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Orcas, Minkes, Seals, and Sea Lions!

This morning we had early reports of the K14s traveling along the west side of San Juan Island. We had a morning trip and were excited to get going. Captain Jim took myself and our guests south in order to encounter the orcas. Along the way our guests were able to enjoy Harbor Seals and Northern Sea Lions! Once we got to the Orcas, guests were able to see an adult male and a young male swimming side by side! It appeared as though this family group was just traveling and searching for...

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Fantastic Day Filled With Orcas and Humpacks....And A Tufted Puffin!

We had fantastic weather and wildlife viewing today aboard our afternoon M/V Sea Lion trip.  We found our resident orcas, humpbacks, minkes, stellar sea lions, and even a tufted puffin! We headed to Salmon Bank and found J pod cruising the waters looking for food and were even lucky enough to witness some mating behaviors, and followed them along the west side of San Juan Island.  After an incredible show from J pod we came across a mom and calf humpback whale, and the calf was...

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Trifecta!

July 6th was an epic day here in the San Juan Islands! The afternoon trip was glorious as we headed to the reports of the southern residents and we spotted a humpback whale! We got a few awesome looks and got to see some sweet fluke up dives. We caught up with Jpod near Stuart Island. We got to see J2 Granny our 103 year old whale and L 87 Onyx who spends most of his time with Jpod. This was a great start to the day!

The evening trip was rocking too! We headed west this time and ran...

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Minke Mayhem!

Today we headed south out the San Juan Channel, into Cattle Pass and out to Salmon Bank. It was sunny and beautiful for fall! Along the way we had some great looks at harbor porpoise, harbor seals and even some steller sea lions. The marine mammals were all foraging in the strong tidal currants that stirred the fish making it easier for them to catch them! When we got out to Salmon Bank we came across a mike whale. We spent a while with this guy who was taking us in every which...

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Orcas, Humpback, and Minke Whales all in one Trip?!?

What a day, I don't even know where to begin on this blog! Today was one of those days (we seem to have those quite frequently) where you just couldn't look anywhere without seeing something cool! We had a whale "Trifecta" day where we saw a Minke Whale, Humpback Whale, and Orcas! It was incredible. We no sooner got done looking at our Humpback (which decided to surface literally three feet from our boat) and we had another whale to look at! I think our major problem today was...

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From Harbor Seals to Orcas

As soon as the radio in the wheel house was turned on, there was all sorts of chatter about Orcas milling at False Bay! Captain Mike took Caitlin, the guests, and I around the south end of the island through San Juan Channel and into the Haro Strait in order to see the Orcas. On the way, we encountered Harbor Seals playing in the currents and a Stellar Sea Lion perched majestically on Whale Rocks. While in transit to the Orcas, we also received rumors of a Minke Whale at Salmon Bank...

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L-Pod Orcas and Minke Whale!

The M/V Kittywake left Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of an elusive Minke out in Griffin Bay! We soon caught up with the small whale feeding on sand lance, krill, and small schools of herring right off of San Juan Island. The Minke gave us lots of great views surfacing many times, giving our guests some great photography moments. It's always a great day when we start off seeing whales ten minuets into our trip!

After we left the Minke Whale to continue foraging, we saw some...

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Minke Whale Feeding Off the Westside of Waldron Island

B-E-A-U-TIFUL weather around the San Juan's today! That lingering fog bank hanging along the westside of San Juan Island was not going to stop us from having a great whale watching and wildlife tour. Captain Brent, the passengers aboard M/V Kittiwake, and myself took this as an excellent opportunity to head North away from the heavy fog bank. This turned out to be an excellent choice, because we were able to meet up a Minke Whale feeding by its lonesome along the west side of Waldron...

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A Friendly Minke Whale!

With plenty of sun shining, M/V Kittiwake departed Friday Harbor with a family, Captain Jim, and myself. There was one little boy who really wanted to see whales and we were able to head north to see a Minke whale. We spotted the Minke in Boundary Pass just west of Waldron Island. This Minke was very friendly and everyone was very excited it. M/V Kittiwake was very fortunate to have some great viewings of lunge feeding occurring. I was lucky enough to show the little boy the...

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Beautiful Day on the Water- And Whales!!!

As I drove down to our Friday Harbor location today to go into work, the weather didn't look super. However, right before we went to un-dock the sun decided to make an appearance! It ended up being a gorgeous day on the water today- little to no wind, sunny, clear skies, and beautiful wildlife.

As we headed out the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass, we encountered a small Minke whale feeding on small schools of Sand Lance, Krill, and Herring. Minke whales aren't normally found...

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