The name of the game today was Harbor. Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises were everywhere in the Salish Sea today. We started by heading north out of Friday Harbor. Our first stop was Spieden Island, where we saw not only mouflon sheep and sika deer, but at least six bald eagles flying over the tree tops. Two of them left the island and flew straight over our boat! We also spotted harbor seals everywhere! They were hauled out on just about every rocky island. We then headed towards...

Today’s trip we began by heading west through the San Juan and Shaw Channels. As we passed between Lopez Island and San Juan Island we stopped at a rock that was covered on one half with Steller Sea Lions and the other half with Harbor Seals. There was also a lone Bald Eagle present, overlooking the rock. The passengers were thrilled!

We then looped around San Juan to the west side and were able to catch up with four individuals from J-Pod. There was one large male, a female, and two...

Today we definitely went the extra mile. Out of the harbor we were immediately faced with a tough decision; head south to a confirmed Humpback Whale sighting that we could easily reach, or take the chance of catching up with some Orcas that were spotted in Canada and heading north.

Captain Mike went with his gut and we headed north. We made our way through the San Juan Channel and Presidents Channel seeing several Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, and even a few Steller Sea Lions in the open water...

With early news of orca spottings, today’s tour headed north towards the U.S./Canadian international border.  Once we reached Turn Point we saw a few boats in the area and began our search. Within a quick ten minutes we had spotted two members of J-pod, our southern residents, and were able to follow them, watching them mill around and rise above the water's surface.

After about twenty minutes we moved on with our search and headed back southwest. It only took a couple hundred yards...

Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!

We then headed...

Today was definitely one of the top five whale encounters I’ve had since I started at San Juan Safaris! We left Friday Harbor heading south with reports that there were whales on the west side. On the way we first stopped to view a large group of harbor seals that were hauled out on a rocky island. Then, as we traveled a little further south, a thick layer of fog descended. It created an eerie ambiance as it encompassed our boat. This however did not prevent us for encountering more...

The killer whales were close today so we had plenty of observation time and were able to see a smorgasbord of species.  We first encountered L pod and successfully identify the 34-year-old male Mega (L-41) who was traveling alongside the 22-year-old male Gaia (L-78).  What was really exciting was the amount of calves that were traveling and playing together.  There were at least three youngsters who were taking turns lob tailing, propoising, spy hopping and breaching next to each...