It’s still our shoulder season here in the San Juan Islands. That just means a few things. First: there’s a higher chance of rain, but not to worry this past El Niño event with other meteorological factors has seemed to brought summer early to the islands with sunny, warm days, and second: the consortium of wildlife that we are apt to see is a little bit different… sometimes.

            Normally this time of year the Southern Resident Orcas are still out to sea, hunting salmon and...

Some days you just get lucky. In April, the orcas are a little harder to predict. The Southern Resident Killer Whales who eat fish are always in and out traveling long distances to find the best fishing spots in the spring, whereas in the summer they usually follow a regular pattern of following the main Salmon schools up and down the west side of the islands towards Vancouver. The Transient Killer Whales are always hard to predict since they travel in smaller groups and zig-zag...

Today we were again treated to orcas close to San Juan Island. On the warmest day of the year (as of yet) and some of the best sunshine we’ve had in a while, it’s safe to say that the stoke factor was high for both guests and crew.

We again left the dock with no reported whales in the area, but as we have seen in the past few days that is in no way indicative of the sightings that we will have out on the trip. We changed things up today and headed south, enjoying the scenery of the...

Yesterday all of our stars aligned. During April, cetacean sightings have historically been a bit hit or miss… whales here one day and then gone the next. Lately we have had a lull in whale sightings, but we have still been out enjoying the beautiful weather and ample wildlife of spring in the Salish Sea.

We left the dock with no good report of orcas; no one in the Pacific Whale Watch Association’s spotting network had spotted anything. About 30 minutes off the dock, Captain Mike...

Yesterday was another beautiful spring day in the San Juan Islands. The sun was shining and there were reports of whales before we left the dock, an unusual occurrence for this time of year, but I feel like I have been saying that a lot in the past weeks!

            We headed north up through San Juan Channel hugging the shoreline, motoring past scenic Roche Harbor and around Battleship Island. We marveled at how it is starting to feel and look a lot like summer, while watching...

Yesterday we were greeted by the happy news that there is yet another new calf in the endangered Southern Resident community of orcas, and the sixth born into the familial grouping known as J Pod.

NOAA scientists first observed a new calf travelling between J14 Samish and J37 Hy’Shqa on January 18th and confirmed the sighting yesterday. Right now there is no confirmation on which female is the mother, but that is not unusual as all females within a family will take an active role in...

We had more great news yesterday when NOAA reported a new member of L Pod!  NOAA, who has been conducting research on the Southern Resident Orcas located L Pod off of Westport WA.  Westport is located on the Pacific Coast near the Columbia River.  L94 appears to be the mother to young L121.  This is the second calf for L94, Calypso, who had L113 in 2009.  L119, born in 2012, is the last calf that has survived in L Pod.  In the fall of 2014 L120, born to L86, only survived the first...

There is a lot of mystery surrounding new baby orca J50, but one thing is now clear.  It's a girl!  The telling photograph was snapped and everyone could not be happier with the results.  A healthy population needs females in order to continue matrilines and produce more offspring.  Currently the Southern Resident Killer Whale population has more breeding age males than females, which does not bode well for future offspring.  We can only hope that little J50 survives this first...

Well, it's official!  A new calf has been confirmed in the Southern Resident Killer Whales, bringing their numbers to 78 animals.  It is believed that J16 gave birth to the new calf just a few days ago as the calf was first spotted near San Juan Island today.  42 year old J16, or Slick, is a seasoned mother, having already raised 5 other calves.  We hope that with her knowledge the newest member of J Pod survives the first crucial year of life.  The sex of the baby orca will take...