Woooeeee, the whales made us work for it today!  Resident killer whales were reported at nearly the farthest point we can travel on our trips and they weren't coming our way south either.  We loaded up both boats and headed north right out of Friday Harbor with not a moment to spare to stop and gaze at other islands as we went.  We crossed the border into Canada at the Haro Straight, went into Plumper Sound and  between Mayne and Saturna Islands to pop out on the other side in the...

Northbound along the west side of San Juan Island, we encountered about eight orcas allegedly belonging to both J and K resident pods.  From the get go, we saw curious whale behavior of tail-slapping, a pec fin slap and eventually even a head stand with the white of the tail exposed!  As they continued swimming north away from the island, the whales maintained a fairly tight formation and we were able to get a possible ID of the lone adult male of the group as J30, Riptide.  Was he...

We narrowly escaped the rain today; luckily, by trip departure time it was done raining in the San Juan Islands.  Overcast weather and threats of rain don't keep the whales away though and as we rounded Cattle Point and came up along the west side in some choppy waves, we were rewarded for our perseverance: J-pod was back from their few-day stint at sea.

Spread out in a long line along the west coast, we watched the orcas travel in their smaller groups past Lime Kiln State Park.  One...

Whale Watching Naturalist with Young Whale Watcher

Today on both of our trips, we encountered J-pod.  First off of the west side of San Juan Island where they were headed northeast and then off of East point, the most northwestern point of the United States, and headed into Canadian waters.  Our whales went international today, visiting a few countries along the way.

Within the pod, we were able to identify Mike.  With Mike, we found his mother J16 (Slick); she has a little...

As the sun dissipated the daunting clouds, we encountered J-Pod near Pile Point as they headed north toward Lime Kiln Point. A few individuals breached while the rest of the group continued to move at a slow pace in a spread out formation. We were excited to identify Riptide (J-30), the alleged great-grandson of Granny (J-2), who is believed to be 100 years old and the eldest female of the entire Southern Resident Community!

Kirsten Dale, Naturalist

J pod was present and playful today! We first saw the orcas at Saturna Island’s East Point as both juveniles and adults took turns breaching, lob tailing and spy hopping as they slowly made their way east. Two mature males were in the lead for some time, which we believe to be the pod-mates Blackberry (J-27) and Mike (J-26). An exceptional day to be viewing wildlife and on the water!

Kirsten, naturalist

We headed north out of Friday Harbor with reports that there were some orcas coming down the Strait of Georgia towards Saturna Island. On our way to start our search in Canadian waters we were lucky enough to encounter lots of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks at Yellow Island and some more at White Rocks.

From there we headed across the border at Boundary Pass and had everyone on board helping us look for signs of orca. Once we passed the Canadian Navy and a large cargo ship we...

On Sunday, May 29th we ventured out on two trips to accommodate all of our holiday weekend whale watchers.  And successful we were.

Headed northbound, we stopped by Spieden island to see the non-native Mouflon sheep and Sika and Fallow deer.  Further on, we saw several harbor seals and Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks warming up in the wonderful San Juan sunshine.  Off of bird rock, we saw a young bald eagle (no white-feathered head yet) perched two feet out of the water...

Monday found us out in Rosario Straight.  The wind was picking up and there was a little bit of swell and chop, but it didn't deter us from spotting a very spread out group of Transient Orcas.  They were headed south at what seemed like a pretty good speed. There was one big male about 500 yards from us and two smaller whales another 600 or so yards from him.  They had consistent, 4 minute down times and would surface even farther from us every time.  The wind made it a challenge...

I have to say that some of my best whale days have been gross, rainy days.  Today was no exception.

We made our way down the east side of San Juan Island and around toward False Bay.  It was one of those silent, glassy, flat water days.  No seals hauled out, no sea lions on our way south.  We passed a bunch of soggy Cormorants and saw a Bald Eagle sitting on the ground.  When we got closer to Lime Kiln we saw blows way in by the rocks.  Then we saw a few more farther north. Then a...