A new paper has come out indicating that Orcas’ evolution has been partially driven by culture. There are ten ecotypes worldwide. They each have different prey, look a little bit different, but most importantly their behavior differs between each ecotype as well. This stems from the fact that many of their behaviors are learned behaviors including hunting methods, communication, and socialization activities. The distinct ecotypes have developed different forms of a lot of these...

Orcas, Killer Whales, Blackfish, Sea Pandas – the species scientifically labeled Orcinus orca is known by many names, and they are probably one of the most distinctive looking mammals in the sea. Although these large, intelligent, black and white dolphins look a lot different than you or me, you’d be surprised how similar we and they are… but first let’s talk about an awesome day.

            It was one of the sunniest and clearest days that I’ve seen this spring as we left...

Today was a truly magical day aboard the M/V Sea Lion.

It started out as any other beautiful San Juan Island summer day. The sun was shining as Captain Mike turned the boat south east, headed towards Haro Strait. We encountered orcas on the south side of San Juan Island at False Bay and soon identified that we were traveling with members of L-pod and, sure enough, spotted L-91 (Muncher) and her new calf L-122. Our second sighting in two days!

Members of the Southern Resident killer...

Tonight we had a great encounter with some of our Southern Resident killer whales. After a great afternoon trip spent with the L54 matriline (L54 Ino, L108 Coho, L117 Keta, L84 Nyssa, and L88 Wavewalker) we were overjoyed to hear that a Superpod, or a gathering of all three of our Resident pods, was headed towards San Juan Island. Captain Brian and I left the dock for a two hour sunset charter with whales on the mind. We shot south out of Friday Harbor, meeting up with the whales...

Today under grey skies the M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor with positive reports of our local celebrities: the Southern Resident killer whales! Traveling south we encountered a number of very playful harbor seals and enjoyed the presence of some of our numerous seabirds. We also took a few minutes to stop at Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass to look at about a dozen Steller's sea lions sprawled on the rocks. These large pinnipeds are about the color of a perfectly roasted marshmallow and...

As August winds down, our evening tours become more and more precious. The sun is setting earlier, which means better light for us throughout the duration of our tour. The M/V Sea Lion picked up our 26 guests, left the harbor, and headed south through San Juan channel. As we made our way through Cattle Pass, Haro Strait opened in front of us revealing almost glass-like water in the golden light. We made our way North along the West side of San Juan catching glimpses of some of the...

When our reliable Residents aren't around, Naturalists and Captains alike are always hopeful Transients will be found somewhere. Our sunset departure left with mixed reports of a group of Transients that might be coming within range of our trip. The inestimable Captain Pete decided to go for it and our guests, my fellow Naturalist Alex, and our guests couldn't be more grateful.

We caught up the group of at least eight animals out in the Haro Strait. Transients are more difficult to...

Today myself, Alex and Captain Mike left the dock on the Sea Lion with a boat full of excited passengers, great whale reports and a beautiful evening ahead of us. As we left Friday Harbor we headed South past Griffin Bay in the San Juan Channel. We stopped near Goose Island (still on fire from 4th of July negligence and hot dry weather) to check out some seals lazily swimming in the current, popping their heads out to check on us as we passed. This time of year holds lots of curious...

This trip was one of the best whale watches of my life. We motored off to the southwest side of San Juan Island, where we met up with the Southern residents, (and a minke whale!) At first, we could just see one or two whales here and there, surfacing sporadically. In time, however, they began to surface more often, and more predictably, more seemed to appear, and before we knew it, we were watching a greeting ceremony. Whales joined up to form larger and larger pods, and then each...

Today was amazing. We left Friday Harbor (both at 1:30 and 5:30) with confirmed whale reports for the west side of the island. We made our way and soon enough were among dozens of Southern resident killer whales. This included the K13s, the J19s, and many other matrilines. Although they were fairly spread out at times, we are confident that they were traveling together because orcas can communicate from a few miles away from each other. Nonetheless, if I didn't know any better, I...