That’s just how the cookie crumbles.  When my granny bequeathed to me this idiom, I understood that sometimes you’re unlucky, and sometimes you win big.  Whereas yesterday’s guests rode wild seas and saw zero whales, today’s guests experienced placid waters and a once-in-a-lifetime whale sighting. 

East of Orcas Island, the M/V Sea Lion glided beside a group of approximately eight transient killer whales.  The light was ideal for photography as Captain Mike set us up to enjoy the sun...

Today on M/V Sea lion we left the dock with no whale reports and rain in the forecast.  This is not an uncommon start for our pre-season tours; however, today our expectations were exceeded as the day continued.  We left Friday Harbor with plans to go to the Canadian Gulf Islands in hopes of finding some transient orcas.   We quickly got reports of transient orcas near Matia Island, on the North side of Orcas Island.  We headed towards the area and saw a large pod of harbor porpoises...

Wow, did we cover a lot of water today! We had sunshine above and beautiful weather as we pulled out of Roche Harbor on our whale watch, but had some decisions to make regarding which direction to head today. We decided to seek out some whale activity that had been reported to the south of Orcas Island, so off we cruised. The ever-majestic bald eagles soared overhead, allowing us to see their massive 6-foot wingspan in all of its glory. Maybe they're getting excited for the Fourth of...

Days are shortening here as they are everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere, and sometimes you can feel a cool, fall breeze as evening approaches. This is good since our summer here has been pretty warm and dry. Since the orcas live in the water, they experience a little bit different than we do. The water of the Salish Sea though has been experiencing weird temperatures as well. Weather reports are pointing to this being an El Niño year and we also faced what scientists call "The...

Another lovely day out on the water here in the San Juan's! Today we got to head a bit of a different direction from our normal jaunt along the westside of San Juan Island, and headed through Obstruction Pass, between Orcas Island and Blakely Island. Waiting just outside Obstruction pass, in the Rosario Strait, Captain Mike, Naturalist Chelsea, and passengers aboard the M/V Sea Lion, we're rewarded with a few blows off in the distance. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than...

Working on a tip from other whale watching boats, Captain Mike, Naturalists Andrew and Heather, and a hopeful crew, departed the Friday Harbor docks and set course for the northeast tip of Orcas Island. I made it known to our guests that we were embarking on a unique cruise. The majority of the time, the M/V “Sea Lion” explores the west side of the San Juan Islands, as the southern resident killer whale pods are known to focus their activity there. But two days ago, the resident...

Another beautiful day on the water. Leaving Friday Harbor Captain Mike, myself and our guests, once again traveled north along San Juan Island before reaching the west side of Henry Island where we met up with northbound traveling J pod as well as the small group from L pod, the L12s. Right away we saw one of my favorite group of whales from J pod, the "Cookie Clan" consisting of J22 (Oreo), J34 (Doublestuff), and J38 (cookie).
As the whales traveled right next to Henry island we...

Today we found 5 Transient Orcas headed west in Rosario Strait between Cypress and Orcas Island (48°31.68N 122°48.62W). It was the T36’s and T39’s who appeared to be finishing off part of a kill. They were circling around the area and aggressively deep diving towards the center, gathering any remains. Once they were done they headed directly for the shoreline and picked up speed.

On our way in we took a scenic ride through some of the inner islands passing Blakely, Orcas, Shaw...

Today we shuffled around Spieden, Stewart and some of the inner islands. As we boarded the boat we prepared for a wet day, but it actually turned out to be very nice. On the south side of Spieden we saw at least 30 or so Mouflon Sheep and got to see the very first Mink of the season, scurrying along the shoreline. We then made our way around Stewart, through John’s Pass, and through the Cactus Islands seeing numerous Harbors Seals hauled out on small rocky islets and a lone Bald...

Today, even the Kittiwake had an adventure!  We traveled over to Orcas Island to pick up a family of ten for a private charter and from there on, we were surrounded by a continuous showing by Pacific Northwest wildlife!

First, it was a little harbor seal between Lopez and Shaw Islands.  Next, it was one then two stellar sea lions (BIG ones too--they can weigh up to 2,200 pounds and be ten feet long!) swimming in the currents between Lopez and San Juan Islands.  Further into the...