2006 Whale Watching Report

Great photos from 2006 at the very bottom of the page!

December 13th: The Island Explorer III is heading east from Hawaii to Seattle! The barge that's carrying her is making 9 knots in 9 foot swells and 3 foot chop. They are estimating arrival into Seattle on December 23rd!

December 12th: A large group of Orca Whales reported just off Bush Point, Whidbey Island, heading north - a calf was with this pod.

December 10th: Our new boat for the 2007 season, The Island Explorer III, was loaded onto a barge this morning in Hawaii! She's like the Explorer II but a little bigger and a little faster! Stay tuned and watch our progress over the winter as we get her ready for our 2007 whale watching customers!

December 9th: Orca Whales, K-Pod, was sighted this afternoon north of west point heading north.

December 5th: K Pod sighted today near Kingston heading north.

December 4th: Orca Whales sighted today southbound at Bush Point, off the west side of Whidbey Island.

November 25th: Orca Whales sighted just off Trial Island!! The Island Explorer II was headed west from Anacortes to investigate Humpback Whale sightings when we spotted 10-12 Transient Orca Whales! The Orcas were speed swimming at about 12 knots! We got some great looks including the sighting of a new baby, still with the orange coloration. Jami Nagel took ID photos of the baby and is working with Ken Balcomb at The Center for Whale Research.

November 24th: Our tour headed west today searching for Humpback and Orca Whales. We had a little wind and rain leaving the dock and conditions steadily improved through the day. We spotted two beautiful, graceful Humpback Whales southwest of Victoria, BC. They were feeding and being flanked by at least 25 Steller’s Sea Lions! One of the Humpbacks was getting fed-up with a persistent Sea Lion, raised his fluke into the air, and walloped the Sea Lion with unbelievable swiftness! The Sea Lion let out a roar that sounded like an elephant screaming in a Tarzan movie and got well clear of the whale! Another highlight of the tour was a magnificent Bald Eagle near Castle Rock! The weather cleared to rainbows, calm seas, and a beautiful sunset!

November 20th: The Southern Residents J & L pods were seen the last 2 days off the westside of Whidbey Island. Humpbacks are still out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca south of Victoria. We will be running our 11am trip on the Island Explorer II on Friday the 24th and Sat. the 25th. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!! Stay tuned for more whale info.....

November 11th: Our passengers had a wonderful experiece with 3 Humpback whales. A mother and calf were playful together. Mom at one point pushed the calf's back and fluke out of the water. Lots of sounding dives giving us a super view of their flukes! We also had harbor porpoises surfacing next to the boat. These guys are usually very boat shy. We also smelled a Minke whale however it never appeared. Minke whales have a very distinct smell!!

November 5th: This week we have had sightings of Orcas in Saratoga Passage and Humpbacks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca off Victoria!! Come and join us this Saturday, November 11th!!! Stay tunes for further reports....

November 4th: Super-high winds today forced us to cancel the tour - Bummer! J, K, and L Orca Whale Pods were reported yesterday between here and the south Puget Sound area, and Humpbacks just off of Victoria!! Our next tour will be this Saturday, November 11th!

October 28th: Whale Report from Naturalist Bart Rulon. We drove through some fog today but, we broke out of it for good as we got closer to the whales. The Humpbacks were, again, near Canstance Bank, South of Vancouver Island. Today we had 3 adult Humpbacks traveling close together. They seemed to want to come close to our boat, even though we would set up 100 yards away. So our passengers got many up close and personal views of all 3 Humpbacks. Our long trip didn't leave much time for stopping on the way back but we did see a Bald Eagle posing on the top of a sign on Colville Island. Another great Humpback day with lots of looks at their tails!!!!

October 27th: The Island Explorer II sighted more of the beautiful and graceful Humpback Whales today!! Stay tuned for a report from naturalist Bart Rulon! We headed west toward the south tip of Vancouver Island searching for whales. We were the only boat in the area, just south of Trial Island, when we spotted two Humpback Whales - a mother and calf! They were staying at the surface alot and didn't seem to make many deep dives. We were the only boat with the whales until it was time to head back toward home! On the way home, Sean spotted an elusive Minke Whale feeding in a bait ball - bonus whale! Then, stopping by Whale Rocks, we saw 20-30 Steller's (Northern) Sealions and 15 Harbor Seals. For the perfect end to our tour, we saw 2 beautiful Bald Eagles off Burrow's Island, just outside our Marina. One of them posed perfectly on a dead tree as we cruised through Burrow's Pass and into Anacortes!

