What a pleasant surprise the gorgeous weather was today.  The sun was shining, it was warm and there were whales! What more could one really ask for? Except for the whales to be headed right in our direction,  and as it turned out they were!!   The plan was to head straight for the whales which were reported to be near Saturna Island just at the border between the United States and  Canada. Captain Craig informed us that we would not be making any stops so that we could make it to...

Okay, well it was actually all of us on the M/V Sea Lion that were doing the rocking and rolling, but I am sure that the orcas were having some fun too.  Especially if all of the breaches by the calf were any indication of their state of mind.  The waters were rough, (unusual for the San Juan Islands), but our guests were tougher and we prevailed in the end.  The orcas were spread all along the south end of San Juan Island in little clusters that were hard to find until we stumbled...

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...

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...

All good things must come to an end and this is just about it. Today was our last weekday trip of the season. As of tomorrow, we will only be going out on Saturdays through the month of October and then we will be done for good. Do not despair though, the orcas will be back next season and so will we. In the meantime, here is the address of a blog that is both educational and entertaining and will satisfy your daily hunger for blog sustenance.

http://bitterendblog.com/

It is not...

After what appeared to be the start of fall and winter, we are now back to the September weather that we are all so fond of. September really is the best month to see the islands and today was a perfect example of that.

I welcomed a lovely group of guests onto the M/V Kittiwake this afternoon and we headed off on our tour. The orcas were at the south end and west side of San Juan Island today, so it was difficult to decide where to go. Capt. Bill did a fabulous job though, and after...

Well, I can't tell you what a treat it is to be headed off on a wildlife trip with no hope of seeing orcas and then you get "The Call". For the past two days we have motored up San Juan Channel, swung north around Flattop Island and then been alerted of another boat finding orcas. Yesterday it was transients in Canada, today it was residents at the south end of the island. Both days, we had already informed our guests of the bad news of no orcas, but of our intention to visit the...

It was inevitable, but sad all of the same. Tonight was our last evening trip. We did not waste it though and we had a lovely group of guests out with us on the M/V Sea Lion. Even though there were no resident orcas tonight we still saw all kinds of wonderful wildlife.

As Capt. Pete toured us through the islands, we stopped time and again for harbor seals hauled out on rocks. Of course, there is always a method to Capt. Pete's madness and he was stopping at all of the places...

Today we headed north in the San Juan Channel. We had a few sightings of orcas earlier at False Bay on the west side ofSan Juan Island. We were originally considering going south. But as we motored out of Friday Harbor, we heard that the orcas were moving up on the west side of San Juan Island - fast.

So we went north and cruised past the south side of Spieden Island, which is just north of San Juan Island. As we looked for big black dorsal fins or a big blow from the bow of our...

As the orcas sought food and adventure in the waters of the pacific, so we sought peace and relaxation amongst the islands. We were without whales today, but our guests did not suffer for it. Capt. Nancy took the MV Sea Lion, guest naturalist Russell and me on a beautiful wildlife cruise under warm sunny skies.

Harbor seals with pups were on every corner and I lost count of all of the bald eagles that we saw. Mouflon sheep, along with sika and fallow deer, were all out on Spieden...