Today was quite the day with lots of wildlife to be seen! Caitlin, Captain Mike, and I were paired up as a team once again and had a fabulous trip! It looked dark and ominous as we went though Cattle Pass out towards the Olympic Mountains, but it never rained a drop. We saw lots of Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, and Bald Eagles as we motored out towards the whales. It's always great to see such a variety of wildlife!

When we got to the L-22s (part of our Southern Resident Killer...

Today was a beautiful day to be on the water with plenty of action, and Caitlin, Captain Mike and I were out to experience it all! We left the dock and headed out to the south end of San Juan Island. As we went through Cattle Pass, there was a plethora of wildlife to be scene. A mated pair of Bald Eagles flew above the water in front of us and landed on Goose Island. Also on Goose Island were lots of hatchings! Fluff balls of down feathers and young, disoriented, hungry baby Galls...

Today was a great day for watching our mammal hunting transient killer whales! We left our Friday Harbor location in hopes of encountering these majestic whales along the way and were pleased when we found them! The stakes were high, I had already seen this same small pod of transients kill a harbor seal days before and hoped this trip would be just as good; I wasn't let down! These whales seemed to be on a course of their own as they surfaced about 3 feet from our boat and proceeded...

Today we headed to the south end of San Juan Island with some fabulous guests, many from foreign countries such as Japan, Germany, and even Australia! We were happy to see such diversity on board today. As we headed through the San Juan Channel, we were all excited to see our Dall's Porpoise having a grand old time ridding the waves off of our stern and bow! Both myself and Emily (the other naturalist on board) had never seen these small mammals and were equally excited to witness...

Captain Mike, Andrew and myself left our Friday Harbor location today and headed south through the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass where we hoped to encounter some great whale activity. Along the way we stopped to say "hello" to my favorite small critters that are known to inhabit the Salish Sea: Harbor Seals. The harbor seals thrive on our large tidal difference here which create the upwellings they navigate through to hunt. Their whiskers on the front of their face are...

The same group of marine mammal-eating Transients (the T49Bs and T65As) that "wowed" us yesterday demonstrated their hunting prowess again today outside of Sidney, British Columbia. Just before coming upon the gang we witnessed several Harbor Porpoise in the area. The orcas began to breach and moved inshore where it appeared that they pinned their prey right up against the beach. Our hardy guests enjoyed the show despite the driving wind and rain and huddled back in our vessel's...

Today’s tour was a bit different than usual, yet so refreshing! With no whale reports since the night before, we took our tour to the inner islands.

Sure the San Juan Islands are home to one of the most charismatic animals in the world, the Killer Whale, but that is not the only thing that makes them beautiful. Often times the inner beauties of these islands are overlooked, but today we allowed our guests to discover these beauties. We toured along Flattop Island, the Cactus Islands...

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...

Once again, it was beautiful day in the San Juan Islands with bluebird skies and flat calm waters.  And, the Salish Sea was teeming with wildlife and seabirds. 

In the San Juan Channel and Cattle Pass we saw Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, Steller Sea Lions, and a number of different seabird species.  Here the tide is funneled through Lopez Island and San Juan Island creating upwelling.  Eager for a meal, marine mammals and seabirds congregate in this area, taking full advantage...

Our day began with Harbor Seals!  As usual they were taking advantage of the beautiful weather and having a snooze while soaking up the sunshine. 

We then motored south through the San Juan Channel where we saw a number of marine mammal and seabird species including Harbor Porpoise, Steller Sea Lions, Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, Cormorants, Harbor Seals, and a plethora of Gulls.  These animals were most likely foraging in this highly productive area. 

As we cruised south...