It was a calm and foggy day out on the water.  The majestic M/V Sea Lion cruised out of the mist on an exploration for whales!  We headed south through Cattle Pass towards Admiralty Inlet, and just beyond Smith Island (48°20’N, 122°58’W), we found two groups of transient orcas.  We estimated about 10 orcas altogether.  We were on a zig-zag pattern and it was though they were swimming on all sides towards the southwest.  Two breached and put on a show!  We also had a visit by a Minke...

We were very lucky today because the whales made it easy to view them! The transient, marine mammal eating, killer whales were right off San Juan Island. We headed south out of Friday Harbor and only had to travel to Griffin Bay before we saw a giant, male killer whale dorsal fin slice through the water. Shortly after, more dorsal fins came up followed by the misty, powerful blows of their exhalations. We counted five Orcas total, one of which looked to be a small calf! The whales...

Members of J-pod, K-pod, and L-Pod where traveling together again today out in Rosario Strait just southwest of Lopez Island; coordinates 48°24.051N 122°50.23W. Within a few minutes of reaching the area, the Sea Lion (our boat) was surrounded by whales on all sides! It didn’t matter in which direction we looked everyone was bound to see the whales surface. And man did it seem like they were in their realm!! We saw almost every behavior possible; from spyhopping to lobtailling to...

Today we headed out into the Georgia Strait where we had originally heard of a sighting of 3 transient orcas. Unfortunately as we got closer to the area, we were informed that the group had suddenly switched direction and were headed northwest at a high speed. There was no way our boat or any others from Friday Harbor could catch up with them so we aborted.

We then got news of some Dall’s Porpoise in Active Pass and were fortunate enough to catch up with them. It was a group of about...

Sent in by Thomas Caporuscio from Friday, April 27, 2012

See the blog from April 27, 2012 

Heading north through the San Juan Channel we spotted a number of harbor seals hauled out on the rocky shore of Jones Island State Park. We continued motoring north basking in the glorious rays of sunshine and admiring the beautiful scenery. Near Patos Island Captain Mike spotted at least 8 harbor porpoise foraging. The porpoise surfaced frequently and circled the boat providing excellent viewing opportunities. We just love spending time with these normally shy animals. We then...

Today we caught up with a group of 4 Transient Orcas off the southwestern end of Victoria; coordinates 48°22.0’N, 123°25.0’W. This group was not as stealthy as we typically see with Transients. They were surfacing multiple times, almost in a predictable manner, and were lobtailling often with a couple spyhops here and there. This group was also quite young; two younger calves and two adults who appeared to be in their 20s. We got to travel with them for about 20 minutes or so until...

Another amazing day out here in the San Juan Islands; we had beautiful blue skies, sunshine, flat calm waters, and Minke Whales!

We motored south along the east side of San Juan Island and saw over 50 Harbor Seals hauled out on Turn Island while a mature Bald Eagle perched in a nearby tree. We then continued south where we saw at least 10 harbor porpoise foraging. As we rounded Cattle Point, at the southern end of San Juan Island, we found three Minke Whales near Hein Bank (48°21...

From my experience, the best whale watching days occur in weather similar to today's: overcast and rainy. However, everyone was positive and optimistic that we would see whales. Well, not only did we see Orcas, we saw both ecotypes!

Our boat, the Sea Lion, headed north out of Friday Harbor towards East Point. Along the way we spotted some harbor seals as well as a juvenile bald eagle. Then, as we came across the north end of Orcas Island there was word that Transient killer whales...

We had an amazing day in the San Juan Islands. The rain held off, the seas were calm, and we saw Killer Whales! Upon leaving Friday Harbor we motored south along the east side of San Juan Island and made our first stop at Tern Island to view Harbor Seals hauled-out on the rocks. We continued south and stopped at Goose Island to see a number of bird species. We then traveled around to the south end of the San Juan Island and found the Resident Killer Whales about 2 miles southwest of...