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The black dorsals of J and K pod broke the chop of Haro Straight as we made our way towards Victoria. We then allowed the strong current that had worked against us to now be in our favor as it pushed us towards the west coast of San Juan Island, drifting beside the orcas. We saw Deadhead (K-27), who was named after the singer of the Grateful Dead who passed the year of her birth, and her three-week-old son. The passengers (and the naturalists) gasped as she unexpectedly spyhopped to...

Today was one of those rare perfect days to be a wildlife watcher. The sun was shining and the water glassy as we made our way south from Friday Harbor. Our first stop was at whale rocks where there were the most wildlife species I’ve ever seen at one time. There were cormorants, gulls, harbor seals in and out of the water, and two animals we do not see often: a brown pelican and not one, but two giant Steller’s sea lions, one of which was in the water and came up right behind our...

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Orca off South West End of San Juan Island Sunset Whale Watch Tour

Last evening I got out from behind the computer and went on the 5:30 whale watching tour. It is the "lighting". I just love it around 7:00 pm when eveyone's faces are warm from the sunlight. The Madrone trees seem firey and the summer grass on the hills glows.

There were many, many whales out off San Juan Island last evening. A guest took a photo and Serena ID'd the orca as Cappucino. The orcas were doing lots of...

Right out the gates, we headed south and just before Cattle Pass we encountered a harbor seal munching on a salmon it had just caught!  At first, two gulls were interested in the seal's catch but each time it surfaced, another gull and then another and then another came on until there were ten gulls fighting for a piece of the salmon prize.  Wait a minute, did the gulls even do any of the dirty work to catch that salmon?!  Oh, scavengers.

Around the west side of San Juan Island, we...

What can I say about today...?  The whales made us work for it.  We headed around the calm, serene north side of the island and turned the corner south down the west side.  We had heard that there were whales moving north in the vicinity of Lime Kiln but by the time we got there there was nothing.  We kept motoring south around the corner toward False Bay.  Still nothing.  The wind was blowing and the seas were getting rougher the farther along we went, but still we went.  Finally up...

Recently we had a family group charter the Kittiwake boat for a family reunion.

They had our favorite caterer bring boxed lunches, sodas and home made goodies for the occasion. Kittiwake is certified for 24 passengers. When booking the public in, we limit this number to 12. When using her for a charter we like to limit it to 14 so that there is plenty of space for guests, food and guests belongings.

This boat charter saw orca whales, bald eagles, harbor seals, at least a dozen...

Today we had a wonderful encounter with my old friend, the Minke whale.  We left the harbor and headed south.  Just before Cattle Point we noticed lots of splashing.  We moved toward the disturbance and saw two harbor seals acting very peculiarly.  One seal would lay, flat out, on the surface of the water.  The other seal would lunge at it, bite it, and then porpoise and slap its back flippers on the surface.  Over and over again we watched the same scene play out.  Perhaps a...

Today was awesome.  Call it luck, call it karma, call it retribution for the past few days of driving to Vancouver...whatever the case, I have never seen whales actually pull into the harbor.  When we found the group of J's they were just north of the harbor.  They were cruising slowly south. I was expecting total chaos. Because of the whales' proximity to town I figured everyone and their mother would be out watching.  The sheriff was out and about, which was great to see.  There...

We headed north out of Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of any and all wildlife that lives in or around the Salish Sea. Our first encounter came when we slowed and went across Spieden Island where there was wildlife from the shore line to the sky. First we noticed harbor seals that were hauled out on the narrow shoreline. Then looking up, we saw mouflon sheep and fallow and sitka deer along the grassy hill tops. Finally, in the sky was a lone bald eagle in all its glory; wings...

I just wanted to thank you again for the great time my buddies and I had on your tours a couple weeks back. Our tour guide was  from our home town (a suburb of Chicago) which made the experience that much more enjoyable. I knew I got some cool pictures from the adventure, but was even more excited when I blew it up and so how well they had turned out. Thanks again for everything, consider this my

Orca Whale by D. Litch July 2011

D. Litch