[7/21/17- M/V Kestrel- 10AM & 2PM]

 J pod is still here!  We left Friday Harbor and headed East towards Rosario Strait, where the whales were hanging out pretty much all day.  On our way we stopped at a beautiful eagle’s nest on the northern tip of Lopez Island.  Eagle’s nests can get about 6 feet deep and ten wide wide and can weigh over 2,000 pounds. 

Once we got some good eagle looks we continued East towards Anacortes were we encounter J pod!  Most of our viewing was of the J38...

(7/23/17- M/V Sea Lion- 5:30 PM)

This evening we departed from our Friday Harbor dock with reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales heading up the west side of San Juan Island.  This is only my fourth time seeing these whales all season, so our guests today got a real treat. 

We headed up San Juan Channel where we stopped by some rocks and saw a few harbor seals hauled out while the tide was out.  Harbor seals haul out usually once a day in order to warm their body...

(6/29/17 - Sea Lion 1:30 PM Departure)

You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be out on the water here in the San Juan’s.  We left the dock with reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales on the south side of San Juan Island, near False Bay.  We headed straight toward that report of whales and decided to look for other wildlife on the way back.  After a nice leisurely ride we made it to the whales.  Our guests were very enthusiastic about seeing the whales and getting...

[6/25/17 - M/V Sea Lion - 1:30PM] The Residents are back! Parts of J pod and L pod were both spotted and heard (on the hydrophones) this morning. This is exciting! The San Juan Islands are best known for the salmon eating Southern Residents and it’s great to hear that they are back at least if only for a little while. Captain Gabe, Rachel, and I set out with a great crew to go find them. When they are around they usually have a few distinct paths that they like as they search for the...

Yesterday we had our first evening trip for this season and it was one for the books!  Earlier in the day we saw all of members of J pod, a total of 24 whales, resting together on the South West side of San Juan Island.  Thankfully, the whales decided to stay in the area for our evening trip, which allowed our guests to have a relaxing and enjoyable view of these Southern resident killer whales.  On our way to the whale sighting we came across some playful Dall’s porpoise.  Always a...

(May 7, 2017)  After a couple of weeks of hanging lefts out of Friday Harbor and heading for Canadian waters to watch transient orca, humpback, grey, and minke whales, it felt strange to bear right and run south in San Juan Channel.  Such a move often signals that our resident killer whale pods have returned to hunt salmon on the west side of the archipelago, and today was no exception.

Before we reached our destination, we stumbled upon a small pod of Dall’s porpoise.  Our...

Today we left Friday Harbor with the exciting report of J pod hanging around the San Juan Islands.  We headed around to the North side of Orcas Island where we saw a few Steller’s Sea Lions swimming around as well as a harbor seal.  We also got some great looks at a pod of harbor porpoise.  Harbor porpoise tend to be a bit shy around boats so it is always exciting when we get excellent look at them from our vessel.  We hugged the North shore of Sucia Island where we saw a bald eagle...

I often measure time in days, weeks, *gasp* months between whale encounters. In the winter orca encounters are sporadic, but as we creep into springtime there are more and more sightings and less and less time between those sweet moments.

This morning I rolled out of bed, ate some breakfast, took the dog for a walk at English Camp (look at the picture, she’s adorable), and then checked the reports from our Pacific Whale Watch Association member companies. I couldn’t help but grin...

She was my first wild orca. I will never forget that moment as I sat on the bow of the M/V Sea Lion, mere hours after stepping off the ferry, and I was looking at her family. I watched her glossy back break the surface and heard that powerful "kwoof" that instantly became my favorite sound. I took in every detail of her closed saddlepatch and petite dorsal fin with a scallop out of the trailing edge before she dove below the surface.  With a wandering tear rolling over my cheek, and...

Yesterday, the sun was out again and the seas were calm. Early in the morning the Southern Resident Killer Whales could be heard over one of the hydrophones placed on the west side of the island, and by the time the sun came up there was a whole lot of orcas spread out along the southern shore of San Juan Island. Captain Mike, Scott, and I took a bunch of great folks on an adventure to find these orcas and of course some other amazing wildlife as whale. First we stopped to look at a...