With the sun shining overhead, Captain Jim, the guests, and I motored down through San Juan Channel in pursuit of Orcas.  We encountered a few members of L Pod off of Eagle Point on the west side of San Juan Island.  One of the whales was L41 Mega, who was also spotted last night by the MV Sea Lion.  Mega displayed foraging behavior for us, and even some porpoising!  Porpoising is when the Orca comes quickly out of the water, exposing more body, to take a breath.  Porpoising allows...

On our sunset tour today, Captain Mike, our guests, and I got to spend our evening enjoying a subgroup of  L Pod right off the west side of San Juan Island. They greeted us right off of Eagle Point and slowly meandered back and forth searching for Chinook Salmon. For the most part they stayed off in the distance minding their own business until suddenly the changed direction underwater and surfaced near our boat, rewarding us with a few tail slaps. Our passengers had their cameras...

We left Friday Harbor today with our hopes set high on encountering our Southern Resident Killer Whales. This was the first time we have seen our Killer Whales since Saturday, and we were very happy to welcome them back. We headed out through Cattle Pass and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Our guests braved the high seas with enthusiasm and wonderful questions while waiting to get on seen with the whales!

L-41 (Mega) was there to welcome us as he appeared out of the water, with his...

As the sun was looming low in the sky, the Sea Lion headed out once more to show our guests a wonderful time with our Southern Resident Killer Whales. We headed out through the whirling up-wells in the San Juan Channel and met our whales in Cattle Pass. We met them with as much excitement as they appeared to be feeling! Some L-Pod members were in the Pass; they were already breaching, tail slapping, and traveling close together. They swam increasingly close to Goose Island, jumping...

It was a beautiful day today as Captain Chris, Captain Brian, the guests, and I headed out on of Friday Harbor on the Kittiwake. With not a breath of wind, and a robins egg blue sky, summer is finally here! We found a Minke Hein Bank and had some great views as it surfaced. After spending time with the Minke, we headed closer to shore to find some Bald Eagles and Harbor Seals, and we were not disappointed! We had a great look at the eagle nest on Long Island, near the south end...

With not a cloud in the sky today, Captain Mike, Naturalist Heather and myself departed Friday Harbor with our guests and headed south, to where Haro Strait and the Strait of Juan De Fuca meet, to check out a Minke whale. This Minke whale was very interesting to watch. I say interesting because usually Minke whales are very scattered and don't surface in the same area. This Minke looked as though it was traveling in the same direction and kept going that one way. Most guests got...

Today, Captain Jim and myself, got to spend our afternoon a little differently since we had a charter on the M/V Kittiwake. This charter was special because we got a great family from Chicago, Illinois, who had an affinity for lighthouses! I got to "wow" them with my endless knowledge of lighthouses, or at least about the lighthouses on San Juan Island. As we took a leisurely drive along the west side of San Juan Island, we were able to see both Cattle Point and Lime Kiln Lighthouses...

Yes, you read that right! L-Pod is back, and all of them! There was lots of excitement from crew and passengers alike when we heard the reports of L-Pod earlier today, and even more when we saw them!The whales were off the south end of Vancouver Island, BC and it's a good thing they were headed into the Straight of Juan de Fuca; it took us about an hour and forty-five minuets to get to them, any further and they would have been out of reach!

When we arrived on site with the whales...

As Captain Craig, the guests, and I left Friday Harbor and headed south through San Juan Channel it was grey and the water was swirling with whirlpools from the tidal currents. However, as soon as we rounded Cattle Point on San Juan Island the clouds parted and the water was like glass! With the sun on our backs, we encountered a Minke near Salmon Bank. We had marvelous views of the solo Minke all the way up to Eagle Point.

Captain Craig heard that there might be a Humpback on the...

We left our Friday Harbor location today and headed south out the San Juan Channel, though Cattle Pass, and into the Haro Strait where we came across a Humpback Whale! This was the same Humpback that we saw last night right off the south end of San Juan Island. When we reached Hein Bank, the whale was heading toward Vancouver, BC. At first it was diving deep and staying down for about eight minutes at a time. Then, the whale seemed to have a change of pace and started swimming slowly...