Heading north out of Friday Harbor, Captain Craig, Andrew, our eager guests, and I crossed the Canadian boundary line in search of the elusive K Pod. Up until two days ago, K Pod had yet to show their beautiful black and white faces in our region. Once across the boundary line, we met up with a few K Pod members interspersed with J Pod members. It was great to see K Pod out and about!

After we left the group of  J and K Pod, we decided to try our luck a little bit south where we...

Today, Captain Mike, a few quests, and myself headed up northeast towards Lummi Island where we intercepted J Pod steadily moving east. Like Andrew mentioned in yesterdays blog, the community has been anxiously awaiting the return of our residents pods and were overjoyed to hear of a superpod traversing through our area. The resident pods seemed to have split up by the time our afternoon and sunset trip rolled around.

However, that didn't stop us from seeing whales today! Earlier in...

Today we left Friday Harbor with a full boat of eager passengers who were determined to see some Orcas, and L Pod did not let them down! Captain Mike, Naturalist Andrew, and myself, did not have to go far to encounter L Pod stretched out along south end of San Juan Island. We stayed with a subgroup of L Pod hanging around Salmon Bank for the majority of the trip. This proved to be an excellent decision when a group of females and juvenile males repeatedly displayed breaches, tail...

Unlike yesterdays tumultuous seas, it was a rather pleasant day on the water. The sun came out, and was quickly followed by sightings of J Pod. Soon after heading north out of Friday Harbor, we met up with Granny of J Pod, near Open Bay. Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, Naturalist Heather, and myself stuck around to watch Granny for a bit, but she was foraging at a brisk pace so we decided to check out some of her more playful family members further south.
Once we got closer, we were...

Heading out of Friday Harbor, we zipped out towards Salmon Bank, where reports of J Pod and a few L's were hanging out. Captain Jim and myself were able to make great time out to the whales since we were riding out in style in the Kittiwake, our original San Juan Safaris boat! Kittiwake is a great boat to get a very personalized and scenic view of the whales. This trip only emphasized that point. Our guests, along with the crew, were extremely surprised when Blackberry, J-27, and a...

Another wonderful day on the water! Sun was out and it was HOT. Captain Mike, Naturalist Emily, and myself went south out of Friday Harbor and then steadily made our way north along the west side of San Juan Island. While meandering along the west side, we first encountered a large group of bobbing seals in the water. After sitting in silence for a bit we realized our boat was surrounded by harbor seals! It was great to see them enjoying the crisp 46 degree waters.
After saying...

Mega has a large nick on the back edge of his dorsal fin and small nick farther down which makes him easy to identify.

We left our Friday Harbor location and eventually arrived on the north end of San Juan Island to find not only our resident J-pod but also a small group of L-pod known as the L-12s. This is the first time this season we've seen residents other than J-pod. The L-12s include the oldest male in the Southern Community, big L41, otherwise known as Mega.
After watching...

Couldn't have asked for a better day on the water. Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, and myself were lucky enough to take out a great wedding party. The rainy skies cleared away for a beautiful sunny day and we only had to turn the corner out of Roche Harbor to spot J Pod. Couldn't get any easier! While watching off of Henry Island, J Pod seemed to be moving quickly along the coastline. We got to witness lots of porpoising and the occasional breaching. It was great to see these whales...

The weather was perfect: high around 70 degrees, clear blue sky, and very light breeze.  The only thing that could make it better would be a day with the Orcas.  Did you order up Orcas?

Yes, a large order, please!

Coming right up.

We ran north - through beautifully calm water, enjoying the spectacular scenery.  Mount Baker was a clear and crisp as I've ever seen it.  Along the way, we saw harbor porpoise, common murre, pigeon guillemot, and harbor seals swimming about.

As we...

We spent our afternoon near Victoria (48°25.3N, 123°09.5W) where we saw Southern Resident Killer Whales.  At least 15 members of J-Pod were traveling east, separated into 3 groups.  In the largest group 8 individuals were porpoising in close proximity with one another.  The whales were cruising at a fast clip, around 11 knots.  This larger group also performed some surface displays:  breaching, lobtailing, and rolling around at the surface.  We just love these whales (well...