It was busy out in San Juan Channel today with the 44th annual Shaw Island Classic Yacht Races, but it was definitely a great day for a sail and even a whale watch! For many of the sailors out there and our lucky guests, we were afforded some incredible looks at our Transient Killer Whales. Only ten minutes out of the harbor and we were already watching the Transient Orcas making their way back towards Friday Harbor. At one point they took a quick turn towards the inside passage of...

We left Friday Harbor yesterday with reports of resident orcas heading North by Stewart Island.  We decided to meet the whales at Turn point and headed the back way behind Spieden Island.  We met the whales at Turn Point and we were pleasantly surprised to see all of Kpod grouped together in a small area.  Every member of Kpod was there with the exception of K21 (Cappuccino), which includes a total of 18 whales! K21 generally travels with different southern resident families from J...

M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor at 5:30pm and we traveled south through cattle pass. Guests were in for an adventure moving through four foot rolling waves! Once around the south end of the island, we encountered commercial fishing boats, so Captain Pete had to be on the lookout for nets in the water! Once we made it through all of that, we immediately spotted Orcas off False Bay. We encountered K-pod male, Cappuccino, searching for salmon. We also were able to see several other...

Today we had a gorgeous day on the M/V Kittiwake travelling up into Canadian waters to find a pod of transient orcas. These whales eat marine mammals, with harbor seals making up the majority of their diet. A male killer whale can eat over 400 pounds of food a day! We enjoyed watching a group of five individuals meandering up near Active Pass. Not only a great day with no fog, but also a great group on the boat!

Sarah, M/V Kittiwake, San Juan Safaris Whale Watching

Another beautiful sunny day here in the San Juan Islands. We spent both of our trips on the west side and south side of San Juan Island with a mixture of J and K pod. It was nice to have the resident whales back in the area after they not being around this weekend. We spent most of the time watching the whales spread out  foraging. We even got a close look at the K14s and were able to identify K14, Lea and her 3 offspring Lobo, Yoda, and Kelp.

On our way home we saw over 15 Stellar...

We left Friday Harbor in preparation for a great trip! We headed North towards East point with reports of transient in the area.  We have seen a lot of transients in the area lately due to the seal pupping season.  Harbor seals make up about 60% of transient orcas diet that come into this area.  We came across the T37's around Sucia island.  We watched the transients hunting around Sucia Island for quite some time and even saw a few kills! We headed back to Friday harbor with a...

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of transients ours by Waldron Island.  Transient orca are the marine mammal eating ecotype of orca that we see in this area.  On the way to the orca reports we came across a few harbor porpoise.  We pulled up to the area where the 6 transient orcas were reported to be and immediately saw a lone harbor seal in the area.  We watched the harbor seal go under the water and then saw the transient orcas dive as well.  After they spent a few minutes...

This morning we had early reports of the K14s traveling along the west side of San Juan Island. We had a morning trip and were excited to get going. Captain Jim took myself and our guests south in order to encounter the orcas. Along the way our guests were able to enjoy Harbor Seals and Northern Sea Lions! Once we got to the Orcas, guests were able to see an adult male and a young male swimming side by side! It appeared as though this family group was just traveling and searching for...

Today on M/V Kittiwake we headed north because there were reports of whales heading south From Boundary Pass. On our way to Stuart Island we stopped off Spieden island and watched some harbor seals with their pups and got a great look at a mature bald eagle high in the trees. We made It just north of  Henry Island a saw a group of 4 orcas heading our way. It's was the k14s! K 14 is the matriarch of this group and she was traveling with here 3 offspring. We got some great looks at her...

Today was one of those amazing days where we had warm summer sun, flat glassy water, and southern resident killer whales all around! Guests headed out on the M/V Sea Lion headed out of Friday Harbor today and went to the southwest side of San Juan Island. The whales were very spread out, constant with foraging behavior. Captain Brian decided that the best way to watch these whales would be to shut our motor off and drift. If we were patient, we should get some awesome encounters, and...