Breaching humpback whale outside Friday Harbor, WA June 2013. Photo by Kevin Culmback.

More than any other season, 2013 proved to be an incredible year for humpback whale encounters in the Salish Sea. Encountering humpback and killer whales during the same tour became the norm! A few lucky passengers even experienced the "Whale Trifecta;" encountering killer whales, humpbacks, and minke whales (another small balleen whale) during one Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour.

Why, though, are we...

Our neighbors to the north got an extra special treat this week. Hundreds of Pacific white-sided dolphins were encountered between Galiano Island and Tsawwssen in British Columbia waters. Pacific white-sided dolphins, also called "Lags" (a shorten version of their Latin name, Lagenorhynchus obliquidens) is a smaller cetacean and weighs in between 300 & 400 pound with lengths up to 8 feet. There was an estimated 1000 Pacific white-sided dolphins traveling in this pod. See the video he...

Our endangered Southern Resident killer whales have been touring all over the Puget Sound. Since the end of October, J, K, and L pods have been bouncing between the Seattle area, San Juan Island, and the open ocean. Yesterday, J & K pods were encountered just south of Victoria, British Columbia, and within 24 hours they were shuffling back and forth along the Seattle water front. Members of the community made a brief appearance on the west side of San Juan Island (likely L pod) on...

The whale watching season is coming to an end here on San Juan Island, and in the Salish Sea. The weather is getting colder, the days shorter, but that doesn't seem to have an effect on the transient orcas! When we left Friday Harbor, we headed south then west traveling off the shores of Victoria to catch a glimpse of some transient orcas. When we arrived on scene, the T46b group of five orcas were traveling close together. After waiting in anticipation for over an hour to see orcas...

The M/V Sea Lion left the harbor today with no whale reports as it was pretty foggy on the west side of San Juan Island. However, like many non-whale report days, it wasn't long before a sighting of the orcas come across on the VHF radios on Salmon Bank. I broke the news to our guests, which is always my favorite part, and we headed straight there!

When we got on seen, I quickly recognized the group of transient orcas as the same group we saw yesterday: T-120s. They were milling in a...

Yesterdays trip turned out to be pretty great! Lots of whales, wildlife and rare findings! We left Friday Harbor and headed for the west side of San Juan Island to catch up with the T-120 group of mammal hunting transient orcas, stoping along the way to see harbor seals and steller sea lions.

When we got to the orcas they were traveling at a very fast speed, probably chasing their prey. Just as I was telling guests how orcas hunt cooperatively and come together in a tight group...

We left Friday Harbor yesterday, like many fall day, with no whale reports! However, as we headed out through Cattle Pass we heard of a humpback whale on Kelp Reef! The one humpback soon became two and the M/V Sea Lion headed straight there! Along the way we came across some great dall porpoise activity! They are so much fun, you can tell where they will be because they swim so fast that they leave a trail on the surface of the water! They spent probably ten minuets playing alongside...

M/V Sea Lion with Captain Brian Goodremont at the helm, myself and a dozen bundled up guests departed Friday Harbor with reports of killer whales in the Salish Sea. As we traveled south through San Juan Channel, we slowed down to observe Steller Sea Lions that gather this time of year on and around Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. As we were watching these massive animals  (think of them as the grizzly bears of the seas!) a Minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) surfaced about a...

With little rays of sunshine the M/V Sea Lion departed from Friday Harbor once again and headed north in search of whales. On our way, we caught some good glimpses of steller sea lions and harbor porpoise! The stellers always do a good job of impressing everyone on board with their large bodies and large teeth that they readily show off while growling! We also saw plenty of their distant relatives, the harbor seal, which is about 1,800 lbs lighter than the stellers!

When we didn't...

When the M/V Sea Lion departed from the docks today it was down-pouring rain. We all stayed inside the cabin, where the heat was on to keep us warm while we weathered the storm. That however, didn't last long as we soon came upon a group of playful harbor porpoise to look at! They were all around our boat and were foraging in the San Juan Channel. And, as we continued on, we were able to see about forty steller sea lions! It was great, these guys are about 2,000 pounds of sheer fat...