Today we had the rare opportunity to view four different family groups of transient killer whales. When we pulled away from the dock, reports of killer whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca brought us south of San Juan Island. On our way down, we encountered all sorts of wildlife, including Steller sea lions, harbor seals, cormorants, harbor porpoises, and even a minke whale!

When we arrived at where the orcas were last reported, we noticed that the group consisted of nine different...

You know what people love more than whales? Nothing except more whales and maybe perhaps the idea of autumn as they drown everything in brighter earth tones, sweaters, and pumpkin spice flavoring, but today wasn’t one of those days it was a whale of a day. Captain Mike, myself and Alex headed north to search for the Southern Resident Orcas. We first spotted them around East Point on Saturna Island. This place is one of my favorite in the islands, the current get a little bit crazy...

Today was another awesome almost autumn day.  Captain Mike and I headed North towards Spieden Island. We snuck around the north side of the island and soon saw a Humpback Whale fluke up! It was a fairly young one feeding in between Spieden and Johns Islands ever so lazily. We watched it fluke up a few times. As we get into fall more and more Humpbacks are heading south to their breeding grounds so we may see more in the upcoming weeks based on how hungry they are, the food...

Orcas are so amazing - they have one of the most complex social structures of any mammal species out there. We get to see this in action on many days out here, and some days (like yesterday!) we get really lucky. We were able to see members of K and J-Pod spread out along the west side of San Juan Island, alternatively foraging, traveling, and playing with each other. The viewings of these beautiful animals kept getting more and more exciting from the moment we arrived on scene. One...

Today was a tearful one. It was Captain Pete and Naturalist Hannah’s last day this season, but before they left me all alone we had the best day ever. All three of us along with a whole boatful of great humans headed south today. We made it all the way to the Strait of Juan de Fuca to find the orcas. Today it was the Southern Resident Orcas that we were watching. These are the salmon eating orcas and their population is critically endangered. Today we saw two families of J pod. The J...

Let’s see…it’s Saturday on Labor Day weekend, which means the island is buzzing a little bit more than usual. Restaurants start to require reservations, ferries require a longer wait time, and we get to take more folks out on our boats! This buzz creates a wonderful atmosphere, since folks flock here to celebrate the end of summer and are in the mood to soak up the sun and enjoy themselves. And, as it turns out, it wasn’t just humans that wanted to congregate here this weekend! Some...

Another beautiful day in Friday Harbor, but we were excited to depart and hit the water to see what adventures we had in store for us today. The M/V Sea Lion pushed off the dock and turned south today, with reports of residents frolicking and foraging near the south side of the island. Although the sky looked a bit gloomy, the rain held off for us, and the sun even popped out to say "What's up!" a couple of times. 

This is one of my favorite routes to take on our tours, because you...

It’s the end of August folks, and that means beautiful vaguely fall days mixed in with sunny days, and less daylight, but not less whales! Yesterday Captain Mike, Sarah C., and I headed north to eventually loop around the north side of San Juan Island to go look at the Southern Resident Orcas. These are the fish eating ones, the ones you probably know the most about, and also the most endangered currently. Since they mainly eat salmon, and this year has been a historically low salmon...

This afternoon was absolutely, positively, hands-down magical. Our Southern Residents were heading in, and several members of K-pod and L-pod were foraging for salmon near Eagle Point. Sea Hawk left Roche Harbor with this report on our minds, and fair seas and sunshine ahead. We haven't seen our residents for the past few days, so it was exciting to have them back in the area!

But, of course, the best part about whale watching in the San Juan Islands is that you have a chance to...

Is fall finally arriving to the San Juans? Seems like it! We had our first big rainfall in several weeks today, which is great, because we've had a very dry summer, and I'm sure our plant life could use some love! We felt like absolute royalty on Kestrel in our big, protective exposure suits, especially with all of the wet weather. But even though the sky might've been a bit gray and ominous, the sea conditions were great, and a little rain wasn't going to stop us! Plus, there were...