Can go awry. You design a vacation around a wild animal that decides that it does not want to be on display that week. You devise a foolproof schedule and then the world conspires against you and nothing is on time. You take every precaution and still chaos ensues.

Such was our week in the whale and wildlife watching business. You never know when that perfect storm is going to hit, but when it does you always feel it. When times like this come upon us we in the tourism industry...

What a day! There were Orca families zooming everywhere with breaches, tail slaps and spyhops galore. We saw auklets and harbor seals and even a bald eaglet in the nest with his parents standing guard in nearby trees. The sun was out and the waters were calm and our guests on the MV Kittiwake could not have been more fun.

Capt. Craig and I took a lively group of visitors through Friday Harbor and down the east side of San Juan Island. Just past Turn Island we stopped to see some...

Life is good as a naturalist these days. The Orcas are back in the islands and the summer is in full swing. With the 4th of July coming up, as well as Friday Harbor's centennial and the sesquicentennial of the Pig War there is no shortage of special events to fill those hours that can not be spent on the water. Luckily for our guests today, it was a day spent on the water and in the company of whales. And not just giant black and white dolphins, but real whales as well.

As we...

Not wind, nor weather, nor water can deter us. If the whales are in the vicinity then we will do all we can to get to them. So said our guests today on the MV Sea Lion. Despite the grey skies and the spitting rain everyone was ready to get out on the water and commune with whales. We were in no way disappointed. The reports had been of sporadic behavior, but we found the whales at the South end of the island moving around in classic feeding patterns, which means that they were...

How do you measure the quality of a moment? What is it that makes some indelible and others ephemeral? Why aren't all moments created equal?

Today was one of those types of days. It was grey and overcast with a little bit of rain in the air. The water was steely but calm and nature seemed to be holding it's breath. An eagle floated slowly past, harbor porpoises surfaced erratically and the breezes were still. There was a sense of bridled anticipation coming from the guests, the crew...

Today was a great orca viewing day. The whales were doing back dives and breaches!!! They were also traveling fairly fast. Both the guests and I very interesting to watch. Everyone on the boat was very impressed with J-pod.

J-pod is one of the three pods that make up the southern resident killer whale community. These killer whales are actually fish eaters, they do not prey on marine mammals. These orcas have been listed as an endangered species in both Canada and the United...

Our adventure startedby heading North out of Friday Harbor. We found the orca whales about 5 miles North of Patos Island heading and they were headed north.

Members of J and K pods were there. We identified J-1 "Ruffles". We were also lucky enough to see one individual back dive about 4 times in a row. One of our guests got a great picture. Hope she emails it to us (Fun@SanJuanSafaris.com)

On our ride back we made a quick stop around Yellow Island to see some Harbor Seals...