Almost left a naturalist at the dock today! With the winds prevailing, the naturalist wasn’t quite fast enough to get on board once she let the lines loose. Luckily the captain came back to pick her up at the “Spring Street Landing” dock. With all on board we headed out through the San Juan Channel. A light drizzle and sun-teasing skies had the crowd curious. We arrived at the first stop on the north side of Spieden Island and found one lonely Steller Sea Lion. Traveling our way...

Another beautiful sunny day in the San Juan Islands. We saw several members of the J-pod including J2 “Granny” the 100 year old matriarch.  After viewing the whales we motored through Mosquito Pass into Roche Harbor where a number of seabird species were observed including surf scoters, rhinoceros auklets, pelagic cormorants and pigeon guillemot We ended our day traveling along Spieden Island where harbor seals and Steller sea lions were hauled out basking in the sunshine while...

California Sea Lion

A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island.

We headed out of Friday Harbor going north making a stop at NWR Yellow Island, and rock outcroppings with 43+ snoozing Harbor Seals.   We made our way along the coast of Speiden Island. Often times this is a great place to spot Bald Eagles – no Eagle this time.  But we did...

     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...

After two whole days without orcas around (but with Humpbacks and Minkes!) our residents returned to the sound in full force. There were lots of animals around on the way up to see the whales: harbor seals, harbor porpoises, and even a bald eagle! As for the whales,  there were groups representing all 3 pods up in the area between Stuart and Pender Islands.  When we came on scene the whales we were with appeared to be resting. After about 20 minutes they suddenly turned around and...

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...

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

All staff,

With a spectacular spring day, the MV Sea Lion and crew (Captain Craig and MikeO) headed north with our special charter of Western States Agency Policy Makers.

Ken Balcomb, of The Center for Whale Research, Kari Koski of The Whale Museums SoundWatch program and me were asked to describe in our view, the process that lead to the new NOAA rules.  We were asked how those new rules would affect the whale watching industry and how they might affect the...

The afternoon reports were in.  There were ten to fifteen orca whales spotted near Stuart Island.  We traveled north and encountered the orcas near Turn Point.  Turn Point is the very northwest piece of continental land in the United States!  Captain Mike slowed the boat as we approached the misty blows of the orca.  The whales were traveling very close together, heading north towards Pender Bluffs on South Pender Island.  Not only were they in a large group, but they were showing...

What better way to end a busy day shopping in Friday Harbor than on the calm waters of the Salish Sea?  Surrounded by marine wildlife in every direction, this evening's sunset tour was quiet the safari!  The adventure started with the misty blows of orca whales off Spieden Island.  As we approached them we were able to identify a few members of Jpod, including the impressive adult male "Ruffles", 100-year old "Granny", and "Blackberry".  They traveled in a large closely knit pod...

It was whales again today, but this time it was two humpbacks along the west side of San Juan Island.  That makes three different whale species in two days spotted here in the San Juan Islands!  Wow, what a cool place.  It is exceptionally cool when you think about the fact that humpbacks are rare here around the islands.  Normally, if they come into the Salish Sea they do not make it past Victoria Harbor.  Today was our day though and we took advantage of it.  And, as if seeing the...