When I heard the vocalizations of orcas at the Lime Kiln hydrophone this morning, I knew it would be an entertaining day. The whale chatter seemed excited and endless!

Several hours later when we were viewing the same animals from the M/V Sea Lion, they were still partying hard. We watched a large group of Southern Resident Killer Whales begin to disperse as they entered Boundary Pass from Turn Point, heading toward the Pender Island bluffs. Soon small socializing groups of...

With plenty of sun shining, M/V Kittiwake departed Friday Harbor with a family, Captain Jim, and myself. There was one little boy who really wanted to see whales and we were able to head north to see a Minke whale. We spotted the Minke in Boundary Pass just west of Waldron Island. This Minke was very friendly and everyone was very excited it. M/V Kittiwake was very fortunate to have some great viewings of lunge feeding occurring. I was lucky enough to show the little boy the...

Southern Resident Killer Whales were spread out over 2 miles and traveling south through Boundary Pass today. 

In total we spent time viewing 15 Killer Whales, but many other individuals were observed surfacing in the distance.  It didn’t matter in which direction you looked there were Orcas!  It was absolutely fan-tastic!

In the first group, there were 8 individuals including a mature male and also a young calf.  Initially these whales were traveling in two smaller groups, one...

Today we headed north on a wildlife adventure!  Incredible scenery through the northern San Juan Islands; we passed by Spieden Island first.  Adult male mouflon sheep were grazing near shore; their large and round horns are quite a sight.  Several females were also resting in the grass close by.  We also spotted a bald eagle at the top of a tree looking out for its next meal.  A harbor seal was resting with her pup on a mattress of rockweed, a type of seaweed, up against the...

5 Transient Orcas came into the Salish Sea today, made a kill, and quickly headed back for open water. We found them at approximately 2:30PM right off Java Islets in Boundary pass circling their kill like a pack of wolves. It was the T18’s and T’19s including Mr. Floppy Fin (T19B). Within minutes of their kill they had cleaned up the remains and headed north for the Strait of Georgia. We left them rounding East Point, traveling fast, gaining speed to 10 knots.

Rumor has it...some...

By the time we reached the whales today, near Saturna Island (Canada), people had lined up along the shoreline waiting for their chance to see the Southern Residents. It was six members of Jpod slowly moving north in Boundary Pass headed for the Strait of Georgia (48°45.88N 123°04.69W). In the mix we found Hy’Shqa (J37) and her newborn J49, along with Grandma Samish (J14) and the 20 year-old orphan from Lpod, Onyx (L87).

The group appeared to be resting, staying fairly close to...

Today was arguably one of the warmest, nicest days of the season.  We were lucky enough to encounter a single Minke up north in Boundary Pass.  The water was like glass, and it's not often that we find Minkes up that way.  As we came around Turn Point we also came across a pretty elusive group of Dall's Porpoise.  They showed enough of themselves for our passengers to get a good look, but weren't too interested in hanging out otherwise.

On the way home we also found a few Bald Eagles...

Today was a day of border crossing, and re-crossing, and crossing again.  In search of orcas rumored to be nearly out of reach, we headed north out of the harbor, eventually crossing the border into Canada at Boundary Pass.  Up around Saturna Island, we went into the Strait of Georgia where we finally found whales.  We spent much of our time going back and forth across the border as we observed J-pod and L87, a large male named "Onyx" with a solid white saddle patch on his right side...

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...

Well, we did not find orcas, but we did find plenty of other cool creatures.  On a boat built for 50, we had 7 people, so it was like having a private tour.  The guests and captains and I were relaxed and open to any new experiences that might come our way.

In that light we decided to head farther northwest than we usually do when going on a wildlife tour.  We traveled up President's Channel and around Patos Island, a state marine park.  I got to tell everyone about the historic...