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...

Wildlife abounds in the San Juan Islands, but only if you like bald eagles.  And harbor seals.  Oh, and Stellar sea lions.  And minke whales, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, common murres, cormorants, turkey vultures, mouflon sheep, black-tailed deer, fallow deer, sika deer, and maybe some bald eagles and vultures fighting over shreds from a dead-and-beached harbor seal carcass.  But only if you're into all that!

From Friday Harbor, we got the call of vultures and bald eagles...

It was an absolutely gorgeous warm, sunny day; perfect for wildlife viewing. With the weather on our side, we headed north into Canadian waters to find the killer whales. As we saw the first dorsal fin slice out of the water, two harbor seals came up right next to our boat, followed by a couple harbor porpoises. Distracted, we lost sight of the orca until three of them came up on us, about one hundred yards away! It was K pod; we were able to identify Cappuccino.

We watched them...

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...

We headed north out of Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of any and all wildlife that lives in or around the Salish Sea. Our first encounter came when we slowed and went across Spieden Island where there was wildlife from the shore line to the sky. First we noticed harbor seals that were hauled out on the narrow shoreline. Then looking up, we saw mouflon sheep and fallow and sitka deer along the grassy hill tops. Finally, in the sky was a lone bald eagle in all its glory; wings...

Northbound from the harbor, we soon found our dead harbor seal with about five bald eagles sharing its carcass off of Sentinel Island.  Day three of its destruction and the seal still had some meat on it to feed the local raptors.  Onwards around the north end of San Juan Island, we started to see sporadic dorsal fins belonging to harbor porpoises.  Into the Haro Straight, we passed Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of the island.  We were lucky to have sunny weather with...

Today we saw two Transient Orcas way up on the west side of Pender Island.  One of them was a big male with a huge dorsal that we identified as T20.  He had one of the coolest, most unique fins I have seen so far.  With a couple of notches and a port-side lean, his dorsal was easy to ID even from several hundred yards away. The whales were milling, but, overall seemed mostly interested in moving south.

The trip up was Bald Eagle central, with the birds every couple hundred yards all...

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. ...

San Juan Islands and Mount Baker. Photos courtesy of planetware.com

I am envious of those people that can sit down and power out a blog entry everyday and have it be different, interesting and engaging.  I am finding that as the season grows colder, quieter and slower, I am having difficulty finding the necessary inspiration.  Now, I do not want to give the impression that I am bored or that I in some way am not excited to continue to see the orcas every day.  What a gift it is...

We left the harbor without any orca reports.  For about 20 minutes we wondered whether or not we would see our black and white friends today.  As we neared Spieden Island, Captain Craig started to receive reports of whales on the west side of San Juan heading north.  Surprise! This is my first season with San Juan Safaris, and I am almost convinced that I'm the lucky charm.  Either that, or it's the fact that the Fraser River is experiencing one of its biggest salmon runs in almost a...