Well, I can't tell you what a treat it is to be headed off on a wildlife trip with no hope of seeing orcas and then you get "The Call". For the past two days we have motored up San Juan Channel, swung north around Flattop Island and then been alerted of another boat finding orcas. Yesterday it was transients in Canada, today it was residents at the south end of the island. Both days, we had already informed our guests of the bad news of no orcas, but of our intention to visit the...

Wow! Yesterday (Saturday) was unreal! We were out on a morning tour in Canadian Waters viewing Orcas from J & K pods! It was a stunning morning on the water...a little fog to the south, otherwise clear skies & calm seas all around the islands. Both J & K pods were heading south from the Gulf Islands on their routine swim following salmon through these waters. We had great views as groups of whale would surface to breathe...and we could hear the blows (hot moist air) being...

We love days that start off with great sighting reports. The first sighting of the day- killer whales at Race Rocks, near Victoria, heading northeast. This was good news.

We loaded the boat, motored out of Friday Harbor and headed south toward Cattle Pass.
We had some fun sea conditions- small waves and some wind, just enough wind to get some of the more adventurous people a little wet.

As we headed to Race Rocks we got word that some orcas were just off Victoria. We headed to...

L-Pod Orca Whales with Calf near False Bay

Today we traveled east out of Friday Harbor, then South and then up the west side… We got word that there were some resident orcas near False Bay on the west side of the island.

We encountered some of L-pod, the largest pod of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We had some great views of L-pods new calf, L-112 and L-86, the mother. The calf is super cute.

We also had some great viewing time of other individuals from L-pod. After about an...

Thought I'd take a moment to share with you all a little about our trip last night (Thursday 7/2). It was one of those perfect evenings that we in the whale watching world dream about!

It was unbelievably calm...glassy seas, extremely clear skies and lots of whales! The Southern Residents (killer whales) had met up earlier in the day to form a superpod, and while I was not out on the 1pm trip I was happy to discover that all three pods (J, K, L) were all still together when we...

The whales were proving that they are the dominant marine species today. While we were rocking and rolling through the waves and being whipped by the wind, the orcas were effortlessly swimming along through the Canadian Gulf Islands. After we took the MV Sea Lion out of the dock today we headed for Turn Point on Stuart Island. The last orca report that we had had said that they were already past Lime Kiln and were headed North. At Haro Strait we gave way to a huge ocean-going...

Wow! After three days off what a comeback. I showed up at the office this morning to news of Orcas in the area, but they were different from those that we had been seeing. The excitement was palpable as our group of 25 guests, along with Capt. Nancy, Jeanette and I motored out into the great unknown. Would the whales stay in an area where we could see them, would there be as many as were reported, would Capt. Nancy remember Jeanette's name today? It was all a mystery and we...

Today was a great trip for all those bird lovers. We saw bald eagles in the trees, on the rocks, flying, and in their nests.

On Spieden Island, just north of San Juan Island, we saw the Mouflon sheep and non indiginous deer. On the backside or north side of Spied in the Cactus Islands we saw bald eagles, harbor seals and bull kelp.
We were also lucky enough to see a California Seal Lion right outside of Friday Harbor. Not only did we see great wildlife but we had great warm and sunny...

With no reports of whales our safari started by heading South out of Friday Harbor. We passed Whale Rocks and encountered Steller's Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. I am always impressed with the size of Steller's Sea Lions around 1500 pounds! Pupping season for harbor seals is mid June and I can't wait to see all the baby seals.

We also took a good long look at Goose Island on the southern tip of San Juan Island and saw the Cormorant rookery. Fishermen from China historically had used...

Today on the Sea Lion we went out North of Friday Harbor, on the way to find the orcas we saw Harbor Seals hauled out. We then found J-pod. We saw a calf, one female and one male. On the way back to Friday Harbor we encountered Stellar Sea Lions of Patos Island swimming. Everyone was amazed with just how large the Stellars were. We also saw Harbor porpoise. We discussed some of the differences between dolphins (orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family) and porpoises...