We left Roche Harbor out of Mosquito pass and came out into Haro Strait and were greeted by the matriarch of J-pod J-2, better known as Granny! Granny was leading J-pod south down through Haro Strait headed towards to Strait of Juan de Fuca.  Granny was with her usual family subgroup consisting of J-37 (Hy'Shqa), J-40 (Suttles), J-45 (Se-Yi'-Chn), and J-49 (T'ilem I'nges).  It is very common to see the whales travel in their smaller family subgroups.  We then let Granny's...

M/V Sea Hawk departed Roche Harbor at 11:00am and headed toward Discovery Island in hopes to see J-pod. About half way down Haro Strait, Captain Chris heard a report of transient orcas off of Sidney Island. Guests were excited to hear about this report in hopes to see the transients hunting. Transient orcas hunt marine mammals, like Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoises, Stellar Sea Lions, and even other whales.

By the time we caught up to these transient orcas, they were moving...

Today start of grey and foggy on the island, but hopes were high when we heard of whales on the westside.  Captain Chris and I couldn't wait to get our guests down to the whales so we headed straight to Lime Kiln Lighthouse. The lighthouse has been the place to be the last three days, seeing as that is where J-pod has been hanging out. Once we got on scene we found out that there was J-pod and part of L-pod here, specifically the L-

The whales were very spread out and...

Captain Nancy and myself were excited to have our guests aboard M/V Sea Hawk on this bright sunny day, mainly because J-Pod came in over night!  It is always exciting when we have our residents return in May because it feels like summer is in full swing! After informing our guests with our plan we headed South towards Lime Kiln Lighthouse. This is were we first encountered the "Cookie Clan".We were fortunate enough to be the only boat with them!

This clan is made up of...

What an amazing trip we had today! We left our dock today in Friday Harbor without any whale reports once again, so Captain Mike and I decided we were going to head north to see what we could find in that region. We were looking for transient killer whales; this kind of killer whale hunts marine mammals. There is ample food for them north of San Juan Island including harbor seals, harbor porpoise, Steller Sea Lions (the largest in the world), and even Dall's...

With impending rain, Captain Mike steered the M/V Sea Lion north with Naturalists Heather and Emily, and guests in tow.  The goal: transient killer whales off North Pender Island in Canada.  A little Northwest rain did not dampen any spirits on board and before we knew it we were rewarded with great views of 7 transient orcas traveling southeast in Swanson Channel.  T137 and her offspring T137A, T137B, and T137D were traveling with T36A and her two offspring T36A-1...

Captain Mike, Naturalists Emily and Kevin, and guests on board the Sea Lion were lucky enough to see K Pod on yesterday's Whale Watch Tour!  This is the first tour of the year where we were able to view our Southern Resident Killer Whales.  K Pod, comprised of 19 individual orcas, returned in full to the waters surrounding San Juan Island.  This pod was spread out into 3 traveling groups, all headed east from Victoria, B.C. towards the west side of San Juan Island. ...

Although the day started out grey, the sunshine quickly took over in the San Juan Islands.  Captain Mike lead Naturalist Emily, Naturalist Kevin, and the guests on board the M/V Sea Lion north out of Friday Harbor in the pursuit of orcas.  We started the morning with no orca reports, which is common in the early season, so we went to look in areas that orcas frequent in the San Juans. As we were headed around the north side of Spieden Island two dorsal fins were...

Spring has sprung in the Pacific North West and everyone is ready to get back on the water!  With our first Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour in two weeks time, we are all hoping for a great season.  Recent predictions concerning salmon runs should contribute to another wonderful summer.  Canada is predicting up to 72 million sockeye salmon to return to the Frasier River this summer, which is far higher than the typical 3-4 million.  Chinook and coho salmon are...

Many animals call the San Juan Islands home.  From kelp crabs to orcas and finches to eagles the San Juans have and abundance of species.  With both ocean and land environments, birds of all sorts abound on San Juan Island.  Bald Eagles and Peregrine Falcons are two top predators of the sky.

Bald Eagles are well known as the national bird of the United States.  Bald Eagles mate for life and return every year to the same nest.  They even have the ingenuity to build...