Our 2013 Whale Watch season is off the a great start. We've hosted guests on four Whale Watch tours in the past week and encountered Transient mammal-hunting Orcas on each tour. Today was no exception!

We departed Friday Harbor without any reports of killer whales in the area and were having a great wildlife tour encountering Stellar's sea lions, bald eagles, and harbor seals galore. We were about to leave Spieden Channel to head North into Haro Strait when (to our surprise!!), I...

Although the beautiful, sunny skies were replaced by clouds and grey skies today, our spirits were not dampened; we were all equipped with a sense of adventure and eager to spend the afternoon exploring the Salish Sea.  And, we were not disappointed.  Within minutes of departing Friday Harbor and entering the San Juan Channel we were rewarded with a large, male Steller Sea Lion enjoying his lunch.  The Sea Lion would emerge with a fish in his mouth, aggressively thrash the fish about...

We had a very exciting and full-of-wildlife day! We departed Friday Harbor heading north into Canadian waters. Before seeing the main event (killer whales) we spotted about five or six harbor porpoise just north of San Juan Channel. Not long after we saw one dorsal fin, then another, then three more! There were about eight to ten southern resident killer whales, traveling close to each other. They were moving north along Pender Island (48º 36.54’N 123º 04.94’W). We watched as...

We circumnavigated San Juan Island today, seeing wild life all the way around. We left Friday Harbor heading south and ran into a group of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. Shortly after, around Goose Island, there was another large group of seals foraging in the water!

Continuing around to the west side, we ran into some fog and slowed. We could make out some boats, so we stopped and started to look for whales. Through the fog we heard the distinctive “powoof” of a killer whale...

We caught up with killer whales just as they were swimming across Turn Point, off Stuart Island, heading west. The whales were not just slowly traveling by; they were porpoising out of the water, moving fast! All together there were four of them. Two were right next to each other, their bodies flying out of the water in full synchronization.

Four more killer whales followed shortly after. There were two large males in this small group. We could see their massive dorsal fins at least...

Southern Resident Killer Whales today!

Caught up with about 7 slowly foraging members of J-Pod, including Granny (J-2), Blackberry (J-27) along with Onyx (L-87) on the west side of San Juan Island at 48.27.388N 123.03.597W. We stayed with them until peeling away at the light house at Lime Kiln to complete a circumnavigation of San Juan Island.  Caught a quick sighting of 2 Dall’s Porpoises close to Kelp Reef too.

On the way out, San Juan Channel was busy with Harbor Porpoises (at...

A great day to be on the water; we had blue skies, wispy white clouds, and plenty of wildlife to observe.  First we headed out to Spieden Channel and came upon a group of harbor seals hauled-out on an exposed rock.  They were snoozing and enjoying the sunshine.  We continued northwest towards Stuart Island and encountered “Onyx”, L-87, slowly traveling the same direction, just south of Turn Point (48°39.931N, 123°14.114W).  As we continued into Boundary Pass, we encountered members...

I experienced something new and beautiful today. We had a service at sea during the first part of a charter trip this morning. Not much to say except that we were honored to be a part of it. After which we headed north, first slowing by Spieden Island looking for muflon sheep and deer, but seeing a few harbor seals resting on the rocky shore and a group of harbor porpoises surfacing in front of our boat!

We then went around the top of San Juan Island and saw our first killer whale...

It was a terrific day around the San Juan Islands in terms of weather and wildlife. As we left Friday Harbor heading south, the sun was shining and the water flat. Perfect for spotting the many harbor seals hauled out, covering every small rocky island exposed during high tide. We also passed Goose Island where cormorants were taking advantage of the sun as well, drying off their feathers.

Then we rounded cattle point and saw our first dorsal fin break the water just south of False...

Today we shuffled around Spieden, Stewart and some of the inner islands. As we boarded the boat we prepared for a wet day, but it actually turned out to be very nice. On the south side of Spieden we saw at least 30 or so Mouflon Sheep and got to see the very first Mink of the season, scurrying along the shoreline. We then made our way around Stewart, through John’s Pass, and through the Cactus Islands seeing numerous Harbors Seals hauled out on small rocky islets and a lone Bald...