The great weather continued today as Captain Jim, passengers, and I sped up along the west side of San Juan Island to meet up with a few L Pod members. As you might have read in earlier posts, L-22, Spirit, and her two sons, L-79, Skana, and Solstice, L-89, have been consistently found milling along the west side of San Juan this summer. Today was no exception!  They seemed to be the only show in town, since all the boats were out and about, including the University of Washington...

With eager guests, Captain Jim and myself departed on M/V Kittiwake. As soon as we got out of the harbor area, our guests were scanning the tree line for Bald Eagles. We got to Turn Island and guests spotted two Bald Eagles sitting on tree branches close to the water. The guest that spotted the Bald Eagles was celebrating his birthday!
We headed to the south, toward Hein Bank. We had reports the J-pod was spaced out and as soon as we got closer we could see this was true. We spotted...

M/V Kittiwake, guest, Captain Jim, and myself departed Friday Harbor and headed north. Our guests got a great view of the Cactus Islands, Johns Island, and Stuart Island. We caught up with part of J-pod just off of turn point, which marks the most north western point in the U.S. Our guests got great views of the cookie clan, which includes J22-Oreo, J32-Rhapsody, J-34 Doublestuff, J-38 Cookie. This family group was also traveling with another two family groups and our guests were...

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's afternoon whale watching trip was a great example of all the wildlife we can see around the San Juan Islands. Around each corner we were confronted with a different species of animal! Not even 5 minutes out and the Harbor Porpoises were happily munching on herring and smelt in the choppy waters near Cattle Pass. Usually, Harbor porpoises are fairly shy around boats, but today they gave us great views as 10-15 porpoised simultaneously! Not long after that our boat was...

Two great trips on the M/V Kittiwake today. We had both an afternoon and a chartered sunset trip. The swell had calmed down from previous days, leaving us with calm, glassy water on our trips. Both groups got great views of Spirit, L-22, and her two sons, Solstice, L-89, and Skana, L-79. This family of 3 have been moving along the west side of San Juan Island throughout the day, continuously searching for that tasty Chinook Salmon that they love ohhhh so much. And it sure looked like...

Happy Forth of July everyone! It has been a fantastic day so far! We left our Friday Harbor location and headed out to the west side of the island near False Bay where we met some of our L-Pod members. Spirit, Skanna, and Solstice were there feeding on the Chinook Salmon that are slowly retuning back to the Salish Sea. Our Southern Resident Orcas will stay with their mother and family group their whole life; this means that our Orcas here have matriarchal societies. Spirit is Skanna...

4th of July is right around the corner and the whales are here to help celebrate! Captain Craig, Andrew, and myself had two great trips today. We started the day off right with brilliant blue skies and not a cloud in sight. Our afternoon trip had a boat full of eager passengers ready to spot some resident orcas. With binoculars at the ready, we cruised along the west side of San Juan Island till we encountered a subgroup of L Pod. The group we watched for the remainder of our...

On our sunset tour today, Captain Mike, our guests, and I got to spend our evening enjoying a subgroup of  L Pod right off the west side of San Juan Island. They greeted us right off of Eagle Point and slowly meandered back and forth searching for Chinook Salmon. For the most part they stayed off in the distance minding their own business until suddenly the changed direction underwater and surfaced near our boat, rewarding us with a few tail slaps. Our passengers had their cameras...

We left Friday Harbor today with our hopes set high on encountering our Southern Resident Killer Whales. This was the first time we have seen our Killer Whales since Saturday, and we were very happy to welcome them back. We headed out through Cattle Pass and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our guests braved the high seas with enthusiasm and wonderful questions while waiting to get on seen with the whales!

L-41 (Mega) was there to welcome us as he appeared out of the water, with his...