We left Friday Harbor yesterday with reports of resident orcas heading North by Stewart Island. We decided to meet the whales at Turn point and headed the back way behind Spieden Island. We met the whales at Turn Point and we were pleasantly surprised to see all of Kpod grouped together in a small area. Every member of Kpod was there with the exception of K21 (Cappuccino), which includes a total of 18 whales! K21 generally travels with different southern resident families from J and L pod. We watched the K pod members constantly breathing in synchronization! It was a really great experience to see a whole pod of the southern resident community in such close quarters. On our way back to Friday harbor we went to the cactus islands and saw quite a few harbor seals swimming around as well as some great looks at about 4 bald eagles. Including a bald eagle that took off in flight! All in all it was an absolutely perfect day out on the water and I don't think our guests could have had a better trip.
Naturalist Rachel
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris