Skip to main content
Image

PCB's - What's Making Our Orcas Sick?

It's not a pretty fact, but it's science: killer whales are among the world's most contaminated marine mammals. 

How is this possible? What toxins are the orcas dealing with? What are scientists looking at, and how can we help?

It comes down to PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls. These are a type of POP, "persistant organic pollutant," that first originated at the start of the last century and are commonly found in the Puget Sound. They were used for a good part of 70 years in...

Image

San Francisco Says "SEE YA" to Styrofoam Products

For all you conservation-minded folk out there, we've got wind of some exciting news from San Francisco! The city has unanimously voted to ban the sale of any and all styrofoam (aka polystyrene) products by 2017. But why is this such a big deal, you ask? It's a HUGE deal! Styrofoam causes all sorts of environmental problems, and if we can prevent it from even being produced, we'd be taking another step towards the health of our beautiful planet. Styrofoam is a petroleum-based plastic...

Image

Newest Addition to Southern Resident Community

We started seeing the dorsal fins of K pod after exiting the Speiden Channel and spotted Deadhead (K-27) with her new son (K-44). The boy is her first offspring and he will remain unnamed until after he has survived a winter and is officially considered part of the pod. Researchers do this because of the alarming fact that only around half of the calves survive the first year of life. The first-born calf has an even lower survival rate which is believed to be partially due to the...

Start your next adventure today! View All Tours