J-Pod, and L-87, made an appearance in the San Juans this weekend. Vocalizations were heard over the hydrophone at Lime Kiln State Park Saturday night. As to their current location, some faint vocalizations were picked up on the Port Townsend hydrophone, but nobody has seen or heard from them sense. A group of possibly 30 transient orcas were spotted up in Canadian waters this weekend as well.

While the snow has turned to rain here on San Juan Island, the flakes are still coming...

Growing up in Oregon, I never saw Bald Eagles. While the osprey was ever present, the eagle never showed itself. This past winter when I was visiting Oregon, I saw many Bald Eagles. It was awesome to be out on the river, and see an eagle perched in a tree.

Eagles are making a phenomenal come back and it is ever present in the San Juans. With a number 4 ranking in population in the US, Bald Eagle populations in the San Juans are soaring. While eagles are still protected, they...

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...

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...

On  this unusually sunny afternoon (for fall at least), M/V Sea Lion left San Juan Island and prepared to go the distance. We were on our way to Victoria, BC where there were reports of some whales! On our way out we came across some dalls porpoise in the San Juan Channel. The dalls were playing in our wake then, as quickly as they surfaced, disappeared. It was a nice surprise, and we also got to spend some time with steller sea lions!

When we got on seen in the Straight of Juan de...

Today the M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor with good reports of black and whites on the west side of San Juan Island. As a naturalist, I always like it when there is a high probability of seeing not only whales, but more specifically, Orcas. It was also naturalist, Andrew', last time on the water for the season. So, with hopes set high by myself and the guests on board we headed out towards Salmon Bank where the whales were reported to be foraging. Our hopes would be met throughout...

M/V Kittiwake departed with positive reports of Resident Orcas! Our 13 guests and myself were very excited due to the fact they have been gone for a few days. Captain Mike headed straight to the Orcas that were heading north in Boundary Pass. Once we got on scene we could see all the blows and lots of splashing, right away I knew we had a playful group. We were right in the middle of Boundary Pass when the Orcas decided to split. At that moment we had a large adult male surface near...