“So, what do you do for work?” Anytime that I travel, or really any time that I find myself talking to a stranger, the "career" question always comes up.
“I am a marine naturalist, with a primary focus on killer whales or orcas, in the...
Even though May is here in full force and it has felt like summer the past few weeks, it definitely isn’t summer yet. The salmon still haven’t starting running full force through the Salish Sea so it is still unusual to spot the Southern Resident Killer Whale pods. The J-16s have been seen from time to time with other members of J pod, but we believe that this is so they can keep their young calves safe in the more protected waters here. So in this time of the year we usually see...
It’s still our shoulder season here in the San Juan Islands. That just means a few things. First: there’s a higher chance of rain, but not to worry this past El Niño event with other meteorological factors has seemed to brought summer early to the islands with sunny, warm days, and second: the consortium of wildlife that we are apt to see is a little bit different… sometimes.
Normally this time of year the Southern Resident Orcas are still out to sea, hunting salmon and...
Yesterday we had a rollercoaster of a trip: there were ups, there were downs, and sometimes it even felt like we were flip turned upside down. Let me elaborate…
We left Friday harbor with killer whales reported everywhere around us, we had a few groups of killer whales reported to the south moving away from Friday Harbor, some whales out West by Victoria heading west, and we had a group of whales who reportedly were moving towards us up North near Prevost Island in the Canadian Gulf...
Today we were again treated to orcas close to San Juan Island. On the warmest day of the year (as of yet) and some of the best sunshine we’ve had in a while, it’s safe to say that the stoke factor was high for both guests and crew.
We again left the dock with no reported whales in the area, but as we have seen in the past few days that is in no way indicative of the sightings that we will have out on the trip. We changed things up today and headed south, enjoying the scenery of the...
Yesterday was another beautiful spring day in the San Juan Islands. The sun was shining and there were reports of whales before we left the dock, an unusual occurrence for this time of year, but I feel like I have been saying that a lot in the past weeks!
We headed north up through San Juan Channel hugging the shoreline, motoring past scenic Roche Harbor and around Battleship Island. We marveled at how it is starting to feel and look a lot like summer, while watching...
We are getting spoiled with these early season trips here on San Juan Island! Yesterday was one of those magical trips that we have spent all winter dreaming about. Captain Mike and I left Friday Harbor with a lively private charter group on the search for some wildlife! As it is still early season for seeing killer whales, I was cautiously optimistic on our chances of seeing whales, but thought if we did see orcas that they would most likely be some of our local Bigg’s killer whales...
Last night we were greeted with a happy confirmation from the Center from Whale Research, that our core staff here at San Juan Safaris had been hoping for since a staff jaunt out to San Juan Channel on December 1st.... A NEW CALF FOR J28 POLARIS!!
On December 1, with a report of whales right outside of the harbor, we quickly left the office and our post-season projects, jumped into the car, made our way down to the M/V Sea Lion, cut the lines, and were off! A group of J Pod whales...
Today was one of the best trips I had all season. Captain Brian, Naturalist Mike and I set out from the dock without a single report determined to find some wildlife we set out North towards Spieden Island. When we reached the Wasp Islands just west of Orcas and Shaw Islands we received a report of a large group of orcas moving south through Rosario Strait on the other side of Orcas Island, so of course we had to go check it out. Though there was a bit of wind and some significant...
Our legendary 2015 late season whale watching continues to impress, with this weekends sightings including resident killer whales, humpback whales, as well as transient killer whales.
On Friday the Sea Lion went out on a high seas adventure, looking to find some of our Southern Resident killer whales just to the south end of the San Juan. We marveled at some members of L Pod including L72 Racer and her son L105 Fluke as they surfed in the waves around our vessel. We also enjoyed...