Heading south through cattle pass we encountered some Harbor Seals as well as a lone Steller Sea Lion swimming south and playing in the current.  Whale rocks also provided us with some very large male Stellers' maneuvering awkwardly on shore.

We then headed into the middle of Haro strait to try and confirm the rumors of J-pod.  Sure enough, in glassy water with very light wind, we saw two orca cruising at the surface.  They were heading west at a pretty steady pace.  After scanning...

The season officially started last Saturday with some beautiful days and plentiful Harbor Seals and Stellar Sea lions.  But the real show was today aboard the M/V Sea Lion.  We had reports of J-pod out towards Victoria and heading West into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We boarded our passengers a little early and went for it.

The rain was coming down steadily but cleared as we approached Discovery Island.  Pretty soon the whales were up ahead.  Somewhere between 10 and 14 members of...

Announcing the Photo winners for 2011 in the category of whale photo: Janet Holba of WI. Winner for "wildlife" photo is Patty Quales of NC. These will be highlighted in the new 2011 sanjuansafaris.com website due to be published March 1, 2011.

We left the harbor without any orca reports.  For about 20 minutes we wondered whether or not we would see our black and white friends today.  As we neared Spieden Island, Captain Craig started to receive reports of whales on the west side of San Juan heading north.  Surprise! This is my first season with San Juan Safaris, and I am almost convinced that I'm the lucky charm.  Either that, or it's the fact that the Fraser River is experiencing one of its biggest salmon runs in almost a...

San Juan Safaris

I did the 'Whale Plane' from Lake Union Seattle. Forty five minutes on a fantastic small sea plane, with wonderful views. Went on smaller boat from San Juan safaris with only 12 on board. We left early as we were all on board to give us the best chance of seeing the orcas.We roared off very fast, which was very exciting. The naturalist aboard was very friendly and...

It has been said by the locals that this is the largest run of Sockeye Salmon we've EVER had (at least in a lifetime). Everywhere you looked off the west side today, there were purseiners, fish jumping and orcas feeding. Fat and happy whales, they lolled about slowly, on long dives, taking their time, scooping up all of the salmon that would fit in their conically toothed mouths. Some of them must be eating for two. We can't see when an orca is gestating because they have a large...

Our afternoon trip returned with news that the whales were headed towards Canada.  Knowing that it can be a challenge if not impossible to reach them in areas like the Coal Docks and beyond the office staff worked quickly to contact everyone on the sunset tour and have them at the dock for an early departure. Within minutes of the boat arriving we loaded the evening passengers and quickly departed to get to those whales!

Cruising quickly through Presidents Channel we enjoyed the warm...

It was a chore to find them, but I finally got to spend some time with J pod.  This season is starting out slowly and the orcas are still not back in the area full-time like we are used to.  That means that we spend a lot of time searching and seeing other wildlife on the way.  Today though we knew where the animals had been spotted, but once we got there it became clear why the reports had seemed so sporadic.  J pod was scattered in ones and twos over several miles with whale...

Today was a day you could not beat here in the San Juan Islands.  The sky was clear, the weather warm (for the Pacific Northwest) and the water was calm.  No one could seem to find orcas (remember, the world's largest dolphin) or whales today, but we had a lovely cruise around the San Juan and the Canadian Gulf Islands.  There were harbor seals, Steller's sea lions and harbor porpoises stretched to the horizon.  At boiling reef, which was rather odoriferous today, there were dozens...

Well, we did not find orcas, but we did find plenty of other cool creatures.  On a boat built for 50, we had 7 people, so it was like having a private tour.  The guests and captains and I were relaxed and open to any new experiences that might come our way.

In that light we decided to head farther northwest than we usually do when going on a wildlife tour.  We traveled up President's Channel and around Patos Island, a state marine park.  I got to tell everyone about the historic...