Did you know that our transient killer whales are also known as Bigg's killer whales? Dr. Michael Bigg was instrumental in pioneering killer whale identification research throughout the 1970's and 1980's, revealing the very distinct populations of orcas and also bringing to light the realization that the numbers of orcas in these popoulations were relatively low. Before Bigg, it was generally assumed that there were massive amounts of killer whales in the ocean and that they all ate...

What a day! We spent the afternoon hanging out with some transient killer whales (some of the T46 family) off of the Salmon Bank at the southern end of San Juan Island. These whales appeared to be on the prowl, and it looked like the young 4-year-old orca, T46F, might have been getting some hunting lessons from his family. We saw members of this family the day before as well on the other side of the Straight of Juan de Fuca, where they were hunting a harbor porpoise. Adult males do...

What an absolutely beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest! M/V Sea Lion left the dock early this afternoon with the sun sparkling on the water and a light breeze blowing - perfect conditions for whale watching. Instead of turning north today, we veered south, enjoying stunning views of the southern tip of San Juan Island on our way across the Straight of Juan de Fuca. We were in search of some transient killer whales that had been spotted earlier this morning. 

Along the way, we were...

We started off the day with hopeful reports of a group of transient killer whales just off of Victoria, BC. As we left the dock, we headed south down the San Juan Channel towards Cattle Point, the southernmost tip of San Juan Island. We stopped briefly to catch a look at a large group of harbor seals hauled out on a rocky bank only to realized that on the other side of the rocks was a large group of Steller sea lions, with a few California sea lions dispersed among them. The male...

I do not take top five lists lightly. If I say a trip is easily in my top five of all time, you can be certain that it is truly special. Today was one of those days.

Captain Mike and I had an amazing day with our guests up in the Strait of Georgia and Boundary Pass watching Bigg’s killer whales and a lovely humpback whale as well! We started the day of encounters with the T123s traveling east in the Strait of Georgia. This family, consisting of three individuals (Mom T123 and kiddos...

What do you think about when you think about sound? Maybe you think about music, or birds, or waves crashing, but I bet you think about all of those sounds going into your ears right? We hear sounds all the time, even when we’re sleeping, but imagine a world that you experience almost everything through sound. This the world of dolphins, and especially the largest species of dolphin, the orca. Orcas echolocate. This is how they mainly interact with their watery world and it kind of...

Yesterday all of our stars aligned. During April, cetacean sightings have historically been a bit hit or miss… whales here one day and then gone the next. Lately we have had a lull in whale sightings, but we have still been out enjoying the beautiful weather and ample wildlife of spring in the Salish Sea.

We left the dock with no good report of orcas; no one in the Pacific Whale Watch Association’s spotting network had spotted anything. About 30 minutes off the dock, Captain Mike...

The Salish Sea around the San Juan Islands is considered to be the premier location in the world to see killer whales in the wild. Your average whale watcher will look out across our beautiful water and say that they are looking at some really nice black and white orcas. This is true, but there is so much more going on!

The orcas that we primarily see in this area can be split into two very distinct groups, known as ecotypes. These ecotypes are not only genetically distinct...

We left Friday harbor today with a report of the same Transients we found the night before traveling slowly up the San Juan channel! I always love days like this because it means after looking at the whales, we can show the guests all of the other amazing wildlife the San Juan islands have to offer. I couldn't wait to tell everyone that not only were we going to see Transient killer whales, but they were within five minutes of our dock!

When we got on seen with the killer whales, we...

What a great start to the 2014 whale watching season! The M/V Sea Lion headed out again today and caught up with some Transients (mammal-hunting killer whales) once again. Today was however, a little different than most days given we went about seventy miles round trip! The whales were located about fifteen miles west of Victoria, BC and Captain Mike and I decided to go for it.

After about an hour and a half we caught up with the T065A group of whales. There were two females whales...