October 25th: We had another great day with Humpback Whales today! Reports Naturalist Bart Rulon. Two minutes into our trip we saw a Bald Eagle and a Steller's Sea Lion off Burrows Island. Just before we reached the Humpback Whales we found a Minke Whale. There were 4 Humumpbacks (2 groups of 2) just SW of Victoria, B.C.. We spent all of our time with a mother and calf. They were very entertaining. We were

surprised when the mother breached and then the calf breachd. Then they both did it again for a total of 4 breaches. We also saw their pectoral flippers on several occasions.Ttoward the end the calf was coming up to the surface with his mouth open. We will be back Friday, October 27th with more from the field.

October 21st: We had a great Humpback Whale show today! Reports Naturalist Bart Rulon. We found 4 Humpback Whales south of Victoria, two groups of two. They spent alot of time at the surface giving us many good close-up looks, especially with the calm sea conditions. One whale even breached in the distance! A few Steller Sea Lions were following the whales closely and they also closely approached our boat several times. We also saw several Dall's porpoises bow-riding and on the return to Anacortes we encountered a Minke Whale - what a great day!

October 20th: Wow! Another spectacular day on the Salish Sea! Bart Rulon reports: We found J-Pod offshore of False Bay. Soon after we found them, J-26, Mike, swam over toward our boat - he erupted out of the water right next to the boat and caught a salmon! Another J-Pod member swam over and then the two of them swam in circles, next to and under the boat, chasing salmon! From the surface, we could actually see the salmon that they were chasing! One salmon swam out from under the boat with Mike in pursuit. Suddenly, the other Orca Whale darted in to catch the salmon and it looked like he might have caught it! Without a doubt, this was the most exciting close-up encounter I've ever seen with the Orca Whales!! In fact, it was so cool, I didn't even take any pictures for fear of missing some of the action!!

October 17th: A sunny, calm day on the Salish Sea that started out as a foggy morning! The Island Explorer II headed west today looking for Orca Whales and we found Humpback Whales! Then, on the way back to Anacortes, we 2found Orca Whales!! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for a trip report on J-Pod and other wildlife from our naturalist Jami Nagel!! Naturalist Jami Nagel reports: We headed up the westside of San Juan Island insearch of J-pod. We had a great look at a group of Dall's Porpoise, off Lime Kiln, as they rode the bow of the Island Explorer II. We then headed out toward Victoria to check out a group of Humpbacks. We had a great look at a mother and calf that has been in the area for a few weeks. The calf decided to say at the surface and play with some kelp while mom continued to dive. As the calf played, mom surfaced about 150 yards away and made a very loud "trumpet sound" as she exhaled. She did this a few times and then the calf started to make the same noise as it surfaced. The calf dove and met up with mom. We got some great looks at the 2 of them as they passed by giving us a double fluke!! In addition to the Humpbacks, there were 2 large groups of Stellar Sealions in the area. At one point, one of the groups of Stellars was following at the flukes of the whales!! They looked to be playing around. On our way back, as we neared Lopez Island Captain Sean let us know that our whale watching was not over yet!! Out in front of us was J-pod!!!! J-pod was sleeping as they cruised up toward San Juan Island. Our passengers got to watch all 24 whales surface in a row!!!

Octorber 15th: Today's Island Explorer II trip headed out for the westside of San Juan Island in search for J-pod. As we came around the southend of Lopez we caught up with some exciting seas. Captain Sean had reports of Humpbacks off Victoria however due to wind and weather conditions he decided to look for J-pod off the westside of San Juan. As we cruised offshore of San Juan Island we had the seasons best Dall's porpoise show. Several animals rode the bow of the Explorer for more than 20mins!!! Due to Mother Nature we did not have the whales but we had a beautiful ride with exciting porpoises, seals, seabirds and eagles and will be out again on Tuesday, forecast looks good!! Sunday's passengers got their Fluke passes and will get to come back until they see a whale, hope to see some of them Tuesday!

October 14th: A great Fall day on the Salish Sea! Cooler temps, calm seas, mysterious fog, and Orca Whales!! We headed west from Anacortes and found J-Pod about one mile off False Bay in Haro Strait. Got some great looks at Ruffles, Riptide, and two juveniles - lots of spyhopping, tail-lobs, and rolling around! Our guests also saw very vocal Steller Sea Lions, Dall's Porpoises, huge Bull Kelp, Moon Jellies, Common Murres, Cormorants, Rhinocerous Auklets, Surf Scoters, and American Bald Eagles!!!

