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Captains Log - August 2005
If you have been on one of our tours, we would love to hear from you. Please give: date, tour time, what you saw. If you have photos send them. They could be placed on this page and could win our Photo Contest. One winner for kayaking and one winner for whale watching by boat
August 31, 2005 Wednesday Today the 1:00 whale watching boat saw a Gray Whale on the south end of Lopez Island. They did see several Stellar Sea Lions along with lots of Harbor Seals and Sea Birds. Where are the Orca Whales today? No one knows.
August 30, 2005 Tuesday Whale Watching boat tours today saw J and K pods down south between Eagle Cove and Cattle point on San Juan Island, about 40 whales. The Orca whales were quite active today with tail slaps, breaches, cartwheels and spy hops. Also seen today where Stellar Sea Lions and lots and lots of Harbor Seals in the water. It was a bit over cast and drizzly today, but the wildlife just doesnt care.
August 29, 2005 Monday Eveybody wants in the act! J, K, L and Transients around.
August 27, 2005 Saturday J, K &some of L pod in the Strait of Georgia, heading southwest from Point Roberts towards East Point on Saturna Island. The Orcas were spread out, active with lots of cartwheels, spyhops, breaches and tail lobs.
August 26, 2005 Friday First thing this morning all the whales were together off Victoria in Haro Strait headed to San Juan Island. They were on the south end of the island then most of them started heading north fast. When the 11:00 whale watching boat went north from Roche Harbor, it then turned its engines off and just drifted. About 15 minutes later we began seeing dorsal fins and splashes. We then went further north and west, cut the engines and watched whales as the continued north past Stuart Island. On this tour we also saw a sassy juvenial Eagle, many harbor seals both out swimming and sunning themselves on rock outcrops. Check photos on Captains Log page. It was a gorgeous day.
August 25, 2005 Thursday Saw the Gray Whale today. The staff and other naturalists have named him "Freddy". He has been hanging about now for approximately two months. It is about 80 today and very bright. The morning whale watching tour also saw Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal and a Harbor Porpoise. Harbor Porpoise are on the shy side, so most tours do not see them. The kayaking tours all had a fabulous day for being out on the water. The Captains Log has photos of some of our guests today.
August 24, 2005 Wednesday Naturalist Derin Ross reports today that on their afternoon tour they saw 6 big Stellar Sea Lions. Some swimming and one sunning on a rock. She also says they saw a Gray Whale. Lots of Lions Mane Jelly Fish around lately. Hot today, about 80. Perfect blue, clear skies. Great day to be on the water, especially in a kayak.
August 23, 2005 Tuesday Minke Whale! &a Gray Whale, plus 3 Stellar Sea Lions. What a wonderful tour full of variety. Naturalist Margo Thorp reports that a Minke Whale, a shy, retiring type whale not often seen, surfaced 2 - 3 times near them. Then the tour went to visit a gray whale. They were able to get a really good look at it. "When they dive the fluke is so beautiful the way it stands up to the last second". The big Stellar Sea Lions were doing what would be called a "spy hop" position if they were whales. They were looking all around. It was also a good bird trip. Great Blue Heron, Bald Eagle, Common Murres, Rhinocerous Auklets. Last, but not least, some Harbor Seals were seen too.
August 22, 2005 Monday Yes, there was fog today. Yes! We did see orca whales today. All the whale watching boat tours, 11:00, 1:00 and 4:00 saw L pod down south near Cattle Pass. Naturalist Derin Ross reported that the boat had its radar on because of the fog. She said sight distance was only about 100 feet. They first heard the whales then saw the whales coming up to and under the boat and all around the boat. It was L pod. This morning, naturalist Margo Thorpe had a similar story of fog, but seeing lots of whales once they swam up near the boat. The kayak tours all had a glorious day for kayaking-sunny and warm and no fog since we are located more to the north end of San Juan Island.
