point roberts

Today we definitely went the extra mile. Out of the harbor we were immediately faced with a tough decision… head south to a confirmed Humpback Whale sighting that we could easily reach, or take the chance of catching up with some Orcas that were spotted in Canada and heading north.

Captain Mike went with his gut and we headed north. We made our way through the San Juan Channel and Presidents Channel seeing several Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, and even a few...

We were excited to depart Friday Harbor with sun, glass waters and a boat full of passengers who’ve never seen whales in the wild before. We headed north into Canadian waters where the orcas were last sited. After viewing harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, we continued into the Strait of Georgia. It took us over an hour to get there, but at last, killer whales!

There were many orcas, perhaps two pods, spread out over a large distance. We stayed to the outside of the group and...

With the orcas being able to swim 30-35 mph and covering 100 miles in a day, it is easy to see how they can become "lost" from one day to the next.  And with the Salish Sea being such a large body of water, how is it that the whale watching companies ever find what they are looking for?  Since we do not use bait sites, spotting planes or boats, and none of the animals we see are animatronic, we must be using some other means of detection.  Sonar?  Nope.  Fish finder?  Only works if...

Well we are all becoming overly familiar with the Canadian waters these days.  Reports were in that once again the Orcas were near the coal docks but it was music to our ears to hear they were at least headed south our direction. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride so we didn't mind the extra time it took to reach the whales. The whales were spread out in many small groupings and very active. We saw many breaches and lots of tail slapping. It's always exciting to see but even more...