Wildlife galore today!  We departed Friday Harbor with a northbound heading: towards the sunshine.  We had quite a pleasant ride up into the waters of Canada, with a few gray harbor porpoises traveling with us and a silver harbor seal peering at us from the ocean.

Off in the distance, we spotted five vessels off Saltspring Island, Canada.  They appeared to be observing some transient killer whales.  As our boat--the Sea Lion--got closer, we were able to identify a large male orca...

It's not too often we have the opportunity to circumnavigate San Juan Island; it usually isn't terribly convenient for where we have to travel and the amount of time we have to do it in.  But today was the exception to the rule.

We got the call in early that there were orcas spotted off of Canada's Discovery Island (just off of the southern tip of Vancouver Island) but that they may be headed out to sea.  So off we went, full boat and ready for wildlife viewing.  After traveling...

On Sunday, May 29th we ventured out on two trips to accommodate all of our holiday weekend whale watchers.  And successful we were.

Headed northbound, we stopped by Spieden island to see the non-native Mouflon sheep and Sika and Fallow deer.  Further on, we saw several harbor seals and Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks warming up in the wonderful San Juan sunshine.  Off of bird rock, we saw a young bald eagle (no white-feathered head yet) perched two feet out of the water...

Today was the first day of Memorial Day Weekend and we celebrated it by nearly filling both of our vessels, the Sea Lion and the Kittiwake, for an afternoon whale watch.  Throughout the day, the weather went from gray clouds and overcast to nice white fluffy clouds and sunshine.  We boarded the boats and left Friday Harbor heading north towards the Canadian border.  After an hour of solid travel, several sea birds, numerous islands and a swimming harbor seal, we edged up to East...

After a night of rain, I woke up this morning to still more rain, as it sometimes goes here in Washington.  But as the day progressed, the weather got better and better.  By the time our departure time rolled around, it was looking pretty good and sunny out here in the San Juan Islands.  From Friday Harbor, we headed north with word and hope of possible whales up in Canada by Active Pass.

After an hour of searching and a pass by a few Stellar sea lions, we started to see vessels off...

I know I have said it before, but I will say it again.  I love rainy day whale watches.  Not the gross, windy, perfect storm kind of days, but the days when everything is still and calm and you can see every bird, porpoise, and seal within five miles of you.  Today was one of those days.  From the second the passengers set foot on the boat today it felt like it was going to be an adventure.  I got lots of questions within the first few minutes of the trip and learned that among the...

Heading south from Friday Harbor, we had word that a potential transient pod was seen off Middle Bank and was headed further out towards the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  With the traveling pod in mind, we searched out in that direction.  After a about and hour and a half of travel, fifteen plus miles and some choppy seas, we spotted some whale watching vessels and then, at last, the orcas!  A pod of four to five unidentified transients were on the move, surfacing for several breaths and...

We started our adventure with a little rainfall as we left the harbor but within minutes the rain stopped and after heading south for a few more minutes, we found two harbor seals hauled out and resting.  After cruising just another 10 minutes south, we spotted some dorsal fins off of Cattle Point, and then more dorsal fins and then even more.  We had discovered a very spread out J-pod!  The pod was split up into several different groups, some of which were diving for extended...

Departed at low tide and headed south through Cattle Pass.  There was word of Minke's and J-pod out towards Port Townsend.  On the drive out we saw lots of Gulls feeding in bait, which is a good sign for whales.  We arrived on scene about an hour after departing the harbor.  As we slowly approached the area where the Orca had last been spotted a Minke whale took a breath straight off our bow!  It surprised everyone.  While we were still catching our breathes from the Minke encounter...

Wednesday arrived with sunny skies and the warmest temperatures of the season.  We departed a little early for our trip due to word of whales in the area.  We headed through Cattle Pass with the tide flooding against us.  As we cleared the pass and entered Haro straight Captain Craig pointed our bow south towards Partridge Bank.  But half way there we took a sharp right and headed up the straight as we spotted some Orca closer to our position.

We came on scene with just a couple...