August 18, 2005 Thursday K's and L's were at the southern most part of the island this AM, so the afternoon trips were all in that area. This evening, they seemed to have gone far off our coast. Not sure if the evening tour will see whales, but just having been on the water the afternoon myself on a kayak tour, there is plenty of wildlife to see. Our kayak tour saw lots of harbor seals hauled out warning themselves, lazing about. It was a 2.4 minus tide and will go up to 8.9 ( a 12 foot exchange!) Plenty of birds out. Several Great Blue Heron where flying and hanging around our route today. The eel grass is so beautiful at low tide. You can look in and see the crabs and small fish moving about in it.Eel grass moves like angel hair. Several King Fishers were hunting fish, so were the cormorants. Today was hot, probably mid 80's.
August 17, 2005 Wednesday The afternoon tour spent time with L pod up near Saturna Island (north in Canadian waters) Whale watching naturalist Margo Thorp reports that she saw about ten breaches. One whale swam right up to the boat and breached about six foot from the boat. Margo also said there were several spy hop and tail lobing behaviors seen. Along with the orca whales today they also saw Dalls Porpoise, Harbor Porpoise, Rhinocerous Auklets and Common Murres.Thursday-Margo told me today that the whales were in FRIDAY HARBOR! This happens maybe once a year. It was about 20 members of L pod. They took their time going south. Our boat slowly meandered down south with them.
August 16, 2005 Tuesday Saw the Gray Whale today near Lopez. No one knows where the orca whales went today. No sign of them . . . anywhere.
August 15, 2005 Monday All the whale watching tours today saw the L pod down south around False Bay. Captain David reports that the baby breached twice right near them and the mother once. A big male swam toward the boat then popped up about 5 feet from the boat. It is what we islanders call HOT today. In the 80's.
August 13, 2005 Saturday Yes, we have been seeing whales and today with our guest, Prime Mnister of Latvia, we saw whales near the south end of San Juan Island. It was a pleasure to have he and his his guests aboard. Bill managed to get a San Juan Safaris hat on him. We had a coast guard 80' cutter tailing us throughout the tour.
August 11, 2005 ThursdayCaptain Cal reports 3 Tufted Puffins near? I have a call into him. They also saw Orca whales today. The Orca were right outside of Roche Harbor this am headed north. They must have been moving fast as the 11:00 5 hour Orca Search by Kayak just missed them.
August 10, 2005 Wednesday The evening tour saw L pod near False Bay, south end. Margo identified Ophelia &her calf and Cruiser. Ophelia went under the boat and came up with a salmon in her mouth. There were at least 5 breaches. They also saw a Tufted Puffin near Turn Island!
August 9, 2005 Tuesday J pod and K pod or orca whales near False Bay on San Juan Island in the AM. The Gray whale is still being seen off Lopez Island.
August 8, 2005 Monday Saw Orca Whales today. L pod mostly off the west side of San Juan Island. They started the day off at the southern most part of San Juan Island and by PM they were at the northern most end of San Juan Island.
August 7, 2005 Sunday Orcas up north near Pender Island, Canada.
August 4, 2005, August 5, 2005, August 6, 2005 Where are the Orca Whales? No one knows. This is the mystery of wildlife. Especially our resident orca whales. No one knows where they go and we can only guess why they go out to sea. . .food (fish). But, we have been seeing a gray whale who has taken up temporary residence off Lopez Island, a Humpback Whale who seems to be enjoying the Victoria BC area and the Minke whales who have been seen numerous times on the west side of San Juan Island down to the southern end.
I just got off a kayak tour with a group of 26 who are from BULGARIA! They are wonderful young people. Their grade has 30 students and 15 of the 30 were able to fly to Seattle. They were accompanied by teachers and councilors. It was in the 80's today and cloudless. We saw plenty of harbor seals, cormorants, murres, king fishers, black oyster catchers and had a great time in the kelp forest. The tide was just changing and coming in when we headed back.
August 3, 2005 Wednesday The orca whales were hanging to the south end of the island today. All tours head way down to the south end of San Juan Island. It was L-12's today on the whale watching boat tours. The kayaking tours have had wonderful "T Shirt" weather. It has been in the 80's. The seal pups have a treat to see on the kayak tours.
