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...

Naturalist Sallly with Whale Watching Guests aboard MV Sea Lion

SuperPod. That got my attention. I got into gear and called staffer Ellie to see if she would watch the office. I am out of here!
Needlesstosay, I had a wonderful three hour mini vacation on my own boat with an unbeatable crew.

Here are some not-so-professional photos of the 3 hours

Whale Watching Guests Photographing

Haying on San Juan Island

Ok. So the hay is not from the whale watching tour. But this is what...

You never can tell how a day will turn out. Even ones that seem to have the least number of prospects can turn out to be the most exciting. As was the case yesterday. With Capt. Craig driving the M/V Sea Lion, Capt. Jeff motoring along in the M/V Kittiwake and Nancy, Lauren and me crewing, we headed off on a northern wildlife tour. As we neared Spieden Island though our plans changed drastically with the receipt of a report of transient orcas outside of Victoria Harbor. Away we...

Not all black and white creatures are created the same, as well we know. No one would mistake a zebra for an orca. But someone might mistake a Dall's porpoise for an orca. Especially if the orca is expected and the Dall's porpoise is not.

That was not exactly what happened tonight, but it was a surprise none the less. Capt. Denny and I knew we would probably not see orcas, unless we were to happen upon some transients. The last thing we anticipated though, was to see Dall's porpoises...