October 11th: Today's 11:00 am departure on the Island Explorer II is heading to the West side of San Juan Island in search of J-Pod!!! Stay tuned for an update from the the Naturalist.....Orcas in Andrews Bay, westside of San Juan Island. J-pod was heading north when we reached them in Andrews Bay. Soon after arriving they made a turn and started heading south with the tide. There was lots of activity with the whales today. Many of them were logging at the surface then would erupt in play, rolling and bumping each other. We had several breaches, spyhoppes and numerous taillobs! We got some great looks at Granny, Samish, and the rest of the J2 subpod. Ruffles gave us a good pass just as we were leaving!!....Naturalist Jami Nagel.

October 10th: The Island Explorer II left the dock at 9 AM on a private charter and headed west searching for Whales! We found Orca Whales in Haro Strait! J-Pod was spread-out and feeding. We saw Stellar Sea Lions, Porpoises, Seals, and lots of birds including Peregrine Falcons on Castle Rock!! Today is sunny with blue skies and calm water on the Salish Sea! The forecast looks great for our 11 AM tour tomorrow too!!!

October 8th: Our guests started out this rainy morning searching for Orca Whales... we found J-Pod in Haro Strait and the skies have cleared with lots of sunshine!! We also got some great looks at Stellar Sea Lions, Porpoises, Seals, and American Bald Eagles!! Our next tour will be Wednesday, October 11th - the weather forecast is for another beautiful day on the Salish Sea!!

October 7th: Today we will be searching for Orca Whales, Humpback Whales, and Minke Whales! 11 AM and 1 PM departures...stay tuned for field reports from our naturalists!

......the Island Explorer II had another successful day South of Victoria!!! They watched a Minke Whale and 6 Humpback Whales, the Mother and Calf are still in the area, there were 2 adults traveling alone, and they watched 1 circle feeding - it kept faking them out, but they managed to get some good looks anyway!!! Pec fins slapping and swinging!!! They also saw Dall's Porpoises, as they rode the bow wake!

October 6th: Today we headed west in search of whales! We cruised through a calm Salish Sea into Canadian waters and found Humpback Whales!! We saw mom with calf and mom was playing in the Bull Kelp! Then our guests got to see the stealthy Transient Orca Whales!! The Orca Whales were resting while we were with them today. We also got some great looks at the fearless Stellar Sea Lions on Whale Rocks - about 15 of them and they were playing king-of-the-mountain! Lots of birds and other wildlife on this beautiful October day!

October 5th: The Island Whaler reported a wonderful day in the Salish Sea. They saw a Minke Whales, 3 awesome Humpback Whales, Dall's Porpoises, Harbor Porpoises, an Eagle on Whale Rocks, Barking Stellar Sea Lions, and a Coyote swimming off of Burrow's Island!!!! Wow! A great day for Whales and Wildlife.

Octorber 4th: The Island Explorer II was off the dock at 11am and just called to report an amazing look at 3 Minke whales south of Hein Bank. The Island Whaler left at 1pm and is heading out in search of Orca Whales seen earlier this morning off Eagle Point. Stay tuned for more reports from our boats.....The Island Whaler called to report 2 Minke Whales off Hein bank and also 3 Humpback Whales off Victoria. The whales were very active with lots of rolling on the surface and waving their giant pec-fins in the air!!

October 3rd: The Southern Resident Orcas came down Boundary Pass this morning and spent the day foraging on the westside of San Juan Island. Our orcas will continue to be in and around this area through the fall. The fall Chum Salmon runs keep the Residents foraging and the abundance of seals, sealions and porpoise keep our Transient orcas in the Salish Sea and Puget Sound.

October 2nd: We went the distance today with our private charter. Today was the second longest this year with 119 miles round trip!! We had a Minke whale and 2 Humpbacks! We spent the most time with the third humpback in the Strait of Juan de fuca 7 miles west of Race Rocks. We got some great look and the school group on board cheered the whale on!! Lots of Dall's porpoise on our way back, along with harbor porpoise! We had very large rafts of bird feeding on bait balls.

October 1st: The Island Explorer II is with the Orca Whales right now and our 1 PM Island Whaler departure will start their tour shortly!! Stay tuned for field reports from our naturalists...

