The reports were that the killer whales were headed far west, out towards the Pacific Ocean. But this gave us a chance to see all the other wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. So we headed north out of Friday Harbor on our way to Patos Island. On the way we spotted a whole bunch of harbor seals, including pups, hauled out on rocky areas as well as in the water. We then saw a bald eagle, perched overlooking the sea. Plus, this far north we were able to see an amazing view of Mount...

These days I hail from Maui, Hawaii and it's rare for me to say it's hot in Washington.  But today, it was hot!  In town.  And quite comfortable on the water as well.  We traveled out to be next to the Olympic Peninsula and the snow covered mountains; and it was a day of epic weather, water and visibility.

We started our trip headed south from the harbor to some harbor seals lounging on their rocky haul-out.  At Cattle Pass, we found their cousins, the stellar or northern sea lions...

Today was the first time I have seen east point in what seems like months.  We ended up at the south end of Saturna to catch up with L pod, headed north.  They were cruising.  When we got there  they were moving at a slowish speed, which was great because we were able to catch up to them before they headed out into the Straight of Georgia.  We were there for maybe 5 minutes when suddenly, things started to escalate.  The leaders kicked it into high gear.  They sped up and started...

It was bright and sunny as we headed north out of Friday Harbor. On this trip, the first thing we encountered was harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island. Next we spotted a few killer whale dorsal fins off in the distance. Everyone got excited as we scoped out the area. As the boat turned there was a large pod of orcas, over twenty whales close to each other surfacing and breathing. Then, all of a sudden one breached, then another next to the first one, then a third after the...

It was a beautiful trip from the beginning today!  Heading out of Friday Harbor on a wonderfully clear day we were able to get some amazing views of the snow-capped Mt. Baker.  The usual sunbatheing Harbor seals were all out in about swimming on both sides of the boat and we got a great view of a tiny harbor seal pup swimming along! Continuing on our way out we passed by a few stellar sea lions also in the water and one with a fish in it's mouth!  We rounded cattle point and headed...

As we headed south through Cattle Pass a grizzly-like head broke the surface with a large fish dangling from its mouth. The snorting and huffing creature was a male Steller sea lion, the largest of all the sea lions and the third largest species within the Pinnipedia suborder. The silhouette of another gigantic bull that had claimed his throne atop Whale Rock protruded from the outcrop.

Once traveling along San Juan Island’s west coast, the black dorsal fins of orcas appeared...

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...

Oh Humpbacks.  How I love them.  Seeing Humpback whales is always a little bit like watching fireworks on the 4th of July.  When an animal the size of a school bus surfaces a football field away from your boat it is always shocking in the most wonderful way possible.  There is always a collective gasp and then the “ahhhh”, when the animal lifts it massive tail and silently slips below the surface.

A forceful exhalation expelled at nearly 300 mph propels their warm breath up over 10...

Southward from sunny Friday Harbor quickly led us to dense fog with visibility at maybe 100 yards (maybe) just before Cattle Pass.  Armed with radar, the captain navigated us through the pass and over to Whale Rocks where we found seven large stellar sea lions and numerous harbor seals hauled out, warming up and napping.  Even in fog, the air was warmer than the 50 degree waters around the San Juan Islands!

Battling our way through more fog, with other boats appearing and...

Thursday brought blue skies and calm seas.  However, there were no reports of anyone seeing any Orcas in the Salish Sea.  So we took the best lead we had and headed towards Victoria to try and find the elusive Humpback Whale.

On the way out we encountered lots of harbor seals bobbing in the tide and even a couple bald eagles soaring above the south end of the island.  After those encounters we motored across Haro Strait toward Victoria.  The last reports we heard were of two animals...