Today Captain Brian, Naturalist Rachel and I headed North towards Canadian waters, with reports of part of one of our Resident, salmon-eating pods, J Pod traveling along Saturna Island's shore. As we arrived on scene, Captain Brian did a wonderful job maneuvering so that we were not only saying the legal limit away from the whales (100 meters in Canadian waters), but also getting the best looks possible. We quickly realized that we were looking at one of the current famous families...

Today we had two different whale reports by the time we left the dock; J-pod coming down from East Point, and transients coming through President's channel. Along the way, we decided to go for the transients, or Bigg's killer whales. Transients are mammal-eaters, a stark contrast between their culture and that of the resident killer whales (whom eat only fish). They'll work together to hunt for harbor seals, sea lions, porpoises, or even larger whales. An adult male orca can eat...

On Thursday afternoon the folks on the Sea Lion got some great views of some J Pod orcas on the west side of San Juan Island! J Pod is one of the 3 pods that make up the Southern Resident Killer Whale Population. This group was wonderful to watch as they travelled south past Lime Kiln State Park. They appeared to be in a celebratory mood as they did some tail slaps, cartwheels (when they lift their tail out of the water and rotate it to the side before slapping it down), and even...

Today we left the dock in high spirits with two options to see whales. Captain Mike certainly made the right choice, and as we came to decision time, the proverbial fork in the road, we headed North into the Haro Strait. The results couldn't have been better. Breaching killer whales are always impressive and as we got closer to a few other boats in the whale watching fleet, it was obvious we were in for a show. I counted at least six breaches before we even got close enough for most...

With the boat freshly cleaned, the sun in the sky, and a report of whales headed southwest down Haro Straight, we departed from Friday Harbor at 1:30 on the dot. Shortly after riding through Cattle Pass, we spotted our first dorsal fins. We soon realized that we had A LOT of orcas with us, probably 40-50, likely some members of each J, K, and L pod. When multiple pods come together like this, it is very possible that it is a breeding event. As far as we know, the southern resident...

All three Resident Orca pods were away from the islands for a few days but returned to the area yesterday evening! This afternoon we met up with part of J pod, the J-16s, off of Henry Island. Slick (J-16) is the matriarch of this family and she was hunting with her adult son, Mike (J-26), her adult daughters, Alki (J-36) and Echo (J-42). There are two brand new members to this family as well! The new members are Slick's daughter, J-50 who was born in December and Alki's calf, J-52...

This afternoon, we set out from Friday Harbor with a full boat. In just a short trip, we arrived at Bird Rocks, where we had received a report of transient orcas. Sure enough, there they were, the T65As and T77s, along with all of the other whale watching boats from the islands. Shortly after catching our first glimpse of the whales, we spotted a harbor porpoise, maybe 100 yards in front of the pod. Harbor porpoises are one of the favorite prey for transient orcas, as they strictly...

Today was a very exciting day. We left the dock without any reports of whales. No humpback whales, no minke whales and unfortunately no reports of orcas. We started to steam North keeping our eyes out for any signs of marine mammals. We had the most amazing fly-over by a mature bald eagle and enjoyed traveling up the east side of Waldron Island through Presidents Channel under clear blue skies. Suddenly our Northern bet payed off, as some tall, black dorsal fins cut through the waves...

This evening Captain Pete and I left the dock on the ol' Sea Lion in classic Pacific Northwest misty weather with a boat full of good natured passengers and reports of a male Killer Whale traveling on his own in Canadian waters.

After meeting everyone, we took off in search of wildlife. Right off the bat we spotted first one than a second Bald Eagle on San Juan Island. As we headed west through Spieden Channel we saw some harbor seals and harbor porpoise appearing breifly and then...

This afternoon we left Friday Harbor with a report of orcas on the west side of SJI, as well as some way up north, heading south. In favor of avoiding choppy seas, we opted for the group that was further north. We stumbled across the whales a few miles north of East Point. There, we were able to identify Granny (J-2) and her group, as well as the J-19s. Everyone was delighted to see baby J-51 swimming close along Eclipse's (J-41) side. Young calves spend a lot of their time in their...