Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

When I arrived to work today, I heard word that J Pod was rumored to be in the Haro Strait. As the morning continued, Captain Craig confirmed the word that the most frequent visiting Southern Resident community pod was indeed back in the islands! Captain Craig, a group of excited guests and I departed Friday Harbor with high hopes of seeing orcas! We headed up toward Boundary Pass. As we rounded the northern side of Turn Point and headed into Canadian waters we began to see dorsal...

After hearing word of Transient Orcas up north, we left Friday Harbor in a hurry to try to view some of the marine mammal eating Orcas that sometimes frequent the San Juan Islands. We headed quickly their way, only to hear they started heading further north (out of our range). Then, we sped north again, having heard they were headed back our direction. Luck wasn't on our side and once more they turned and were out of our range. Luckily, the islands have wildlife abound!

The guests...

Yet again, Spring is in the air in the San Juan Islands! Captain Nancy and our other Naturalist, Jeannette, and I headed out with an excited group of guests to view the wonders the islands have to offer. We cruised past Speiden Island, viewing the islands exotic wildlife along the way, up on towards Turn Point, off of Stuart Island. Along the way we gazed at the hauled out Harbor Seals as they gazed back at us. We saw a few harbor porpoises off of Turn Point and headed around Stuart...

Today on the Kittiwake, Captain Pete found lots of wildlife to view. The conditions were amazing, smooth seas and a clear sky. We saw many bald eagles, (even a juvenile), stellar sea lions, harbor seals, harbor porpioses and many birds. We also cruised by Spieden and were able to view some deer and sheep. We had a great trip!!!
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales

Although there is still an early spring nip to the weather, it was a glorious day out on the water. After hearing word of a few Minke whales off of Cattle Point, towards Hein Bank, we headed south to catch some glipses of one of the true whales that inhabit the waters of the San Juan Islands (Orcas aren't actually whales, they are the largest dolphin!). Minke whales are the smallest of the baleen whale, around thirty feet long. They feed upon krill and small fish. We had some great...

Over the weekend Tom, Joe & I paddled out on two 3-hour tours and were rewarded with fantastic wildlife sightings. That morning a number of critters like raccoons and a black fox had made their way down to the low tide line to paw at the exposed rocks in search of crabs and other tasty treats. Eagles were also plentiful that day, and that afternoon we saw one swooping low into the water very close to shore. A flash of brown caught our eyes and as we paddled closer we saw two river...

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Hi All,

I was just looking back on some photos from this summer, and wanted to share my favorites with you. It was a happy few months spent guiding with SJS, and I look forward to returning to the islands soon. Summer on the water was beautiful -- complete with good weather, great laughter and lovely sunsets.

Cheers!

Aileen

Photo credits: Aileen Murphy, Zach Steele & Samantha Braschler

San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales

On Friday I led a group of kayakers out of Roche Harbor for a three-hour tour. The wildlife was certainly out and about that day, as we saw about eight eagles all together on shore, where a presumably tasty meal was washed up. I've often seen a few pairs around the area, but never this many at the same time. It was magnificent to see so many eagles in different life stages, and my guests captured some wonderful pictures. As if that wasn't enough, when we were paddling around the west...

Today San Juan Island experienced unusually high wind. We did take out both the 11 am and 1 pm whale watching boats. The resident whales were no where to be found. The transients were way north by Salt Spring Island.

Still, everyone did have a good time, saw seals and sea birds and spent a beautiful 3 hours out on the waters around San Juan Island.

Whales. Their just wild. That's why we love 'em.

San Juan Island near Seattle: Home to the Southern Resident Killer Whales