Harbor Seals

Last weekend was an exciting one for onlookers as three rescued San Juan County harbor seals were able to make their way back to their Salty Salish Sea home!  On Friday, September 29^th, three harbor seals were released after being in marine mammal rehabilitation for months.  All three of these harbor seals were stranded as pups, and it was an incredible experience to see them each released back into the wild, having been fully rehabilitated and deemed healthy and ready to...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Seahawk, 8/29/17, 2:00PM]

            The other day Captain Joe and I took a small lovely group aboard the M/V Seahawk. We went far but we got to a group of Transient Orcas swimming south in Rosario Strait. Today was pretty interesting because there were three different Transient Orca groups that had traveled almost the same exact route just at different times throughout the day. We saw one of the three groups just south of Lydia Reef in...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Seahawk, 7/16/17, 2:00PM]

Captain Joe and I left from Roche Harbor yesterday with a smaller group to go search for some super wildlife and whales. We took an interisland route. This means for most of the voyage we stayed in the smaller passes and in the midst of most of the islands instead of traveling in the larger bodies of water that surround them. If you look at a map of the San Juan Islands, they are surrounded by four larger bodies of...

Sunday mornings, especially on holiday weekends, are my favorite times to be at Roche Harbor. The excitement in the air is palpable, usually the sun is shining in a bright blue sky, and we have the chance to welcome and host a group of very enthusiastic people.

This Labor Day weekend was no different. On our 11am departure we had a group of our Southern Resident Killer Whales reported off the Westside of San Juan Island. We were treated to an awesome encounter with members of two of the local...

Today, Captain Gabe and I took a super enthusiastic group out on the M/V Seahawk! We headed south along the west side of San Juan Island to look for the Southern Resident Killer Whales. These are the salmon eating ones that live in the north pacific and usually spend much of the summer inside the Salish Sea since salmon have to make their way through to find the rivers that they were born in. This year is a historically low salmon year so we have not seen the residents that much this summer, but...

Here in the San Juan Islands we are constantly surrounded by beautiful marine wildlife. Our waters are home to a wide diversity of marine mammals including four species of whales, two species of dolphins, two species of porpoises, two species of seals, two species of sea lions, and we also have the possibility of seeing two species of otters! With such a great array of species, we sometimes come across injured or dead wildlife on our tours or while wandering the islands...

Pete and I left Roche Harbor for our 11 o'clock tour without any promising whale reports. Luckily, Roche Harbor is very close to Henry, Speiden, Stuart, Johns and the Cactus Islands. Each of these islands are home to an array of different wildlife. First, we cruised through mosquito pass where we saw our first (but certainly not last) Bald Eagle, as well as a harbor seal swim by the boat. We motored north along Henry Island where we found two more Bald Eagles. We also took a moment to gaze at...

Yesterday we had a super fun wedding party charter the Seahawk for some fun in the sunny San Juan Islands. Captain Gabe and I set out south to go look for a Humpback Whale! On the way we saw a couple of Harbor Porpoises playing in the awesome rips as that days strong tide pushed in the opposite direction as an odd northerly wind. We went all the way down south past Friday Harbor and Turn Island in to calm Griffin Bay. We first spotted the Humpback close to shore, looking...

For land animals, spring is the time for babies! But in the marine realm babies can and usually do follow different cycles. It’s still usually based on food availability for the newborns, but this doesn’t necessary match up with the normal temperate cycle of spring, summer, fall, winter. For cetaceans (aka whales) this is especially true since these intelligent animals are capable of traveling great distances between feeding grounds and breeding grounds and so are their...

It’s cooled down a little bit here, getting closer to normal May weather. The sun was still out in full, bright force but air wasn’t so hot as it has been, but summer still feels like it is here a little early. Everything is opening on the island, more folks are starting to walk around enjoying the longer sunny days, and all the plants are so excited for the sunshine after a pretty grey winter. This sunny Saturday we had a choice to make, since there was no reports out...