Captain Jim and I got to the Kittiwake this morning with zero reports of whales. We were planning out an awesome wildlife tour where we would be looking for the orcas, other whales, and some of the other wildlife in the area, when we got a call that there were transient orcas north of Sucia Island and Alden Bank in Canadian waters! I was super stoked that the transients were back in, as I had not seen them in a while. We had beautiful smooth water as we traveled north from Friday...

Saturday morning started a little rainy, and windy with no reports of whales. Naturalists Chelsea and Caitlin were a little concerned as we were leaving Friday Harbor. But soon after leaving we got a radio call from some whale watching boats that were out earlier and there were some transients in Rosario Strait heading toward Decatur Island! Hurray! We haven't seen transients in quite some time so we were excited. Transients killer whales are the ecotype that feed mainly on marine...

Today we left Friday Harbor and headed South toward Cattle Point.  On the way to the area where the whale reports were we spotted some harbor seals with their pups and  a bald eagle.  We went through Cattle Pass and headed East to the southern side of Lopez Island.  Once we got to Iceberg Island we found the J17's which include Princess Angeline and all of her offspring.  Traveling with the J17's was K21 (Cappuccin).  We parked ourselves a respectful distance from the whale and...

Today Captain Mike and I had a beautiful cruise all the way around San Juan Island. We left Friday Harbor heading north with a report of orcas in Boundary Pass. We met up with a group of J Pod whales just north of Roche Harbor... AND they turned out to be my favorite family, the J16s! Slick, Mike, Alki and Echo are inseparable, a perfect example of the social structure of these amazing mammals! We spent some time with them and then left that group to follow a report of another group...

We had fantastic weather and wildlife viewing today aboard our afternoon M/V Sea Lion trip.  We found our resident orcas, humpbacks, minkes, stellar sea lions, and even a tufted puffin! We headed to Salmon Bank and found J pod cruising the waters looking for food and were even lucky enough to witness some mating behaviors, and followed them along the west side of San Juan Island.  After an incredible show from J pod we came across a mom and calf humpback whale, and the calf was...

Another beautiful summer day here in the San Juan Islands, not a cloud in the sky and we able to spy some amazing views of Mount Baker as well. Our 1:30pm departure left with reports of whales up north, traveling north, and we caught up to the group in Boundary Pass pretty much on the border of US and Canada. There was a large group of K pod traveling close together and some members of Jpod inshore foraging. We were able to get some great looks at the  J14s Slick, Mike, Alki, and...

Today we got to take out a group of  12 people out on one of  our smaller vessels which gives a nice, different view point of the whales. The M/V  Kittiwake sits lower to the water so it feels like we are on the same plane as the whales. We spent most of the trip near Eagle point, and False Bay watching the Southern Resident killer whales. It seemed to be a mixture of all three pods, J, K, and L. It was a little bit rough out there but our guest were champs, and we had an awesome...

Sunday July 13th was a another beautiful day in the Salish sea and we spent 2 great trips with k pod on the west side and south side of San Juan Island. On both trips we got some great sightings of the k13s Skagit and her offspring  and grandchildren. It was awesome for our guests to see the whales fishing and pretty much swimming back and for along the shoreline the entire trip.  That wasn't the only wildlife we saw!  As we were heading home we got to spotted a male stellar seal...

What a day!! I really couldn't have asked for a prettier San Juan island afternoon and evening: sunny sky's, warm weather, great people, oh,  and of course killer whales. The M/V Sea Lion met K pod traveling south from Stewart Island. As soon as we got on scene one came out of the water in a full breach!! You just never know what you're going to see when orcas are involved, lucky for us!

We turned the motor off and watched as members of K Pod traveled south, porpoising out of the...

Alright folks, today was the trip of all trips! I absolutely love the southern resident community whales, but I must say that watching the Transients has to be my favorite. You just never know what you will get when you are watching the transient foraging for marine mammals.

The M/V Sea Lion and passengers first encountered T-35 A's and T-75 B's,  along the Eastside of San Juan Island and quickly followed them up towards Canadian waters. For most of the trip they seemed to be moving...