On Sunday, we had a great group on the Kittiwake and weather to match them. Capt. Jim and I took them to the west side of San Juan Island in search for the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We headed north and soon found most of K pod near the County Park. We saw Tika (K-33), Lobo (K-26), and Cappuccino (K-21) right off the bat. They were easy to spot because of their huge, adult, male dorsal fins or almost huge in the case of Tika - he's still growing. We stayed with K pod for awhile...

What a trip! Today the Sea Lion left the dock crewed by Captain Mike and Naturalists Mike and Alex. Despite a few clouds, our full boat of passengers was super excited to see some wildlife! Fortunately for everyone on board, a group of Transient Orcas was spotted up north in Canadian waters. Eager to see them, we sped north! Along the way we saw a few harbor seals watching our progress as well as a bald eagle flying overhead, but we only slowed down when we began looking for a...

We caught up with a group of Transients today near South Pender Island, British Columbia  (48°44.01N 123°18.00W). Initially we paralleled the path of a group of 4 whales, which included 2 large bulls.  At one point we were traveling 10 knots to keep up with them!  The group slowed and synchronized their dives as they approached a second group of transients milling near a shoal.  The whales suddenly became very active on the surface with several partial breaches, tail-lobbing...

Although the beautiful, sunny skies were replaced by clouds and grey skies today, our spirits were not dampened; we were all equipped with a sense of adventure and eager to spend the afternoon exploring the Salish Sea.  And, we were not disappointed.  Within minutes of departing Friday Harbor and entering the San Juan Channel we were rewarded with a large, male Steller Sea Lion enjoying his lunch.  The Sea Lion would emerge with a fish in his mouth, aggressively thrash the fish about...

Today’s tour was a bit different than usual, yet so refreshing! With no whale reports since the night before, we took our tour to the inner islands.

Sure the San Juan Islands are home to one of the most charismatic animals in the world, the Killer Whale, but that is not the only thing that makes them beautiful. Often times the inner beauties of these islands are overlooked, but today we allowed our guests to discover these beauties. We toured along Flattop Island, the Cactus Islands...

We had wonderful views of 4 Transient Killer Whales!  We first saw the Orca Whales near Green Point as they were traveling north.  The pod included one physically mature male, he was massive.  When we arrived on scene, the whales were taking turns slapping their tail flukes on the surface before they continued traveling north.  They then circumnavigated Flattop Island, performed several lobtails and once again continued north. 

After viewing the Transient Orca Whales we found...

We journeyed north around San Juan Island today, first passing Spieden Island en route to Haro Strait.  Several mouflon sheep and sitka deer were feeding and resting on the hillside of Spieden Island.  Somehow they can carefully traverse the cliffs just above the chilly waters.  We circled exposed rocks to the southwest of the island where six harbor seals were resting.  We spotted at least one pup.  After we were south of Henry Island (48°35.33N, 123°12.53W) we began to see spray...

Today we headed north on a wildlife adventure!  Incredible scenery through the northern San Juan Islands; we passed by Spieden Island first.  Adult male mouflon sheep were grazing near shore; their large and round horns are quite a sight.  Several females were also resting in the grass close by.  We also spotted a bald eagle at the top of a tree looking out for its next meal.  A harbor seal was resting with her pup on a mattress of rockweed, a type of seaweed, up against the...

We headed north to Canadian waters today; calm waters and warm sun made for a wonderful boat ride.  As we approached Saturna Island, we saw the spray…the spray of the humpback whale.  We observed this marine mammal feeding in Boundary Pass (48°43.982N, 123°08.698W), and had the opportunity to watch the fluke dip into the water.  As this type of whale has baleen plates, it was likely feeding on krill or a variety of small schooling fish.  Several rhinoceros auklets were around, hoping...

In my post yesterday, I mentioned how I could not find words to describe how amazing our Orca encounter was. Well, surprisingly everything that I said yesterday can be applied to our afternoon trip today! There was another super pod of killer whales, but we didn’t realize this right away.

We departed Friday Harbor heading north, and did not have to travel far. We caught up with three killer whales just on the north side of Henry Island (48°36.720’N 123° 12.300’W). We watched...