The days are a little cloudier as we delve deeper and deeper into Autumn, but that doesn’t slow us down nor the whales! They live in water so cloudy or rainy days don’t bother them and the mists that float in from the ocean here help the isles show their true colors.  This is what the islands usually look like. The greenest evergreens scrape the low lying cloud train all while the calm waters of the Salish Sea reflect the diffused light of the terrestrial world. But no worries there...

While May through September tends to be peak season for spotting killer whales, also known as orcas, here in the San Juan Islands, we are in the midst of a second peak in whale sightings right now. From about September into November we have our peak sightings of humpback whales. These past weeks have been just spectacular for spotting these beautiful creatures.

A Background on the Mighty Humpback

Humpback whales are regarded to be the fourth or fifth largest whales in the world...

We see whales most days and they are super! But some days we have an extra special day. Today we went north and motored through some of the outer islands north of San Juan Island. We first stopped around Flattop Island to look at some really cool Harbor Porpoises surfing in the windy chop south of the island. After we checked out their silly antics we continued north and saw quite a few majestic Bald Eagles and as we approached East Point on Saturna, one of my favorite places in the...

Today is one of those fall days that you dream about here in the Salish Sea. After the last couple of stormy days, today’s sun was a welcome break.

We left Friday Harbor turned left, and headed north. We were lucky enough to find a humpback whale within 10 minutes of leaving the harbor as it traveled south through San Juan Channel. Humpbacks are usually 45 feet long on average. This individual appeared to be a bit smaller, indicating that it was a juvenile. We spent about 15 minutes with the...

Yesterday was another wonderful day on the water. Fall still has amazing wildlife to show off here in the San Juan Islands. We headed north to start the search for whales yet again. We went all the way up into the Canadian Gulf Islands which are still beautiful but in a different way. As you move north into the Southern Gulf Islands of Canada the islands become taller and closer together crating these beautiful narrow passageways that we got to motor through yesterday. We went...

Yesterday, the sun was out again and the seas were calm. Early in the morning the Southern Resident Killer Whales could be heard over one of the hydrophones placed on the west side of the island, and by the time the sun came up there was a whole lot of orcas spread out along the southern shore of San Juan Island. Captain Mike, Scott, and I took a bunch of great folks on an adventure to find these orcas and of course some other amazing wildlife as whale. First we stopped to look at a...

Yesterday, we saw a wide diversity of marine mammals. We cruised around the northern San Juan Islands and even went into the Gulf Islands of Canada for a quick bit. We saw a few Harbor Porpoise including a calf which was super tiny and super cute. We also saw several tons of Harbor Seals laying on the rocks around Flattop Island and swimming and twirling in the water. A young one pooped up and took a few minutes to check us out checking him out. We also saw all three species of the...

Today we had the rare opportunity to view four different family groups of transient killer whales. When we pulled away from the dock, reports of killer whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca brought us south of San Juan Island. On our way down, we encountered all sorts of wildlife, including Steller sea lions, harbor seals, cormorants, harbor porpoises, and even a minke whale!

When we arrived at where the orcas were last reported, we noticed that the group consisted of nine different...

The arrival of fall brings a lot of changes to the Salish Sea and the San Juans. Garry Oaks start to turn rusty brown, the air cools and the wind picks up, and seabirds start morphing into their winter plumage. Fall also brings the arrival of new species that spent the summer busy in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean. Amongst these are the Dall's Porpoise, a small black and white cetacean known for its social nature. 

We had already circumnavigated most of San Juan Island...

Today was a cloudy day here in the San Juans, The islands look they do for most of the year, not the bright sunny days, but the cool green and grey days where the clouds begin just where the trees end. Captain Mike and I headed north towards Flattop and Spieden Islands to check a pretty common place where marine mammals are found due to the currents that concentrate food in that area. We first spotted a Humpback Whale near Flattop Island. It was a young humpback that has been hanging...