Southern Resident Killer Whales today!

Caught up with about 7 slowly foraging members of J-Pod, including Granny (J-2), Blackberry (J-27) along with Onyx (L-87) on the west side of San Juan Island at 48.27.388N 123.03.597W. We stayed with them until peeling away at the light house at Lime Kiln to complete a circumnavigation of San Juan Island.  Caught a quick sighting of 2 Dall’s Porpoises close to Kelp Reef too.

On the way out, San Juan Channel was busy with Harbor Porpoises (at...

A great day to be on the water; we had blue skies, wispy white clouds, and plenty of wildlife to observe.  First we headed out to Spieden Channel and came upon a group of harbor seals hauled-out on an exposed rock.  They were snoozing and enjoying the sunshine.  We continued northwest towards Stuart Island and encountered “Onyx”, L-87, slowly traveling the same direction, just south of Turn Point (48°39.931N, 123°14.114W).  As we continued into Boundary Pass, we encountered members...

I experienced something new and beautiful today. We had a service at sea during the first part of a charter trip this morning. Not much to say except that we were honored to be a part of it. After which we headed north, first slowing by Spieden Island looking for muflon sheep and deer, but seeing a few harbor seals resting on the rocky shore and a group of harbor porpoises surfacing in front of our boat!

We then went around the top of San Juan Island and saw our first killer whale...

It was a terrific day around the San Juan Islands in terms of weather and wildlife. As we left Friday Harbor heading south, the sun was shining and the water flat. Perfect for spotting the many harbor seals hauled out, covering every small rocky island exposed during high tide. We also passed Goose Island where cormorants were taking advantage of the sun as well, drying off their feathers.

Then we rounded cattle point and saw our first dorsal fin break the water just south of False...

Today we shuffled around Spieden, Stewart and some of the inner islands. As we boarded the boat we prepared for a wet day, but it actually turned out to be very nice. On the south side of Spieden we saw at least 30 or so Mouflon Sheep and got to see the very first Mink of the season, scurrying along the shoreline. We then made our way around Stewart, through John’s Pass, and through the Cactus Islands seeing numerous Harbors Seals hauled out on small rocky islets and a lone Bald...

Salmon Bank was the place to be today. We headed south out of Friday Harbor, prepared for rain but pleasantly surprised that it stopped just as we left our boat slip. Along our way we stopped to view a large group of harbor seals hauled out. A few gave us a demonstration of how phocids, true seals, move around on land without being able to rotate their hind flippers under their body by scooting off the rocks into the water. Continuing south, we slowed by Goose Island to watch and...

Unfortunately there were no reports or sightings of Orcas whales in the region today, but we did get to see an amazing amount of other marine and terrestrial wildlife! We traveled approximately 50 miles round trip visiting Spieden Island, Mandarte, Turn Point (Stewart Island), and Patos Island. On Spieden we found some Mouflon Sheep and a couple Bald Eagles along with numerous Harbor Seals hauled out on small, rocky islets. At Mandarte, we engaged in hundreds of Cormorants building...

Today we visited five Orca Whales on the western side of D’Arcy Island (48°04.14N, 123°18.21W). As we approached the scene we could immediately tell they were Transients based on their stealthy behavior. Once they went under no one knew when, or where, they would come up next. After continually changing paths they unexpectedly surfaced right towards our boat providing us with a great amount of excitement and the most amazing view! There was one LARGE male, his dorsal fin standing...

Harbor seals were taking advantage of the low tide today and were seen hauled out at a number of locations in the San Juan Islands. We counted 97 Harbor Seals at just one haul-out site along the west side of Waldron Island!

One mile northwest of Patos Island Lighthouse we were surrounded by Harbor Porpoise. These normally shy and elusive animals were busy foraging in this highly productive area.  Their behavior of surfacing frequently and changing directions provided excellent...

Today we followed a similar route to yesterday’s trip. We headed north out of the San Juan Channel, past the west side of Waldron and out to Patos Island. About a half mile west of Patos we saw around 20 to 30 Harbor Porpoises milling in the rip tides. This appeared to be a great foraging area and it was very cool too see so many Harbor Porpoises together in one place. As we reached East Point we saw a similar set-up to yesterday with about 100 Harbor Seals hauled out on the left...