Unlike yesterdays tumultuous seas, it was a rather pleasant day on the water. The sun came out, and was quickly followed by sightings of J Pod. Soon after heading north out of Friday Harbor, we met up with Granny of J Pod, near Open Bay. Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, Naturalist Heather, and myself stuck around to watch Granny for a bit, but she was foraging at a brisk pace so we decided to check out some of her more playful family members further south.
Once we got closer, we were...

Heading out of Friday Harbor, we zipped out towards Salmon Bank, where reports of J Pod and a few L's were hanging out. Captain Jim and myself were able to make great time out to the whales since we were riding out in style in the Kittiwake, our original San Juan Safaris boat! Kittiwake is a great boat to get a very personalized and scenic view of the whales. This trip only emphasized that point. Our guests, along with the crew, were extremely surprised when Blackberry, J-27, and a...

Leaving Friday Harbor we headed towards the west side of San Juan Island where, Captain Mike and myself, met up with a few members of L Pod. We were able to cruise up the west side of the island and get great looks at some of the mature males of L Pod such as Mega, Solstice, Mystery, Skana, and Spirit! The west side is an excellent region to spot Orcas because of the high density of salmon coming through that area.
On our way back towards Friday Harbor we took a small detour over...

We had a fabulous trip to the south side of San Juan Island today.  Sunny skies and calm waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca made for incredible whale watching!  After seeing several harbor seals cruising through Cattle Pass, we encountered the Steller sea lions on Whale Rocks.  At least ten were lounging in the sun.  As we headed into the strait, we saw several members of the resident L-pod actively feeding offshore of South Beach (48°26N, 123°00W).  First we saw members of the L12...

Today we were watching a variety of wildlife on the south side of San Juan Island.  We observed between 10-15 members of L pod that were spread out south of False Bay and heading to the southeast (48°25.25N, 123°05.87W).  Five to six orcas were surfacing in a tight-knit group.  Three other individuals were at least 500 yards away to the south and east, but traveling in the same direction.  One orca breached twice; what an incredible splash!  We believe we spotted the L85 “Mystery” in...

Exciting day on the water! Leaving the harbor under rainy skies, we traveled north around San Juan Island. Happily, the skies dried and the sun soon came out just as we caught up with members of the Southern Resident Killer Whales in Haro Strait. Traveling along the west side of Stuart Island and milling in the Turn Point area (first sighted at 48°40.67N 123°14.92W) were: Onyx (L87), along with Slick (J-16) and her calf, Echo (J-42), Mike (J-26) and Alki (J-36). Our next sighting...

We had calm seas and a bright sunny day, perfect for wildlife watching! We departed Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to view harbor seals in the water and hauled out, as well as a bald eagle perched high in the tree tops. There were more seals around Goose Island, plus cormorants, gulls, and a large stellar sea lion playing in the bull kelp. Then, around whale rocks we saw three massive male steller sea lions hauled out on the rocks. One even started growling! It was awesome to...

Lots of wildlife today! First we saw about a dozen harbor seals just south of Friday Harbor, hauled up on the rocks. Then, at whale rocks we came across some pelagic cormorants, more harbor seals, plus a huge male stellar sea lion, a very rare sight for this time of year!

Continuing around towards the west side of San Juan Island, we came across at least seven killer whales. Both members of J and L pod were around. We identified L-86 “Onyx,” J-16 “Slick,” and L-92 “Crewser...

In my post yesterday, I mentioned how I could not find words to describe how amazing our Orca encounter was. Well, surprisingly everything that I said yesterday can be applied to our afternoon trip today! There was another super pod of killer whales, but we didn’t realize this right away.

We departed Friday Harbor heading north, and did not have to travel far. We caught up with three killer whales just on the north side of Henry Island (48°36.720’N 123° 12.300’W). We watched...

On last night’s sunset cruise we caught up with two groups of about 20+ Southern Resident Killer Whales headed south in Rosario Strait between Cypress and Blakely Island (48°34.46N, 123°46.05W). They hadn’t gone far since the greeting ceremony earlier that day, but you could tell the excitement had worn on them. They appeared to be resting, moving at a steady pace in unison, only coming up for 3-5 breaths before taking long dives.

From what we had identified, it was members of L-pod...