August 2, 2005 Tuesday Boy oh boy. The whales have been hanging out all AM WAY into Canadian waters. Our morning tours did not see them (no one did) but our 3:00, 5:30 &6:30 boats did. This evening our boats saw a SUPER pod J and all of L. Captain Brian Goodremont reported that the dorsals were all lined up, 2 lines, facing each other, them all the whales mingled. It was a greeting ceremony. The whales were just outside of Roche Harbor. Our 3:00 Kayak tour saw orca whales on their tour today. It was a 3 hour tour. Whales at eye level.
August 1, 2005 Monday The orca whales were WAY over in Canada today. So far that our first 9:00 AM tour couldn't get there and the report of where they were didn't come in untill around 11:00AM. But by the time the 11:00 AM tour went out they were headed toward the south end of San Juan Island. The 11:00 and 3:00 and 5:30 tours all saw J pod today.
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Naturalist Margo with guest Dr. Vic August 22, 2005 and the Kittiwake
Sea kayaking in the San Juan Islands. Note the beautiful Madrone trees!
Blue Skies &Canada in the background
Papa O'Sullivan and below Mama O'Sullivan
On a Family Kayak Tour August 31, 2005
Hello,
I wanted to send a short note to say thank you so much for the enjoyable
kayak trip. My sister and I
went on the three hour tour on Saturday 8-27-05 with Kaitlin. She was a
superb guide. We had never
kayaked before and she made us feel safe. The biology lesson while we
rested in the kelp bed was
really nice, very informative. . We learned a lot and had a very nice
time. Again thank you so much and tell Kaitlin once again
how much we appreciated the extra attention she offered everyone with
our group. We will see you
next year with our husbands who opted to stay behind to have adult
beverages on the dock (they were sorry they missed out).
Julie Johnson
Roslyn Washington
Stuart Light House (north of San Juan Island) August 26, 2005
Outer Islands off the boat today, August 26, 2005
Big Cactus Island, north of San Juan Island, August 26, 2005. Beautiful bull kelp.
August 26, 2005 Cormorants off our boat today. They are drying themselves.
Cormorants close up. Note also the beautiful bull kelp bed.
View of some San Juan Islands off the boat today, August 26, 2005
Guests aboard the Kittiwake today August 26, 2005 with Naturalist Brent Molsberry.
Tug boats. A familiar scene here in the San Juan Islands.
The Stamfords were on the 11:00 whale watching boat today August 25, 2005. You can see what a sunny, gorgeous day it is.
Guests putting on equipment for a 3 hour Wildlife Tour by Kayak august 25, 2005
Guests on the 5 hour Orca Search by Kayak. What to bring? What to leave behind? August 25, 2005
Kayaking guests on the 3 hour tour - August 25, 2005
The 3 hour kayaking tour. Children to 6 years of age welcome.
Triple Kayak. Triple Trouble. Guests on the 3 hour kayaking tour August 25, 2005.
August 22, 2005
Thank you for everything. Your orca tour was fabulous! The captain took
us three different spots to let his guests have more opportunities to
watch orcas. His consideration and skillfulness realized a dream tour for
us. We was able to watch many orcas as well as some seals and eagles.
We even saw an orca jumping over the sea three times.
Satomi Tani
Dean and Professor of Political Science
College of Law and Politics
The University of Okayama, Japan
This photo was sent in by a guest who went with us on August 14, 2005. It has been entered in the photo contest.
Thanks to Ann Cerny. The tour they were on was crewed by Captain Peter Hardy and Naturalist Sarah Hardee.
August 24, 2005 Guests returning from a whale watching tour. This day they saw a Gray Whale, plus 6 Stellar Sea Lions, sea birds and a gorgeous, cloud-free, 80 degree day.
Deep Sea Captain Dave with Naturalist Derin-August 24, 2005
The Kittiwake just pushed off for a whale watching tour August 23, 2005
There goes 16 excited guests. That is Naturalist Derin Ross tucking away the fenders up the ladder
Lindsey Lee giving a paddling lesson to her 5-hr Orca Search By Kayak group
Lyndsey Lee demonstrating how the pegs work inside a touring kayak.
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