Exciting first day on the water! Not only were we rewarded with an unseasonably gorgeous, sunny day, but, after 1 ½ hours of getting to the whales (this is very unusual, usually we travel about 30 to 45 minutes), we caught up with approximately 7 Transients traveling in Swainson Channel, just off Salt Spring Island, and with Ganges Harbor in sight. Since transients tend to travel in very small groups, 3 – 5, our sighting today was exceptional.  Also exceptional was the fact that...

Summer seems to have left the islands as quickly as it arrived, but the animals are still around!  We headed out in to Haro Strait this afternoon and came across a group of Transient Orca.  The Residents haven't been seen in a day or two, but the Transients were a great encounter.  The mature male of the group had a huge dorsal fin which gave our passengers a very big target to photograph.

On the way home we added another cetacean to our check list when we came across a nice group of...

Today was a day of lots and lots of harbor seals!  Everywhere!  And many of them were lined up like sausage links!  Transient orca sausage links!

We first went north towards Waldron Island and found them basking on a nearby rock.  Next, we went further north into Canadian waters and found them off of Saturna Island where five of them were lined up in a row.  Out by Sentinel Island, we found another thirty or so, with about six babies hauled out along the shoreline in their little...

The sun may have been shining today, but it was raining marine mammals!!! Shortly after leaving Friday Harbor and heading south we saw a large group of Harbor porpoise. We cut the engine and the miniature Cetaceans that are famously shy were all around the boat and even porpoising out of the water, exposing much of their flanks. Then once in Salmon Bank a Minke whale’s long back broke the surface and was soon followed by its small hooked dorsal fin.

As we entered Cattle Pass back...

Transient killer whales were the big sea creatures in town today!  We filled up the Sea Lion vessel with eager passengers and went out to the Rosario Strait just past Orcas Island in search of ocean life.  In the distance, we could see a splash then a white cloud indicative of whale snot (a blow) and then a black fin.  After another minute, two more whales surfaced and then a female and a little orca.  But wait?  Was that another two orcas 400 yards away from the group of five?  Why...

Today we traveled all the way to Victoria to see one lone transient.  He was magnificent.  It was a long haul but when we arrived he appeared to be patrolling up and down the rocks.  He has one of the broadest dorsal fins I have ever seen.

The word on the street was that he had been harassing a sea lion prior to our arrival.  When we got there he was just cruising, back and forth along the rocks, occasionally rolling slightly on his side as if he was looking up toward the rocks to...

It wasn’t exactly the nicest day on San Juan Island, but having it rain did not prevent us from going out and seeing the wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. We first saw a bald eagle perched in a dead looking tree. Then, we saw some whales I haven’t seen for over two months…transients! There were four of them, traveling very quickly, their dorsal fins waving in front of us. It was the T-19 group, and I love seeing the transients because they are really the coolest, top predator of...

We started seeing the dorsal fins of K pod after exiting the Speiden Channel and spotted Deadhead (K-27) with her new son (K-44). The boy is her first offspring and he will remain unnamed until after he has survived a winter and is officially considered part of the pod. Researchers do this because of the alarming fact that only around half of the calves survive the first year of life. The first-born calf has an even lower survival rate which is believed to be partially due to the...

Today we left the harbor and went up over Lopez and out into Rosario Straight.  We were nearly to Anacortes, just outside of Burrows Bay, when we saw a massive dorsal fin slice through the water.  There were a couple of smaller fins in the vicinity and as we drew closer there was a huge explosion of water as an orca breached clear and landed on its side.  Another breach followed shortly after and we noticed that there were whales very close to the rock.  They were moving fast...

Today we got spoiled: we had a choice between two transient killer whale pods!  The first group was called in as located off Sidney Island on the Canadian side of the Haro straight.  We left the harbor with these whales in mind but then we got another call; a second pod was seen between Saturna and South Pender Islands.

Once we caught up with this second group, we found that there were three animals in the pod: one male, one female and one calf.  Even with lots of helpful eyes on the...