......We had another beautiful, sunny day on the Island Explorer II !!! We met the Southern Residents coming down Rosario. There were members of J & L-pod at Shoal Bight heading toward the Southend of Lopez. We watched them do Cartwheels, Spyhops and Breaches as they came around Colville. We headed back to where we started and found most of K-pod, Cappuccino and Raggedy were side by side while members of K-12's with K 41 hugged the shoreline. Lea, Lobo and Yoda gave us some great looks!.Yoda was enthusiastic, Breaching again and again!!!! What a great day, Orca Whales, Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoises, Great Blue Herons, and Common Murres made for another unforgettalbel day!!! ...Naturalist Jami Nagel

September 30th: We are with all three of the Southern Resident Orca Whale Pods today!! Our guests were also able to see Dall's Porpoises playing in the wake of two boats! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for field reports from our naturalists...Awesome day!! All three pods headed up Swanson Channel. We got some great looks at Faith, L-57, and Nyssa, L-84, and a young one who were all playing together! All the Orca Whales were super playful today and our guests got to see lots of activity. We had Dall's Porpoises bow riding and when we stopped they just stayed around the boat! It was so cool - we got great looks out of and under the water! The Island Whaler's afternoon departure sped to the north into Canadian waters and was with 90 Orca Whales just east of Active Pass! We cruised through the beautiful inner islands after leaving the whales and saw Porpoises, tons of birds, Fallow Deer, Mufont Sheep, and a SPECTACULAR sunset!

September 29th: Another awesome September day!! 2 Humpbacks south of Victoria traveling southwest. 1 was full grown and the other was young and quite playful. We got a great look as they came toward us and the young one rolled over and we could see the pleats and it slapped its pec fin!! The water was pretty clear and we could see their heads under water too! We saw lots of Stellar Sea Lions at whale rocks, growling a little, and two more in the water fighting over a salmon! A very exciting day on the Salish sea and the combination of sunshine and fog was beautiful!

September 28th: Another beautiful, sunny, calm day on t he Salish Sea with Transient Orcas and Minke Whales. We even got to see some Transient Orca Whales patrolling off Minor Island. One of the Orcas was keeping the Seals on the beach while the other Orcas were trying to catch the Seals in the shallow water!!! The guests were also able to see the Transients chase a Seal in and around a Kelp bed. We also got to see an Elephant Seal, Porpoises, lots of Birds, and Stellar Sea Lions!!!

Island Whaler 1:00 pm, byNaturalist Penny Stone

An incredibly special day out in the straits on the Island Whaler! On our way out in Rosario Strait near Kellett Ledge we found a minke whale (possibly two) - then headed out to the south of Hein Bank where the Island Explorer II had found a small group of transient orcas. We followed along with them (at a respectful distance!) as they made their way south toward Smith and Minor Islands. Hmmmm we thought, this could be
interesting, with all those harbor seals on the beach! and wow! did they put on a cool show - we stood off and watched as they came up on Minor Island and split up, some heading up the beach, some staying at the
eastern point, working their way back and forth, closer and closer in to the beach. A couple of interesting behaviors I've never seen before, but heard of - a small group of whales "charged" the beach where the seals were hauled out, creating a huge wake that washed up over the beach! presumably to knock a few seals off into the water and create confusion..?? Also watched a female swimming sideways in close to shore, her dorsal fin hidden - then she popped up close to the seals and there was great commotion - lots of splashing and seals clamoring wildly to get up on the beach - I've never seen harbor seals gallop before, but
believe me, they were galloping onto the beach!! It looked like there may have been numerous kills, lots of violent splashing going on at times. Wow! what an amazing day - we were the only boat with them for
most of the time - truly a National Geographic moment for all of us!!Penny Stone, naturalist Island Whaler p.s. this group was apparently the T-100's, whom we've been seeing quite a bit of this summer! Large male with a kink at the top of his fin, couple females and a younger one - however, at the end of our visit, another large male showed up out of nowhere and not sure who he was! and darn we had to go....

September 27th: Today was and incredible day with Minke Whales! We saw 7 Minke Whales on this beautiful day with flat calm water on the Salish Sea! Our guest were able to see lunge feeding at Eastern Bank and also, near Smith Island. There were some great photo ops today!!! We also saw lots of Birds, Porpoises,Hharbor Seals, and huge Sea Lions!!!

