There's a theory among whale watch captains that whales breach more when the waves are choppier.  Last night's trip was definite proof for that theory!

We left the harbor southbound, searching for our earlier super pod.  As we peeked out of the safety of the islands at Cattle Pass, the wind was blowing down from the Olympic Mountains, creating a fierce chop in the water.  As we traveled northwest, sea spray was blowing over the bow and the port side of the boat; everyone took shelter...

Our adventures today started off a little cool, cloudy and choppy as we traveled south towards Cattle Pass.  Along the way, we stopped for some harbor seals hauled out attempting to bask but then found others at the Pass being more efficient with their time (there was no sun for basking) hunting for food.

Around the bend, headed northwest into the Haro Straight, we began seeing intermittent identifiable black dorsal fins: looks like J-pod was in the neighborhood.  The pod was spread...

Any time you're thinking about getting on a boat, check the sky and then cross your fingers.  Today we had intermittent sunshine over Friday Harbor and dark gray low-hanging clouds to the south.  And to the south we went... with fingers crossed that the clouds would continue out to sea and away from our projected travels.

Just before leaving the protection of the islands, we saw a handful of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks exchanging 48 degree Celsius water for slightly warmer...

We narrowly escaped the rain today; luckily, by trip departure time it was done raining in the San Juan Islands.  Overcast weather and threats of rain don't keep the whales away though and as we rounded Cattle Point and came up along the west side in some choppy waves, we were rewarded for our perseverance: J-pod was back from their few-day stint at sea.

Spread out in a long line along the west coast, we watched the orcas travel in their smaller groups past Lime Kiln State Park.  One...

With storm clouds and rain to the north, we started heading south towards Cattle Pass.  Word on the quiet ocean: Minke whales were in the neighborhood.

Passing several plump harbor seals hauled out off Cattle Point, we motored out to Salmon Bank and then Hein Bank, areas known for schools of herring and, subsequently, birds and marine mammals feeding on the abundant food source.  A female and calf Minke whale were seen by other vessels in the area.  At Hein Bank, we spotted several...

The sun was shining as we left the harbor and headed south toward Cattle Pass.  A few of the seals hauled out on the rocks lazily lifted their heads to give us a quick glance before returning to their afternoon nap.  A river otter scampered down the shoreline and slid into the water, quickly disappearing below the glassy surface.  A hand full of Steller Sea Lions were rolling around in the pass, floating and lifting their flippers into the air.  They too seemed to be enjoying the...

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...

Another beautiful day.  That makes wo in a row!

It was calm enough to head south through Cattle Pass and do an entire circumnavigation of San Juan Island.  Whale rocks was packed with Steller Seal Lions,  Harbor Seals, and Cormorants and as we headed out toward the straight, with the wind at our backs, we decided it would be the perfect day to just keep on going.  We made it all the way around to Henry Island and turned out toward Speiden to try to sneak a peek at some land mammals. ...

Heading south through cattle pass we encountered some Harbor Seals as well as a lone Steller Sea Lion swimming south and playing in the current.  Whale rocks also provided us with some very large male Stellers' maneuvering awkwardly on shore.

We then headed into the middle of Haro strait to try and confirm the rumors of J-pod.  Sure enough, in glassy water with very light wind, we saw two orca cruising at the surface.  They were heading west at a pretty steady pace.  After scanning...

The season officially started last Saturday with some beautiful days and plentiful Harbor Seals and Stellar Sea lions.  But the real show was today aboard the M/V Sea Lion.  We had reports of J-pod out towards Victoria and heading West into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We boarded our passengers a little early and went for it.

The rain was coming down steadily but cleared as we approached Discovery Island.  Pretty soon the whales were up ahead.  Somewhere between 10 and 14 members of...