Today we ventured to Active Pass in Canada to admire those beautiful black and white creatures known as Orcas.
It is not very often we have to travel this far to see them. Thanks to the gorgeous weather, our guests definitely did not mind the boat ride. The longer boat rides are often very nice because we get the opportunity to know the guests on board a little better and delve into deeper subjects relating to the Orca population. Also we get to see many of the islands along the way and talk...

This just out regarding Salmon (resident orcas mainstay of food). It is interesting enough that I am putting up on our blog, which is usually reserved for  crew to report on their tour experiences.

Here is the link.  It is only about a 2 minute piece - give a listen?  http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1690183...

NORTH BONNEVILLE, WA (N3) - Banner runs of salmon and steelhead are migrating up some Northwest rivers this summer. Not since dams were...

Each day as we cruise out of Friday Harbor, with hopes of seeing whales drifting about in our heads, I start the guests of with an introduction to the San Juan Islands and the all the wonders the islands offer. I often mention in this introduction that we as naturalists love questions. Not only do we have a passion to educate, we all have a passion to share the facts that YOU as a guest want to know. As an educator, I feel that people retain information better if it is something they...

It has been a few days since we have seen L pod (or the Southern Residents in general)  and we can only assume that means they have gone off in search of food in the Pacific, but today we were in luck!  This  afternoon reports came in that they were headed towards San Juan Island. As we headed off for our afternoon trip we decided to go south around the tip of San Juan Island and over to false bay to greet them. Before we could get there we stumbled upon a stellar sea lion swimming...

Click on this link to hear Orcas Vocalizing -The Hydrophone on the MV Sea Lion August 2010

and see part of the whale watching tour

We saw a minke whale on the west side of Waldron Island today!  Although there weren't any reports of orcas, we still managed to see a lot of marine wildlife.  We rarely see minke whales this many days in a row.  They are solitary travelers and can hold their breathe for long periods.  So when they come to the surface for air, you can't help but get excited.  Our guests had some spectacular views of the minke today.  We spent a while with the whale and then headed towards the Cactus...

Yesterdays afternoon trip saw a little seen baleen whale - a minke. There are only about 18 minke whales in and around the islands. Our guests got very good looks at this whale in the afternoon both from the MV Sea Lion and the smaller MV Kittiwake.

Last evening on the 5;30 tour the resident orca whales were back in range and Captain Craig said they saw lots and lots of whales.  He thought possibly all 90 of them - not just in one spot of course.

This afternoon boat boats are again...

Side Breach and Straight Ahead Orca Whale by Sosha Mathew

Lone Orca Whale Off San Juan Island at Sunset, by Sosha Mathew

Snoozing Seals and Gulls, by by Sosha Mathew

From our Sunday, August 1, 2010 Tour. These will be entered into our photo contest. Thanks Sosha!

"To everything, turn, turn, turn...", so they say and that is true of life here in the San Juan Islands. The indicators are small currently, but the times they are a changing. I saw a second Steller's sea lion in a week today, which means they are starting to wander back down here from Alaska. This one was probably another sub-adult male that was not that impressive to the females, so he is back in our waters to work on his physique so that he has more success next year.

These large...

They say that there is a first time for everything and I believe it. While our orcas do not sing the way that humpback whales do, they can certainly make some beautiful sounds. Of course, they also make some rather strange sounds that resemble razzes.

This was an evening of magic, courtesy of our Southern Resident Killer Whales. As the whole J pod family plus some tumbled and rolled along through the waters, we could identify one individual after another. The calves waved their...