
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Thursday, September 1st, 2011
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
Tags: Bald Eagles, Cattle Pass, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, minke whale, Mouflon Sheep, san juan island, Spieden Island
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Saturday, August 27th, 2011
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
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, K Pod, L pod, orca whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion
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Thursday, August 25th, 2011
After two whole days without orcas around (but with Humpbacks and Minkes!) our residents returned to the sound in full force.
There were lots of animals around on the way up to see the whales: harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and even a bald eagle! As for the whales, there were groups representing all 3 pods up in the area between Stuart and Pender Islands. When we came on scene the whales we were with appeared to be resting.
After about 20 minutes they suddenly turned around and sped up. There were whales everywhere. We were surrounded! As we prepared to leave the area a Humpback appeared, heading north. We had heard about the animal earlier in the day. We kept our distance and didn’t stop to watch the single whale, as it was entangled in fishing gear and there were boats around with the hopes of untangling it from the line.
Finally, on our way back we stopped around Speiden Island to view some mouflon sheep that were moving around right on the rocks near the water.
Laura and Kristen, Naturalists, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Humpback Whale, minke whale, Mouflon Sheep, orca whales, pender island, Spieden Island, Stuart Island
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Sunday, July 31st, 2011
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
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Point, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, j pod, Mouflon Sheep, orca whales, san juan island, Spieden Island
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Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
O Canadaaaa, you have the resident orcas in your waters and we are coming to see them! North out of the harbor, past Yellow Island (hello, plump harbor seals!), along Spieden Island (any Mouflon sheep?), around Flattop Island, across to Waldron Island (shy harbor porpoises) and across the Haro Strait (and the US/Canadian border) to Saturna Island. And what did we find? The largest of the dolphin (odontocete) species: killer whales!
Upon arriving to the scene, passengers saw three whales off our port, with another one off our bow and more coming from the east at our starboard. A large male was swimming behind us about 5oo yards in the shipping channel. He seemed to be the one to rev things up in the pod; this male gave two full clear-the-water breaches before resorting to some tail slaps as a tanker ship was about to pass through southbound. Word in the pod must have spread that it was active time, and multiple orcas–including several precocious calves–began breaching, tail slapping, peduncle throwing and upside down tail slapping repeatedly. And then again. And then some more! This continued for at least thiry minutes and was still going on intermittently when we had to leave for home port. Our hydrophone (underwater microphone) indicated that it was a very spread out and vocal resident whale (salmon-loving/eating) pod.
Along the way home, we spotted four bald eagles; one came flying down for the classic fish-grab-with-talons-out but at the last minute decided not to. Did his fish food item dive out of sight or did it not measure up as a worthy meal?
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, Orcas, san juan island, Saturna Island, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island
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Friday, June 10th, 2011
With one short of a full boat and some sunshine peeking through the intermittent clouds, we took the Sea Lion up north towards Canadian waters in search of some Pacific northwest wildlife. Just outside the harbor as we were coming around the corner, a passenger spotted a bald eagle perched high in the top of a pine tree: conveniently photogenic.
Our luck kept rolling in as we soon found a large pod of orcas who turned out to be J-pod! Rather than traveling at a quick pace, they were spread out and swimming in smaller groups towards the east. With passengers’ photos, we were able to identify two males–Mike and Blackberry–and a female, Spieden. We saw the whales breaching and even a spy-hop from one particularly curious individual. While we were out with the whales, we learned that a research group had just placed a suction-cup tag on the male J-30, Riptide and were hoping to put a tag on a second whale.
On our way back to town, we took a slight detour past the islands of Spieden and Sentinel and found six harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, two river otters making their way back into the cold ocean waters, and a bald eagle sitting on its large twig-based nest. Further along Spieden Island, we saw the nonnative (but still interesting and amusing) Mouflon sheep and Sika and Fallow deer grazing on the waving grasses bent by the cool ocean breeze.
Nearly everything we saw today prefer to each fish, making them piscivores; from the salmon-loving J-pod to the trout-eating bald eagles and even the rockfish-munching harbor seals.
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seal, j pod, Orca whale, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Spieden Island
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Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Another beautiful day. That makes wo in a row!
It was calm enough to head south through Cattle Pass and do an entire circumnavigation of San Juan Island. Whale rocks was packed with Steller Seal Lions, Harbor Seals, and Cormorants and as we headed out toward the straight, with the wind at our backs, we decided it would be the perfect day to just keep on going. We made it all the way around to Henry Island and turned out toward Speiden to try to sneak a peek at some land mammals. Mouflon sheep were out and about and were all the way down on the rocks next to the water. We saw a bald eagle in a tree and another one sitting on top of the hill and noticed a rowdy posse of seal lions in the water at the point, lifting their heads to get a better view of our boat.
We jogged through the Wasp Islands in hope of a possible encounter with a wayward transient, but no luck. We made it back to the harbor without a whale sighting, but under sunny skies and with plenty of other wildlife sightings. Sea lions, seals, eagles, and no rain? Yes please!
Laura
Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Pass, Harbor Seal, henry island, Mouflon Sheep, san juan island, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion, whale watching tour
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