Summer seems to have left the islands as quickly as it arrived, but the animals are still around!  We headed out in to Haro Strait this afternoon and came across a group of Transient Orca.  The Residents haven't been seen in a day or two, but the Transients were a great encounter.  The mature male of the group had a huge dorsal fin which gave our passengers a very big target to photograph.

On the way home we added another cetacean to our check list when we came across a nice group of...

Ok, readers, today was my last day of the season out on the water in the Pacific Northwest and we were duly rewarded with wonderful sea conditions and one of the ocean underdogs: Minke Whales!  Sure, it was a little overcast but the sea responds well to this.  As we made our way out from the harbor and towards Cattle Pass, we saw twenty to thirty harbor porpoises and numerous swimming harbor seals and steller sea lions.  We even saw a bald eagle--my first in about two weeks! ...

We had a beautiful blustery day today heading south out of Friday Harbor. After hearing reports of whales south west of San Juan and heading further SW we blazed on out off of Hein Bank! We were kindly greeted by a group of 10-12 traveling Orcas, all members of L-Pod.  Having a wonderful photographer on board we were able to document and identify several of the whales we watched! Baba (L-26), Crewser (L-92), Ballena (L-90), Wave Walker (L-88), and the large male known as Gaia (L-78)...

L pod in all of its glory.  Our whale encounter began with Mega, my all time favorite resident.  We were just south of eagle point with no other whale watching boats in sight and out of no where a huge dorsal fin came to the surface.  We stopped and waited to see where he was headed.  He was moving south toward us so we shut down and waited.  It was glassy flat, calm and quiet until his exhalation cut the silence like a jet engine.  He meandered in our direction and then slowly...

All summer I have been thinking everyone was pulling my leg telling me that summer just gets nicer and nicer and then September is the best month of the year.  I was convinced that it would be 40 degrees and raining by now.  I seem to have been mistaken.  This week has been the warmest of the year and it has been beyond beautiful on the water.

We left and headed south out of the harbor.  Fat seals were lazing on the rocks and Steller's Sea Lions were cruising around on the prowl in...

All signs this morning pointed to heading out to see Transients, but by the time we got on the water there were reports of Residents heading in from the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We headed south and found some harbor seals lounging in the sun, as well as some very large Steller Sea Lions resting on the rocks near Cattle Pass.  From there we headed up-island.

Just past Lime Kiln the water was incredibly calm with just a slight breeze.  The conditions were perfect for us to shut down...

"What else could we have possibly have seen today?" was a great question that I was asked as we headed back into the harbor.  "Not much" was my answer.  We had an amazing encounter with resident whales today that started with them spread out all over the south west side of the island, merging into small groups, and ended with them meeting up, West Side Story style (without the violence), and then all swimming off into the sunset together.  There were somewhere between 20 and 30...

Much of my time on the water this past month was spent fixated on the surface, watching colorful rusted red blobs pulsate through the water. The flowing orangish tentacles contributed to the organism’s name, the lion’s mane. The largest lion's mane ever recorded washed up on a beach in Massachusetts Bay in 1870 with a bell over 7 feet wide and tentacles 120 feet long. This is longer than a Blue Whale, putting the lion’s mane amongst the ranks in the controversial competition of the...

Today was a day of lots and lots of harbor seals!  Everywhere!  And many of them were lined up like sausage links!  Transient orca sausage links!

We first went north towards Waldron Island and found them basking on a nearby rock.  Next, we went further north into Canadian waters and found them off of Saturna Island where five of them were lined up in a row.  Out by Sentinel Island, we found another thirty or so, with about six babies hauled out along the shoreline in their little...

Today there were whales.  Lots and lots of whales.  We saw Cappuccino, Deadhead, baby K, other K's and some L's (and maybe some J's?).  There was breaching, some upside down tail slapping and even a little spyhopping.  It was so good to see the residents back in town.  Even though they are known as "residents" it is important for people to understand that they are more like part time residents.  They do leave to forage or do whatever it is whales do and although we miss them when...