California Sea Lion
Posts Tagged ‘Spieden Island’
A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Sunday, April 22nd, 2012Residents can be very vocal. No vocalizations today – we dropped the hydrophone three separate times.
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
Sunny skies, calm seas
Saturday, April 14th, 2012Excited by an early morning report that a large number of Orcas had been sighted off Cattle Point on San Juan Island, we could not wait to get out on the water at noon. Heading north in San Juan Channel, our first stop was at Yellow Island to check out a healthy number of Harbor Seals hauled out on the rocks. Next stop, Green Point at Speiden Island, where more than a few mammoth Stellar Sea Lions dove and rolled on all sides of the boat. Several Harbor Porpoises surfaced long enough for a quick look as we passed Speiden, en route to Stuart Island. Bald Eagles were sighted, either soaring overhead, or posed in treetops. Easy cruising under clear skies and calm seas, but no whales.
After cruising around Stuart Island, we headed over to Canadian waters to check out the Cormorant rookery on Mandarte Island. Saw both Brandt’s and Pelagic Cormorants sitting on nests and a lone sentry Canada Goose on top of the rock. Hearing reports of Dalls Porpoises, we headed back into Haro Strait to catch a quick glimpse of one between Gooch Island and Turn Point, Stuart Island. Cruising along the west side of Spieden Island gave us a good look at the monumental number of newborn baby Mouflon Sheep scattered all over the steep, grassy sides. Another last look at the Stellar Sea Lions surfing in the currents off Green Point, then we turned for home. Although the whales eluded us today, it was a priceless day in the San Juan Archipelago — warm, sunny, spring-weather, a calm sea, and a plethora of Bald Eagles, Pinnipeds, Porpoises, and Pelagic birds.
Naturalists Shelly and Kathy
Humpback Whale at Halibut Island, Canada for our last tour
Saturday, October 15th, 2011No 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
Orca Whales, A Loon, A Brown Peligan, Dall’s Porpoise & Stellar Sealion on our Last Daily Tour
Sunday, October 2nd, 2011Yes, 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.
Finishing Up Strong!
Wednesday, September 28th, 2011We 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
Wonder-full Humans
Thursday, September 1st, 2011It 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
Killer Whales Everywhere!
Saturday, August 27th, 2011It 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
Whales galore
Thursday, August 25th, 2011After 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
Gray skys turned into an exceptional day
Sunday, July 31st, 2011I 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
Flying whales and swooping baldies
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011O 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