September 26th: Orcas and Humpbacks!!!! Today was a double header for our 1pm trip on the Island Whaler! Captain Sean called to tell us he had an amazing show with the L12's and L5'2 at Hein Bank heading west. As he was leaving the whales, he got a report of 2 Humpbacks south of Victoria!! Of course he had to check this out giving his passengers and added bonus to their already wonderful whale day!!! Tis the season for Humpbacks in the San Juans!! Our passengers enjoyed the beauty of the Island with flat calm water and lots of sun! They were also able to see numerous Stellar Sealions, Dall's and Harbor Porpoise and Bald Eagles to top the list!

September 25th: All 90 whales today!!! Another beautiful day in the Islands today with all of our resident orcas. We headed around the Southend of Lopez Island in search of whales on the 11am trip. We caught up with the orcas as they rounded Turn Point on Stuart Island. It was an amazing day with all 90 whales present! The first group to pass by was the K12's with the new K-pod baby!! Some of the whales were actively feeding and some were actively playing!! We had a sprouter male breach right by us twice!! Before we left the whales we got some great views of a nursery group of L-pod babies frolicing on the surface...Naturalist Jami Nagel

September 24th: Transient orcas today!! We came through the inner islands today, the weather and scenary was amazing! As we came through Cattle Pass, San Juan Island we got some great looks at a Stellar Sealion eating a fish and than a few more coming in to investigate!! As we headed up Haro Strait we caught up with 6 Transient orcas heading toward Lime Kiln on San Juan Island. The whales were members of the T100's including T100D, the new calf born in Feb. 06. Naturalist Jami Nagel

September 23rd: The Southern Residents were again hanging off the south end of San Juan and spread northward. Naturalist Jami Nagel reports from our 11am trip: What a beautiful day in the San Juans!!! We caught up with all 3 pods off the south end of San Juan. As we got on seen we had a great welcome by one of the L-pod boys, several cartwheels!!! We got some great looks at Cappuccino and his sister Raggedy, Mega, Saanich, and even Mike from J-pod!! After leaving the whales we took a look at Whale Rocks before heading into the inner islands. We had many harbor seals and 10 Stellar Sealions!!!

September 22nd: Another amazing day with our Southern Resident Orcas!!! The whales were doing the westside shuffle off the west side of San Juan Island. As we came on seen we had Sekui, Tika and K41, the new calf in K-pod born about 2 mos ago! They were playing with the baby, lifting her up out of the water on their chins and the top of their heads. It was awesome to watch. They played like this for about 30 mins!! We had some great looks at Lummi, the oldest females (96yrs) in the Southern Resident community, and here daughter Georgia.

September 21st: Superpod again!! The orcas were found near Eagle Point early this afternoon. The Island Whaler left the dock at 9am in search of whales. They had a beautiful trip through the San Juan Island and saw lots of harbor seals, Stellar Sealions and Bald Eagles. Unfortunately the whales were found by Catchmore Charters as the 9am trip was pulling into the dock. The 11am trip on the Island Explorer II was just 20 mins from the whales and are watching them right now!! Stay tunes for updates from our Naturalist...

September 20th: The L12's and L5's (about 12 whales) spent the morning off the westside of San Juan Island. They started moving north were the weather and seas turned rougher than we liked so we changed our direction and headed toward Eastpoint on Saturna Island (Canadian Gulf Island) were the rest of the whales are (about 80 whales)!! Stay tuned for reports from the boats....Naturalist Bart Rulon reports: We caught up with the whales around Eastpoint. We saw members of J's and L's with K's near by. The whales gave us an amazing show with LOTS of breaching, cartwheels, spyhops, and taillobs!!! We had a very young calf breach completely out of the water, fluke and all! Today was an AWESOME day!!!

September 19th: The Resident Orcas are BACK!!!! Superpod!! This morning we got word that the Southern Resident orcas (J, K, & L) were heading in!! Naturalist Jami Nagel reports from the Island Explorer II: We came on seen with the whales near False Bay on San Juan Island. The first group of whales we saw were K's and some L's. We got some awesome looks at Sequim and Sekiu w/ K41 (new calf)!! The next group was part of the L12's subpod with Mega, Ocean Sun (born 1923) and Calypso who gave us some wonderfully amazing looks!! We also had a nursery group from L-pod frolicking around together near the boat!! The youngest one gave us a breach as she/he left ( I gave it a "10"). As we headed for the marina we encountered 8 Stellar Sealions near whale rocks!!!

September 17-18: Transient Orcas!!! We had transients both days. The T30 pod has been in the area for the last week feeding on harbor seals and porpoises! Natualist Ellen Newberry reports: T'30's again today near the same area as yesterday. They were milling and not covering much distance. They moved toward a tide rip were one of the whales "porpoised" in chase of something. We had a harbor seal hugging our boat in hope of escaping the whales!!

