Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 9/19/2022 | 2:00 PM 

“The Boys,” “The Punks,” “The Brothers…” Bigg’s Killer Whales T060D “Onca” and T060E “Lynx” have many nicknames. Normally found traveling together, these sprouting boys are an industry wide favorite to observe. 18-year-old Onca born in 2004, and 14-year-old Lynx born in 2008 still have a lot of growing to do. Young males go through a stage known as sprouting, where their dorsal fin starts to shoot up and they begin to grow into the massive...

Piper | Sunday, August 4, 2019 | M/V Kittiwake | 11:00 AM

Today Captain Brian and I took some really awesome people out on the M/V Kittiwake to try to find some whales and wildlife! When we left the marina there were no whale sightings, so we decided to head south in San Juan Channel to do some searching of our own! On our way down the channel the radio came alive with a report of killer whales right where we were headed for the day!

We continued south and caught up with the orcas...

Today the ol' Sea Lion had yet another whale of an adventure.

It was one of those days with no prior reports of whales out in the Salish Sea, but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't out there. After loading the boat with excited passengers, bundled up against the Autumn chill and excited to see some wildlife, we took off and headed North out of Friday Harbor up through the San Juan Channel.

As we cruised up the channel we could see the tumult that was present as the flooding tide...

When I heard the vocalizations of orcas at the Lime Kiln hydrophone this morning, I knew it would be an entertaining day. The whale chatter seemed excited and endless!

Several hours later when we were viewing the same animals from the M/V Sea Lion, they were still partying hard. We watched a large group of Southern Resident Killer Whales begin to disperse as they entered Boundary Pass from Turn Point, heading toward the Pender Island bluffs. Soon small socializing groups of...

Today we traveled north into Canadian waters and caught up with about 7 or 8 members of J-Pod just off Point Roberts; coordinates: 48°56.97N, 123°10.25W. As we arrived on the scene the whales were quite spread out allowing guests to look in every direction and see at least one or two. Other than San Juan Safaris, Western Prince was the only other American boat who had made the trek to see the return of the residents and man was it a show! A few members of the pod were Lobtailling and...

A group of killer whales that were hugging the coastline came into sight as we rounded the southwestern end of Henry Island. Cappuccino (K-21), one of the mature males of K pod, was spotted with his open saddle patch. Within the first ten minutes two mature orcas spyhopped, bringing half of their bodies above the surface, and there were a few lobtails from the juveniles. Then all activity ceased as they slipped into resting with a typical tight, slow moving formation. The mood was...