We had a beautiful blustery day today heading south out of Friday Harbor. After hearing reports of whales south west of San Juan and heading further SW we blazed on out off of Hein Bank! We were kindly greeted by a group of 10-12 traveling Orcas, all members of L-Pod.  Having a wonderful photographer on board we were able to document and identify several of the whales we watched! Baba (L-26), Crewser (L-92), Ballena (L-90), Wave Walker (L-88), and the large male known as Gaia (L-78)...

All summer I have been thinking everyone was pulling my leg telling me that summer just gets nicer and nicer and then September is the best month of the year.  I was convinced that it would be 40 degrees and raining by now.  I seem to have been mistaken.  This week has been the warmest of the year and it has been beyond beautiful on the water.

We left and headed south out of the harbor.  Fat seals were lazing on the rocks and Steller's Sea Lions were cruising around on the prowl in...

"What else could we have possibly have seen today?" was a great question that I was asked as we headed back into the harbor.  "Not much" was my answer.  We had an amazing encounter with resident whales today that started with them spread out all over the south west side of the island, merging into small groups, and ended with them meeting up, West Side Story style (without the violence), and then all swimming off into the sunset together.  There were somewhere between 20 and 30...

With two full boats, we headed up north across the border and into Canadian waters, all in search of the Southern Resident Killer Whales that had been out to sea (to the best of our knowledge) for a few days.  We ended up in the Strait of Georgia, just south of the city of Vancouver, when a passenger tapped me on the shoulder and said, "look, there!"  And there they were!  Orcas spanning over a quarter of a mile were lined up in smaller groups and heading north.  As we paralleled...

Attached are two pictures of Sea Lions, taken during my visit to San Juan Island last week. These pictures were taken while on the Whale Watching tour with San Juan Safari, on 8/20 - the Sunset Tour. Sending these for the photo contest, under "Other Wildlife" category. Ashwin

Sea Lion off San Juan Island by Ashwin

Sea Lion near San Juan Island

Another calm clear day around San Juan Island.  We were able to find most of the Southern Residents heading north past the west side of the island.  As we came on scene we found a nice group of about 10 animals traveling together.  It was difficult to get good IDs but there was one adult male with the group.  We got to enjoy their company for a while as they moved towards Turn Point.  They exhibited a nice range of behaviors including porpoising, spy hopping, tail lobbing, and even a...

These days I hail from Maui, Hawaii and it's rare for me to say it's hot in Washington.  But today, it was hot!  In town.  And quite comfortable on the water as well.  We traveled out to be next to the Olympic Peninsula and the snow covered mountains; and it was a day of epic weather, water and visibility.

We started our trip headed south from the harbor to some harbor seals lounging on their rocky haul-out.  At Cattle Pass, we found their cousins, the stellar or northern sea lions...

Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!

We then headed...

We went international to observe a pod rumored to be around the Golf Islands of Canada. Shortly after crossing the international boarder and entering the Swanson Channel we saw a group of around fifteen lively orcas. The surface around them was turning with activity as Mickey Mouse ear pectoral fins slapped the surface, full-body breaches created wakes and tails slammed onto the water. There were three mature males within the mix and the two that were traveling closely together...

The killer whales were close today so we had plenty of observation time and were able to see a smorgasbord of species.  We first encountered L pod and successfully identify the 34-year-old male Mega (L-41) who was traveling alongside the 22-year-old male Gaia (L-78).  What was really exciting was the amount of calves that were traveling and playing together.  There were at least three youngsters who were taking turns lob tailing, propoising, spy hopping and breaching next to each...