It was easy, maybe too easy, finding killer whales today. We headed up north from Friday Harbor, and just east of Spieden Island we encountered both K and L pods. They were everywhere around us! Breaching, spy hopping, and tail slapping. After watching them for a while, we headed back south towards Cattle Point. We saw harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and a juvenile bald eagle. Then, as we headed back into the harbor we encountered the killer whales again! And they were still being...

After two whole days without orcas around (but with Humpbacks and Minkes!) our residents returned to the sound in full force. There were lots of animals around on the way up to see the whales: harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and even a bald eagle! As for the whales,  there were groups representing all 3 pods up in the area between Stuart and Pender Islands.  When we came on scene the whales we were with appeared to be resting. After about 20 minutes they suddenly turned around and...

It was bright and sunny as we headed north out of Friday Harbor. On this trip, the first thing we encountered was harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island. Next we spotted a few killer whale dorsal fins off in the distance. Everyone got excited as we scoped out the area. As the boat turned there was a large pod of orcas, over twenty whales close to each other surfacing and breathing. Then, all of a sudden one breached, then another next to the first one, then a third after the...

Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!

We then headed...

Southward from sunny Friday Harbor quickly led us to dense fog with visibility at maybe 100 yards (maybe) just before Cattle Pass.  Armed with radar, the captain navigated us through the pass and over to Whale Rocks where we found seven large stellar sea lions and numerous harbor seals hauled out, warming up and napping.  Even in fog, the air was warmer than the 50 degree waters around the San Juan Islands!

Battling our way through more fog, with other boats appearing and...

Thursday brought blue skies and calm seas.  However, there were no reports of anyone seeing any Orcas in the Salish Sea.  So we took the best lead we had and headed towards Victoria to try and find the elusive Humpback Whale.

On the way out we encountered lots of harbor seals bobbing in the tide and even a couple bald eagles soaring above the south end of the island.  After those encounters we motored across Haro Strait toward Victoria.  The last reports we heard were of two animals...

Wildlife abounds in the San Juan Islands, but only if you like bald eagles.  And harbor seals.  Oh, and Stellar sea lions.  And minke whales, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, common murres, cormorants, turkey vultures, mouflon sheep, black-tailed deer, fallow deer, sika deer, and maybe some bald eagles and vultures fighting over shreds from a dead-and-beached harbor seal carcass.  But only if you're into all that!

From Friday Harbor, we got the call of vultures and bald eagles...

It was an absolutely gorgeous warm, sunny day; perfect for wildlife viewing. With the weather on our side, we headed north into Canadian waters to find the killer whales. As we saw the first dorsal fin slice out of the water, two harbor seals came up right next to our boat, followed by a couple harbor porpoises. Distracted, we lost sight of the orca until three of them came up on us, about one hundred yards away! It was K pod; we were able to identify Cappuccino.

We watched them...

I was a little worried waking up this morning to overcast skies, but just before leaving on today’s adventure the clouds started to part and the sun shined through. Our luck continued as we circumnavigated San Juan Island. There were tons of harbor seals with little pups in the water and hauled out on rocks. As we went around Cattle Point a bald eagle flew over our boat, giving us one of the best views I’ve seen of one. Just further ahead, we spotted our first killer whale. Then, a...

The black dorsals of J and K pod broke the chop of Haro Straight as we made our way towards Victoria. We then allowed the strong current that had worked against us to now be in our favor as it pushed us towards the west coast of San Juan Island, drifting beside the orcas. We saw Deadhead (K-27), who was named after the singer of the Grateful Dead who passed the year of her birth, and her three-week-old son. The passengers (and the naturalists) gasped as she unexpectedly spyhopped to...