It was another hot one today! Beautiful for seeing all kinds of wildlife. South of San Juan Island was our destination as we left Friday Harbor. Just outside, we stopped to view some harbor seals and pups hauled out on the rocky reef and a bald eagle in the tree tops. Further south, on whale rocks, there was a massive Steller sea lion sitting up, then five or six others swimming amongst the bull kelp.

Then, at salmon bank we spotted not only some harbor porpoise, but the slender...

Tons of whale action today; three Minke Whales and even a Humpback!!! (Salmon Bank, 48°25.01N 122°59.19W)

Humpbacks typically don’t come this far inland, to San Juan Island, so it was a great treat! These whales couldn’t be more graceful raising their fluke entirely out of the water and slowly diving down without a splash. They are THE true mermaids of the sea.

On our way in we saw tons of other wildlife including Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, Steller Sea Lions, and Harbor Porpoise.

Wha...

We were greeted with beautiful weather out on the water today: seas like glass, sunny, and clear. Perfect for spotting minke whales, and that’s just what we were looking for. Off the south end of San Juan Island, around Salmon Bank (48º24.977’N 122º 57.291’ W), we came across at least three or four minke whales. Two of which were traveling right next to each other! Baleen whales typically travel individually in feeding grounds, so seeing two, twenty-five foot whales surface one after...

Just south of Salmon Bank, about 2-3 miles offshore of San Juan Island, we came across a Minke on a mission (48°22.9’ N, 122°55.9’W). This Minke was on the hunt, moving from bait ball to bait ball, no fish left behind. After only a few minutes of watching him, it became almost predictable as to where he would pop up next; just look for the birds man!! Between dining episodes, the whale would immediately pick up its’ pace surfacing multiple times toward the next meal in...

We had calm seas and a bright sunny day, perfect for wildlife watching! We departed Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to view harbor seals in the water and hauled out, as well as a bald eagle perched high in the tree tops. There were more seals around Goose Island, plus cormorants, gulls, and a large stellar sea lion playing in the bull kelp. Then, around whale rocks we saw three massive male steller sea lions hauled out on the rocks. One even started growling! It was awesome to...

Lots of wildlife today! First we saw about a dozen harbor seals just south of Friday Harbor, hauled up on the rocks. Then, at whale rocks we came across some pelagic cormorants, more harbor seals, plus a huge male stellar sea lion, a very rare sight for this time of year!

Continuing around towards the west side of San Juan Island, we came across at least seven killer whales. Both members of J and L pod were around. We identified L-86 “Onyx,” J-16 “Slick,” and L-92 “Crewser...

A little "liquid sunshine" (what the locals call drizzle) did not keep us from a great wildlife tour today!  First stop was a collection of harbor seals lounging in that liquid sunshine on a rock outcrop near Griffin Bay.  We were on the lookout for some new pups, recently born, as this is pupping season!  As we headed south out of Cattle Pass, we saw a large collection of birds including rhinoceros auklets and Heermann’s gulls feeding at the surface of the water.  Then we saw the...

Friday Harbor San Juan Island

The 3rd Annual. Gets better ever

y year!

In my post yesterday, I mentioned how I could not find words to describe how amazing our Orca encounter was. Well, surprisingly everything that I said yesterday can be applied to our afternoon trip today! There was another super pod of killer whales, but we didn’t realize this right away.

We departed Friday Harbor heading north, and did not have to travel far. We caught up with three killer whales just on the north side of Henry Island (48°36.720’N 123° 12.300’W). We watched...

On last night’s sunset cruise we caught up with two groups of about 20+ Southern Resident Killer Whales headed south in Rosario Strait between Cypress and Blakely Island (48°34.46N, 123°46.05W). They hadn’t gone far since the greeting ceremony earlier that day, but you could tell the excitement had worn on them. They appeared to be resting, moving at a steady pace in unison, only coming up for 3-5 breaths before taking long dives.

From what we had identified, it was members of L-pod...