Another amazing day out here in the San Juan Islands; we had beautiful blue skies, sunshine, flat calm waters, and Minke Whales!

We motored south along the east side of San Juan Island and saw over 50 Harbor Seals hauled out on Turn Island while a mature Bald Eagle perched in a nearby tree. We then continued south where we saw at least 10 harbor porpoise foraging. As we rounded Cattle Point, at the southern end of San Juan Island, we found three Minke Whales near Hein Bank (48°21...

Motoring out of the harbor a large, male California Sea Lion was conveniently hauled out on the channel buoy providing a great photo opportunity.  We then traveled north through the San Juan Channel where we found our first harbor seals of the day on the rocky shores of Jones Island State Park.  On Flattop Island a beautiful, mature bald eagle perched on the National Wildlife Refuge sign.  As we continued north we had another chance to view harbor seals resting on White Rock.  We...

Today we were lucky enough to see a variety of pinniped species. Just outside of Friday Harbor was an unusual sight. There was a California sea lion hauled out on a buoy! It was the first time I've seen a California sea lion since I started last year! After getting a good look, we made our way to Spieden Island where there was a large group of at least six Steller sea lions were relaxing on the rocks. Along Spieden we spotted mouflon sheep and sika deer, as well as a juvenile bald...

California Sea Lion

A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island.

We headed out of Friday Harbor going north making a stop at NWR Yellow Island, and rock outcroppings with 43+ snoozing Harbor Seals.   We made our way along the coast of Speiden Island. Often times this is a great place to spot Bald Eagles – no Eagle this time.  But we did...

As we circumnavigated San Juan Island we encountered species at every turn.  The San Juan Chanel was full of harbor porpoises and bald eagles, the Haro Straight teemed with Dall’s porpoise and three minke whales were feeding around Salmon Bank where California sea lions rested on the buoy.  An exciting day!

Kirsten, Naturalist

It was a chore to find them, but I finally got to spend some time with J pod.  This season is starting out slowly and the orcas are still not back in the area full-time like we are used to.  That means that we spend a lot of time searching and seeing other wildlife on the way.  Today though we knew where the animals had been spotted, but once we got there it became clear why the reports had seemed so sporadic.  J pod was scattered in ones and twos over several miles with whale...

Well, we did not find orcas, but we did find plenty of other cool creatures.  On a boat built for 50, we had 7 people, so it was like having a private tour.  The guests and captains and I were relaxed and open to any new experiences that might come our way.

In that light we decided to head farther northwest than we usually do when going on a wildlife tour.  We traveled up President's Channel and around Patos Island, a state marine park.  I got to tell everyone about the historic...