Every morning I come in to work, nervous about what the day may hold, but also excited about the prospect of seeing whales.  There is a lot of pressure on us as naturalists, captains, and crew to find the whales and keep the passengers happy, which is why we get so very excited when we hear two sweet words...South side!

Gotta love it when the whales are close and we get to spend time with multiple groups. I do love a good drive up north every now and then, but sometimes it is just...

Southbound from Friday Harbor, we went in search of Pacific northwest wildlife. Along the way, we saw harbor porpoises just in the San Juan Channel north of the harbor.  A few harbor seals were spotted frolicking in the waves, perhaps foraging or playing.  As we rounded Henry Island along the northern end of San Juan Island, we headed south along the Haro Strait and began to see boats in the distance spread out over several miles.  Upon closer viewing, those boats happened to have...

At this point, our avid readers know that orcas are the world's largest dolphins, despite the fact that their common name is Killer Whale.  Because the name Killer Whale is such a misnomer we almost exclusively use their scientific title of orca.  Up until this week they were also the only dolphins that we see in the Salish Sea.  There have always been vague reports about Pacific White-sided Dolphins being spotted in these waters, but the reliability of those reports always...

We often have people ask us about whether the orcas wear tags and if that is how we know where they are.  Since the Southern Residents are listed as an endangered species, researchers are not given permission to attach tags to them.  The same logic that discourages the use of tags is the same safety-based thinking that prohibits taking skin or blood

White dot on dorsal fin is satellite tag. Photo courtesy of Cascadia Research

samples from the resident orcas, thereby limiting the...

Finally it looks like the fog may be clearing. We still had a foggy morning but it quickly cleared out and turned into a beautiful day. This afternoon was a true safari. We started off by observing some harbor seals basking in the sun...it's rough being a harbor seal! Then we moved over to whale rocks to observe a couple of stellar sea lions.  These amazing creatures can weigh between 1500-3000 lbs depending upon the sex of the animal. Sea lions are capable of "walking" on land using...

It must be since Capt. Hook just arrived!  That is right, we spent the day with good old Capt. Hook and, in this story, his jolly gals.  And we did not have to go more than twenty minutes down San Juan Channel before we met up with them.  Transient orcas T40, or Capt. Hook as he is affectionately known, and two females were traveling north up through Griffin Bay on the east side of San Juan Island today.  It was a quick trip from the dock for us and the rest of the whale watch fleet...

Luckily, we did not have to look too far today, although the orcas were being a bit cagey. Capt. Craig took us out of Friday Harbor at an exaggeratedly slow speed, because the Coast Guard had sent out a radio warning about a submerged house boat that was adrift in San Juan Channel. How something can be submerged and adrift I do not know, but we were on the lookout for it. That was just the distraction that we needed though. We were nearly to Turn Island and we had not gotten up to speed yet when...

After what appeared to be the start of fall and winter, we are now back to the September weather that we are all so fond of. September really is the best month to see the islands and today was a perfect example of that.

I welcomed a lovely group of guests onto the M/V Kittiwake this afternoon and we headed off on our tour. The orcas were at the south end and west side of San Juan Island today, so it was difficult to decide where to go. Capt. Bill did a fabulous job though, and after...

Some days are just not like the others and sometimes the orcas do things that we just can not predict. Yesterday, members of K and L pods swam up San Juan Channel between San Juan and Lopez Islands. That was only the second time this season that they have done that, and we were there to see it. They made it all the way to Friday Harbor before they turned around and headed back south. It was a lovely, mostly clear day and with the orcas traveling in two large, close groups it was...

Not all black and white creatures are created the same, as well we know. No one would mistake a zebra for an orca. But someone might mistake a Dall's porpoise for an orca. Especially if the orca is expected and the Dall's porpoise is not.

That was not exactly what happened tonight, but it was a surprise none the less. Capt. Denny and I knew we would probably not see orcas, unless we were to happen upon some transients. The last thing we anticipated though, was to see Dall's porpoises...