Today’s tour was a bit different than usual, yet so refreshing! With no whale reports since the night before, we took our tour to the inner islands.

Sure the San Juan Islands are home to one of the most charismatic animals in the world, the Killer Whale, but that is not the only thing that makes them beautiful. Often times the inner beauties of these islands are overlooked, but today we allowed our guests to discover these beauties. We toured along Flattop Island, the Cactus Islands...

We had reports of Transient Killer Whales near Victoria, B.C. today.  When the animals are reported this far away we do have to do a bit of traveling but fortunately the Killer Whales were traveling east and headed our direction. 

As we were motoring through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to reach the whales we saw 5 Dall’s Porpoise.  The Dall’s Porpoise were actively foraging in the highly productive region.  After a few minutes of viewing these animals we continued on our way...

Southern Resident Killer Whales were spread out from Salmon Bank to False Bay today (48°26.51N, 123°02.29W). 

We viewed at least 20 individual whales but there were a number of other Killer Whales seen in all directions further in the distance.  We were in whale soup.  The whales were spread out traveling west.  There were so many whales at one point we shut off our engines, dropped the hydrophone to listen to the whales vocalize, and simply watched the whales go by.  With our...

Once again, it was beautiful day in the San Juan Islands with bluebird skies and flat calm waters.  And, the Salish Sea was teeming with wildlife and seabirds. 

In the San Juan Channel and Cattle Pass we saw Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, Steller Sea Lions, and a number of different seabird species.  Here the tide is funneled through Lopez Island and San Juan Island creating upwelling.  Eager for a meal, marine mammals and seabirds congregate in this area, taking full advantage...

What a fabulous day on the water! We started the trip off with an abundance of wildlife as we made our way through San Juan Channel. We saw dozens upon dozens of Harbor Seals hauled out, sun bathing on any rocky islet available and bobbing through the riptides in search of food. We also saw three Steller Sea Lions swimming amongst the riptides, what seemed to be another marine mammal thanksgiving!

Once we reached Haro Strait we encountered our first Minke Whale just south of Salmon...

We traveled 60 miles round trip today, and boy was it worth it!

We found 2 Humpback Whales outside of Victoria, British Columbia near Race Rocks (48°18.14N, 123°30.73W).  The whales would surface four or five times, their powerful exhales vaporizing the water over their blowholes into a 10ft high mist, and then dive raising their tail flukes out of the water.  Fortunately their deeper dives lasted only 4-5 minutes so we had several opportunities to view these majestic beasties.

W...

Our day began with Harbor Seals!  As usual they were taking advantage of the beautiful weather and having a snooze while soaking up the sunshine. 

We then motored south through the San Juan Channel where we saw a number of marine mammal and seabird species including Harbor Porpoise, Steller Sea Lions, Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, Cormorants, Harbor Seals, and a plethora of Gulls.  These animals were most likely foraging in this highly productive area. 

As we cruised south...

Around 10:40 AM this morning we received a Southern Resident Killer Whale report: members of J, K, and L pod headed north in Haro Strait. We were extremely excited yet a bit uneasy knowing they were headed for Active Pass (Canada). Luckily enough by the time we boarded and headed out for the strait the whales had turned around. It couldn’t have been more perfect timing.

As we made our way into the gut of the strait, reaching a center point between Stewart, Moresby, Sidney, and...

Man was today a day for whales in Haro Strait; we saw a Humpback Whale (48°29.81N 123°11.95W) and 6 Transient Orcas (48°27.21N 123°09.33W)!!!!  There was also rumor of transients north, where most of the whale watch fleeted ended up going, but our decision to go south and around San Juan turned for the better. There were hardly any other boats around and we got the bonus of seeing a Humpback! Now if I were you, I would choose the San Juan Safaris crew.

Let's take a little risk...

Today we were lucky enough to see Minke whales on all three of our trips! We encountered them in Griffin Bay, Cattle Pass, and Haro Strait. September weather has also been treating us nicely with beautiful sunny days, and glassy seas.

The real treat however was near the end of the day when we saw an entire family of River Otters at Long Island. It started out as a single sighting, but as we watched, one River Otter turned into a whole family. Every time the otters would go back into...