Today we traveled all the way to Victoria to see one lone transient.  He was magnificent.  It was a long haul but when we arrived he appeared to be patrolling up and down the rocks.  He has one of the broadest dorsal fins I have ever seen.

The word on the street was that he had been harassing a sea lion prior to our arrival.  When we got there he was just cruising, back and forth along the rocks, occasionally rolling slightly on his side as if he was looking up toward the rocks to...

Attached are two pictures of Sea Lions, taken during my visit to San Juan Island last week. These pictures were taken while on the Whale Watching tour with San Juan Safari, on 8/20 - the Sunset Tour. Sending these for the photo contest, under "Other Wildlife" category. Ashwin

Sea Lion off San Juan Island by Ashwin

Sea Lion near San Juan Island

It was easy, maybe too easy, finding killer whales today. We headed up north from Friday Harbor, and just east of Spieden Island we encountered both K and L pods. They were everywhere around us! Breaching, spy hopping, and tail slapping. After watching them for a while, we headed back south towards Cattle Point. We saw harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and a juvenile bald eagle. Then, as we headed back into the harbor we encountered the killer whales again! And they were still being...

It wasn’t exactly the nicest day on San Juan Island, but having it rain did not prevent us from going out and seeing the wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. We first saw a bald eagle perched in a dead looking tree. Then, we saw some whales I haven’t seen for over two months…transients! There were four of them, traveling very quickly, their dorsal fins waving in front of us. It was the T-19 group, and I love seeing the transients because they are really the coolest, top predator of...

The reports were that the killer whales were headed far west, out towards the Pacific Ocean. But this gave us a chance to see all the other wildlife the Salish Sea has to offer. So we headed north out of Friday Harbor on our way to Patos Island. On the way we spotted a whole bunch of harbor seals, including pups, hauled out on rocky areas as well as in the water. We then saw a bald eagle, perched overlooking the sea. Plus, this far north we were able to see an amazing view of Mount...

These days I hail from Maui, Hawaii and it's rare for me to say it's hot in Washington.  But today, it was hot!  In town.  And quite comfortable on the water as well.  We traveled out to be next to the Olympic Peninsula and the snow covered mountains; and it was a day of epic weather, water and visibility.

We started our trip headed south from the harbor to some harbor seals lounging on their rocky haul-out.  At Cattle Pass, we found their cousins, the stellar or northern sea lions...

It was bright and sunny as we headed north out of Friday Harbor. On this trip, the first thing we encountered was harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island. Next we spotted a few killer whale dorsal fins off in the distance. Everyone got excited as we scoped out the area. As the boat turned there was a large pod of orcas, over twenty whales close to each other surfacing and breathing. Then, all of a sudden one breached, then another next to the first one, then a third after the...

It was a beautiful trip from the beginning today!  Heading out of Friday Harbor on a wonderfully clear day we were able to get some amazing views of the snow-capped Mt. Baker.  The usual sunbatheing Harbor seals were all out in about swimming on both sides of the boat and we got a great view of a tiny harbor seal pup swimming along! Continuing on our way out we passed by a few stellar sea lions also in the water and one with a fish in it's mouth!  We rounded cattle point and headed...

Something rare occurred today; killer whales surprised us by coming up not only next to our boat, but a couple swam under our boat! Let me start from the beginning… we left Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to see some harbor seals hauled up on rocky areas. We also went around whale rocks to see the steller sea lions that were hauled out, but not only were there some on the rocks, two giant individuals came out of the water, walking up the rocks at the same time!

We then headed...

Southward from sunny Friday Harbor quickly led us to dense fog with visibility at maybe 100 yards (maybe) just before Cattle Pass.  Armed with radar, the captain navigated us through the pass and over to Whale Rocks where we found seven large stellar sea lions and numerous harbor seals hauled out, warming up and napping.  Even in fog, the air was warmer than the 50 degree waters around the San Juan Islands!

Battling our way through more fog, with other boats appearing and...