On last night’s sunset cruise we caught up with two groups of about 20+ Southern Resident Killer Whales headed south in Rosario Strait between Cypress and Blakely Island (48°34.46N, 123°46.05W). They hadn’t gone far since the greeting ceremony earlier that day, but you could tell the excitement had worn on them. They appeared to be resting, moving at a steady pace in unison, only coming up for 3-5 breaths before taking long dives.

From what we had identified, it was members of L-pod...

I cannot even put into words how amazing, awesome, exhilarating, and fun this afternoon’s trip was. Seriously, words cannot describe the whales, but I’ll do my best share this experience. We left Friday Harbor heading east with reports of whales in Rosario Strait. This is the first thing that made today special; typically we travel north or south of San Juan Island, not east between the islands which is absolutely beautiful on a clear, sunny day like today.

We reached the whales...

We had a very exciting and full-of-wildlife day! We departed Friday Harbor heading north into Canadian waters. Before seeing the main event (killer whales) we spotted about five or six harbor porpoise just north of San Juan Channel. Not long after we saw one dorsal fin, then another, then three more! There were about eight to ten southern resident killer whales, traveling close to each other. They were moving north along Pender Island (48º 36.54’N 123º 04.94’W). We watched as...

Several members of the Southern Resident Killer Whale population were seen in Rosario Strait today (48°38.49N, 122°43.12W). The whales were spread out from Lummi and Sinclair Islands all the way to Orcas Island.

The Killer Whales were initially traveling in small groups of 3-4 individuals before forming one larger group. This larger group, of at least 12 whales, were traveling in very close proximity with one another, and appeared to be swimming and surfacing right on top of each...

What I love about living in a rain shadow is that the weather tends to clear up in the afternoon, just around the time we reach whales. Today was one of those days. We departed Friday Harbor at 1:30 pm in a hazy fog, heading south. Expecting at least some rain, we all suited up in our yellow rain slickers, binoculars in hand. There were a few harbor porpoise, but what was super unusual were the two huge, male Stellar sea lions hauled out on Whale Rocks! We typically see these sea...

Many thanks to Mark for sending in these

absolutely wonderful Orca Whale and Bald Eagle photos.

We circumnavigated San Juan Island today, seeing wild life all the way around. We left Friday Harbor heading south and ran into a group of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. Shortly after, around Goose Island, there was another large group of seals foraging in the water!

Continuing around to the west side, we ran into some fog and slowed. We could make out some boats, so we stopped and started to look for whales. Through the fog we heard the distinctive “powoof” of a killer whale...

Yup, just WOW. 

Today was one of those “monumental” kind of days. Both boats, the Sea Lion and the Kittiwake, got THE MOST amazing views of our Southern Resident Orcas on the west side of San Juan Island between Lime Kiln and Hannah Heights (48°28.36N, 123°05.02W).

The first whale we spotted was Blackberry (J27). He was initially foraging, but after a few moments he grew extremely friendly and curious of the Kittiwake. He swam parallel to the boat stunning our guests with...

We saw at least 5 members of J and L Pod along the southern end of San Juan Island offshore of False Bay (48°27.7265N, 123°05.3859W).  J26 “Mike” was frolicking with whales from L pod including L72 “Racer” a 26 year old female.  L72 was also traveling with her son L105 “Fluke” who was born in 2004. 

The whales were initially traveling in close proximity with each other before they began surfacing quickly and changing direction, usually a behavior associated with...

AND SO ARE THE WHALES!

The salmon must be satisfying, because we have been seeing our Southern Residents for weeks now, on both trips! Today around 3:00 PM we met up with at least 10 members of J and L pod just south of Mosquito Pass, traveling north in Haro Strait (48°35.66N, 123°12.61). They too, seemed to be enjoying the sun, surfacing multiple times and playing around in the water. They were definitely not shy, and we were able to identify, in plain sight, Spieden (J8), Slick...