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Captains Log - August 2006
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, 2006 Thursday
2:54 pm Capt. Pouillon just phoned in from the Sea Lion to tell me that they are south east of Discovery and so far have seen: a teen-age Minke Whale (there are only about 7 Minkes around San Juan Islands), 3 transients orca whales, there is more. . . and . . . 2 HUMPBACK WHALES!!!! He also says in is calm and beautiful out on the water.
August 28, 2006 Monday
Margo just got off the boat and says "It is like they were attracted to our boat today". L-12 group is what they saw today. They were down by False Bay San Juan Island to Salmon Bank, near Victoria. Margo says they were cart-wheeling and tail slapping and just cavorting. They kept coming at us!
August 18, 2006 Friday
The afternoon tour saw the transient (non resident whales). It was the "T" group and they were in San Juan Channel.
August 17, 2006 Thursday
No whales today. No one, no where has had any reports. Elusive. Guess that is why they are called "wildlife".
August 16, 2006 Wednesday
No Whales Today. Several great Wildlife Tours though
August 15, 2006 Tuesday
No whales seen today at all, that is the 11:00 the 1:00 and the 3:00 boats. All had great wildlife tours. Lots of sea birds, harbor seals and even a few porpoise.
August 14, 2006 Monday
Morning tours saw the L-12 group way south near Salmon Bank, in Canadian waters near Victoria. The late afternoon tours saw J and L orca pods near Kellet Bluff off the west side of Henry Island, just outside off Roche Harbor. The 5-hour orca search by kayak also saw whale today in their kayaks.
August 13, 2006 Sunday
Margo reports on the west side near False Bay, she thought she saw a minke whale while viewing L pod orcas. Another boat confirmed there was a minke so over they went a got really good views of the minke whale. There are only 7 minkes around the San Juan Islands. Unlike most sightings where the go down for several minutes, this one kept resurfacing every few minutes. Off to the Ale House after the trip. A fun evening.
August 12, 2006 Saturday
Todays tours saw almost all the resident whales, J, K and L pods were near Hein Bank, in Canadian waters near Victoria.
August 11, 2006 Friday
The private charter today saw the L-12 orcas. They went all the way to Salmon Bank (in Canadian waters) near Victoria.
It was a long haul, but well worth the trip.
August 10, 2006 Thursday
No whales today. Plenty of wildlife, sea birds, bald eagles and a great day for being out on the water.
August 9, 2006 Wednesday
No whales today, but great wildlife tours. Lots of sea birds and great weather. August 8, 2006 Tuesday
No whale today, but great bald eagle views, lots of harbor seals and even some porpoise.
August 7, 2006 Monday
No whales today, but LOTS of great wildlife.
August 6, 2006 Sunday
Whales were down on the southern end of San Juan Island today near False Bay.
August 5, 2006 Saturday
Guests today saw J, K and L pods, almost all the resident orcas, near the lighthouse on the west side of San Juan Island. The captain says they were doing a good deal of porpoising. The 4 pm tour did a ceremony to spread the ashes of a loved one. After the ceremony they went whale watching and saw orca right of of Turn Point, Stuart Island, just north of Roche Harbor, San Juan Island. A great uplift for the group. The 3 hour and 5 hour kayak tours from Roche both saw whales today.
August 4, 2006 Friday
It was the orcas of J pod today that guests saw off of Turn Point, Stuart Island, north of Roche Harbor.
August 3, 2006 Thursday
The boats today saw J pod off the west coast off Henry Island, right near Roche Harbor. The 5-hour orca search by kayak saw orcas by kayak today too!
August 2, 2006 Wednesday
Capt. Pouillon just had a chat with me about how far they went to see whales today. 30 miles away to Dungeness Spit. That is near Squim! He said that they first saw the whales, J and K pods about 1/2 there and they kept speeding towards Dungeness. It was a long but fruitful trip. He thinks they are going back there again for the evening tour as it seems they have stayed put.
August 1, 2006 Tuesday
The 11 &1:00 tours saw K pod towards the south end of San Juan Island. I was on the 5:30 sunset tour. We started from Friday Harbor going south through San Juan Channel thinking that the whales would still be in a similar area. One of the other boat had just left Salmon Bank and said K was still there. Well, when we poked our noses out beyond San Juan Island it was plenty lumpy. We went towards Salmon Bank, looked (along with another Canadian vessel) to no end. Both boats headed north. The sea was still lumpy until we reached the area just north of Lime Kiln. We finally met up with the whales north of Henry Island near Stuart Island. Apparently the ones we were looking at had been at Lime Kiln and raced north. The whales were not acrobatic, but calm, chasing fish and still swimming north when we left them at about 7:30 pm.
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San Juan Safaris logo cake presented to eager staff by Carlene's Cakes, San Juan Island
Kayak Guide Deborah Married Kayak Guide Brent, a San Juan Safaris love story
Hello, San Juan Safaris!
I am just writing to tell you thank you so much for an amazing trip.
My family and I went out on Thursday August 10Th, 2006 on the 1:00
boat out of Friday Harbor. We went out on the Sea lion with Captain
Brian Pouillon, Traci and Anna. The staff was incredible. Very
friendly and willing to answer any questions we had.
The whales hadn't been spotted for about 5 days because they decided to take a
little scenic detour up towards Canada. But we were fortunate enough
that our staff decided to go for it and make the long almost 2 hour
journey up towards Victoria, BC so we could all have a chance to see
the whales.
On the trip up to Canada we were very fortunate to see a Minke whale. My family member Justin spotted it first and sure enough
there it was it surfaced 2 more times and we got excellent views. It
was Naturalist Annas first time seeing one so we were all really
excited. Not only were we about to see Orcas but we got a rare chance
to see one of the 7 minke whales living in the entire Puget sound. It
was amazing.
Well when we finally got close to Canada we could see the
blow spouts there were whales everywhere. they were porpoising right
towards us it was a dream come true. It was a mega Pod we got to see all three pods interacting together. Never did we think we would see
all 90 orcas at one time. We got to see them so close. They were
beautiful. We got to see a few of the babies being acrobatic which was
so neat. Never had we imagined that we would get so close to the most
mysterious, beautiful creatures in the world.
I have enclosed a picture i took. I want to thank San Juan Safaris so much for such an
amazing experience we will never forget. We definitely will be back
every summer with hope of another encounter.
Thank You.
Amber Wooten &Lori, Mark, Justin and Ashley Mowery
Orcas off MV Sea Lion by Amber Wooten August 10, 2006
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