The waters surrounding the San Juan Islands are called the Salish Sea. And here we are lucky enough to have more than a few members of the Cetacean family (whales, dolphins, porpoises) stop by every once in awhile. Most folks come to see the famous and charismatic Orcas, which are the world's largest dolphin, but we have a few more fun members that are just as wonderful to see. Going from largest to smallest there is the Humpback Whale, the Minke Whale, Dall's Porpoise, and the...

Today, Captain Mike, Erick and I headed north out of Friday Harbor with a full boat. We were going for some transient killer whales headed to Battleship island. Surely enough, there they were, the the T37As. With them, was a noticeable tiny (6-7 feet long) calf--one that I had been seeing for the past few days. Today, however, it was confirmed! This was T37As newest calf, the very recent, T37A4. They swam right between Battleship Island and McCraken Point, before they continued east...

Yesterday Capt. Mike, Brendan, and I set out on one of the calmest evenings we've had on the water. We were looking for some of the local Transient Orcas. There are three main communities of Transient Orcas that live on the west coast of North America. They all belong to the same ecotype but form different communities that usually remain in one general area, but each small pod can travel from Baja California up to Alaska. The community here is called the Washington - British Columbia...

We spent a blissful day on the water with members of both J and K pods as they were traveling north past Stewart Island. We first arrived on scene greeted by some members of the J19 Matriline (J19 Shachi, J41 Eclipse, J51). J51 is the first calf of J41 Eclipse, and he is just as cute as a button! When orcas are born their white patches tend to look orangey because they do not have significant fat stores. As they grow and put on weight, the orange patches turn to their classic white...

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...

Yesterday we headed up North towards a report of K pod in Canadian waters.  It was a beautiful sunny day and on our transit to the whale reports we saw many harbor seals and harbor porpoise.  We made it up to Point Roberts and met up with the K12's and the K13's.  The K13's consist of seven individual whales and the K12's consist of 5 whales, including a sprouter named Tika.  You can tell the sex of the whale based on the dorsal fin size but up until sexual maturity all of the whales...

On Wednesday, we had a wonderful afternoon trip on the M/V Sea Lion! We went in search of our southern resident killer whales and found a couple members of J pod on the west side of San Juan Island. These members were a part of what we call the cookie squad. We call them the cookie squad because of their names given by the Whale Museum here in Friday Harbor.

Each whale receives an identification number from the Center of Whale Research when they are first spotted. The numbers signify...

When our reliable Residents aren't around, Naturalists and Captains alike are always hopeful Transients will be found somewhere. Our sunset departure left with mixed reports of a group of Transients that might be coming within range of our trip. The inestimable Captain Pete decided to go for it and our guests, my fellow Naturalist Alex, and our guests couldn't be more grateful.

We caught up the group of at least eight animals out in the Haro Strait. Transients are more difficult to...

Today Captain Jim and I left the dock with a boat full of excited passengers, no wind, sun in the sky and several whale reports. We decided to head to the West side to check out J Pod who was in town feeding on Chinook salmon.

As we headed South out of Friday Harbor into San Juan Channel we were greeted by a flock of rhinoceros auklets, small black, diving puffin-like birds with a horny protrusion on their bill, plunging into the water to distance themselves from the boat. These...

Today was another typical summer Friday in Friday Harbor - sunny skies, cool breezes, and smooth waters. Capt. Mike, Brendan, and I headed north! to see if we could meet up with our Southern Resident Killer Whales heading south from Canada. We sailed through some beautiful waters and stopped to look at a bait ball that gulls, rhinoceros auklets, and some common murres had found when, splash! a wild Steller Sea Lion appeared! These hunks of furry blubber are heading back to the Salish...