Wednesday arrived with sunny skies and the warmest temperatures of the season.  We departed a little early for our trip due to word of whales in the area.  We headed through Cattle Pass with the tide flooding against us.  As we cleared the pass and entered Haro straight Captain Craig pointed our bow south towards Partridge Bank.  But half way there we took a sharp right and headed up the straight as we spotted some Orca closer to our position.

We came on scene with just a couple...

There is only one word that could describe today.  Epic.

The sun was shining and the water was calm.  We headed north on a whim, taking the opportunity to cruise the scenic passes between Saturna Island and Pender Island.  We ended up slightly north of the Coal Docks and found ourselves amid Orcas.  At first I thought they were Transients.  There were two whales cruising west, then three, then a whole bunch more.  They were spread out to the east and west of us and we realized...

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...

Photo of Spring Street Landing next to the ferry in Friday Harbor
April 22, 2011 at 4:30 PM

At 5:00 pm it is bright, sunny and warm - probably close to 60 degrees.
Saturday, April 23, tomorrow will be our first daily scheduled tour for the season. Still a few seats left.

Transient Orca Whales have been making a splash in the San Juan's this past week.
GET UP HERE!

This just out regarding Salmon (resident orcas mainstay of food). It is interesting enough that I am putting up on our blog, which is usually reserved for  crew to report on their tour experiences.

Here is the link.  It is only about a 2 minute piece - give a listen?  http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kplu/news.newsmain/article/0/1/1690183...

NORTH BONNEVILLE, WA (N3) - Banner runs of salmon and steelhead are migrating up some Northwest rivers this summer. Not since dams were...

It has been a few days since we have seen L pod (or the Southern Residents in general)  and we can only assume that means they have gone off in search of food in the Pacific, but today we were in luck!  This  afternoon reports came in that they were headed towards San Juan Island. As we headed off for our afternoon trip we decided to go south around the tip of San Juan Island and over to false bay to greet them. Before we could get there we stumbled upon a stellar sea lion swimming...

Click on this link to hear Orcas Vocalizing -The Hydrophone on the MV Sea Lion August 2010

and see part of the whale watching tour

We saw a minke whale on the west side of Waldron Island today!  Although there weren't any reports of orcas, we still managed to see a lot of marine wildlife.  We rarely see minke whales this many days in a row.  They are solitary travelers and can hold their breathe for long periods.  So when they come to the surface for air, you can't help but get excited.  Our guests had some spectacular views of the minke today.  We spent a while with the whale and then headed towards the Cactus...