Another beautiful day on the water. Leaving Friday Harbor Captain Mike, myself and our guests, once again traveled north along San Juan Island before reaching the west side of Henry Island where we met up with northbound traveling J pod as well as the small group from L pod, the L12s. Right away we saw one of my favorite group of whales from J pod, the "Cookie Clan" consisting of J22 (Oreo), J34 (Doublestuff), and J38 (cookie).
As the whales traveled right next to Henry island we...

Today we found 5 Transient Orcas headed west in Rosario Strait between Cypress and Orcas Island (48°31.68N 122°48.62W). It was the T36’s and T39’s who appeared to be finishing off part of a kill. They were circling around the area and aggressively deep diving towards the center, gathering any remains. Once they were done they headed directly for the shoreline and picked up speed.

On our way in we took a scenic ride through some of the inner islands passing Blakely, Orcas, Shaw...

Today we shuffled around Spieden, Stewart and some of the inner islands. As we boarded the boat we prepared for a wet day, but it actually turned out to be very nice. On the south side of Spieden we saw at least 30 or so Mouflon Sheep and got to see the very first Mink of the season, scurrying along the shoreline. We then made our way around Stewart, through John’s Pass, and through the Cactus Islands seeing numerous Harbors Seals hauled out on small rocky islets and a lone Bald...

Today, even the Kittiwake had an adventure!  We traveled over to Orcas Island to pick up a family of ten for a private charter and from there on, we were surrounded by a continuous showing by Pacific Northwest wildlife!

First, it was a little harbor seal between Lopez and Shaw Islands.  Next, it was one then two stellar sea lions (BIG ones too--they can weigh up to 2,200 pounds and be ten feet long!) swimming in the currents between Lopez and San Juan Islands.  Further into the...