Today Captain Mike and I had a beautiful cruise all the way around San Juan Island. We left Friday Harbor heading north with a report of orcas in Boundary Pass. We met up with a group of J Pod whales just north of Roche Harbor... AND they turned out to be my favorite family, the J16s! Slick, Mike, Alki and Echo are inseparable, a perfect example of the social structure of these amazing mammals! We spent some time with them and then left that group to follow a report of another group...

Although the beautiful, sunny skies were replaced by clouds and grey skies today, our spirits were not dampened; we were all equipped with a sense of adventure and eager to spend the afternoon exploring the Salish Sea.  And, we were not disappointed.  Within minutes of departing Friday Harbor and entering the San Juan Channel we were rewarded with a large, male Steller Sea Lion enjoying his lunch.  The Sea Lion would emerge with a fish in his mouth, aggressively thrash the fish about...

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...

We had a fabulous trip to the south side of San Juan Island today.  Sunny skies and calm waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca made for incredible whale watching!  After seeing several harbor seals cruising through Cattle Pass, we encountered the Steller sea lions on Whale Rocks.  At least ten were lounging in the sun.  As we headed into the strait, we saw several members of the resident L-pod actively feeding offshore of South Beach (48°26N, 123°00W).  First we saw members of the L12...

As we traveled south we had amazing views of Harbor Seals and Steller Sea Lions.  Both species were taking their afternoon siestas, soaking up the sunshine.  Many of the Harbor Seals were resting in a “banana” pose, keeping their head and hind flippers raised out of the frigid, 49°F water.   Whereas, the Steller Sea Lions were sprawled out across the island, making even the most jagged rocks look comfortable.

We then caught up with four Southern Resident Killer Whales near...

We journeyed north around San Juan Island today, first passing Spieden Island en route to Haro Strait.  Several mouflon sheep and sitka deer were feeding and resting on the hillside of Spieden Island.  Somehow they can carefully traverse the cliffs just above the chilly waters.  We circled exposed rocks to the southwest of the island where six harbor seals were resting.  We spotted at least one pup.  After we were south of Henry Island (48°35.33N, 123°12.53W) we began to see spray...

And that we did today...

With no Orca whale reports in US waters, we decided to “go for it” today, extending our tour, to make the extra trek far north into Canadian waters to see our Southern Residents. We were one of two boats from San Juan Island to make the trip, and man was it worth it!!!

Headed southeast in the Strait of Georgia, we found the K13’s whom were about a mile offshore, north of the coal docks, outside of Vancouver, Canada (48°59.37N 123°10.67W). They were...

Today we enjoyed the August sunshine on our trip to the south side of San Juan Island.  We encountered glassy and calm waters  coming through Cattle Pass, and a great view of the Olympic Mountains.  As we came upon Whale Rock, we observed several harbor seals and then ten LARGE Steller sea lions resting.  The sea lions were crowding each other for space and we heard a couple of them vocalizing and grunting!  Then we turned west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and noticed several...