September 12th - 16th: We've seen awesome shows with lots of wildlife and whales! Large groups of Transient Orca Whales have been in the Salish Sea! Some tours have gone way west to see the whales, but are guests got to see some incredible encounters with the Transient Orca Whales!! Our guests have seen spyhopping, breaching, and feeding by these stealthy marine mammals! There are juveniles, females, and several very large males. We have also consistently been seeing the sometimes elusive Minke Whales! Watching them lunge-feed through a bait ball is a spectacular sight! The Stellar Sea Lions are here too! Our guests got some great photos of these huge Sea Lions while they were hauled-out! We've been seeing Harbor Porpoises, Dall's Porpoises, Turkey Vultures, Rhinocerous Auklets, Murres, Geese, American Bald Eagles, Belted Kingfishers, and the very large and colorful Lion's Mane Jellyfish! Good weather, a little cooler than last week but calm seas and mostly sunny!

September 11th: Another wonderful day on the Salish Sea!! Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the Island Explorer II: We found 3 Minke whales at Hein Bank. There were tons diving birds and gulls in the area which means that there are lots of bait balls (schooled bait fish)!! The Minke's were lunge feeding in the areas where the birds were actively feeding! We also saw our resident Peregrine falcon on Burrows Island keeping a constant eye on the water. On our way back in we had a great porpoise show off Burrows Island, they were everywhere and you could hear them blow (sounds like a pop can opening!).

September 10th: Another beautiful sunny day with calm water on the Salish Sea! More sightings today of the incredible Transient Orca Whales! We're getting some great looks - one of our guests was very impressed after seeing a huge male whose dorsal fin alone was taller than he was!!

September 9th: Our 9 AM Jet Boat headed west into Canadian waters searching for a group of Transient Orca Whales and we found them! The wind picked up a bit and our hearty guests got some spray but they got to see whales, and they had a blast! Stay tuned for more reports from our naturalists!

September 8th: Another beautiful sunny day with patches of dense fog on the Salish Sea! We are searching for more Transient Orcas Whales just off Saturna Island. More field reports from our naturalists to come... We got to see the awesome Transient Orca Whales on all but one of our tours! And, with our guarantee, our guests get to take another tour through the beautiful islands for free, and will get to see whales too!! We saw lots of other wildlife, beautiful mountains and island shores! Also, thanks to the Anacortes High School Class of 1951 for a great sunset dinner cruise! We saw Transient Orca Whales, a beautiful sunset, and moonrise!

September 7th: Today we are searching for the awesome and stealthy hunters...Transient Orca Whales! There's a beautiful mix of dense fog and totally clear sunny areas on the Salish Sea today! Stay tuned for field reports from our naturalists! We found a large group of transients, 12-15, near Boundary Pass! There appeared to be two groups mixed together and then they split apart and headed in different directions. There were 3 huge males, a lot of breaching for Transients, and lots of activity! Lot's of Harbor Seals, Porpoises, and birds today too!

September 6th: Today is a beautiful day on the Salish Sea! Sunny, warm, and calm seas!! Stay tuned as we update you on our search for Whales and other wildlife! Our tour started heading through the inner islands in search of whales! In Spieden Channel, we found a large group of Harbor Porpoises foraging and also the fastest marine mammal, Dall's Porpoises. The current in the channel was amazingly fast and the whirlpools and walls of water were awesome!Our guests got to see a bait ball with a Sand Shark and Harbor Seal feeding in it! Then we had some incredible looks at a Minke Whale right by Anacortes, in front of Burrows Lighthouse. He was lunge-feeding, vertically, very close to the boat! Lots of birds today too: Heermans Gulls, Rhinocerous Auklets, Great Blue Herons, and Phalaropes.

September 5th: The 9am whaler trip started out in search of the whales this morning. We knew where the whales were last night. With the tide ebbing this morning there was a chance that K's and L's would be around the south end of San Juan Island. Unfortunately, they weren't in this area but the area was covered along with other possible areas by other boats. All 3 pods were found just south of Point Roberts heading south. Our 11am and 1pm are on scene right now!! Stay tuned for reports from the boat.... The Orca Whales were traveling in two large groups with one or two smaller groups that were moving fast! Our guests saw some great breaches and some great looks at J-Pod! We saw tons of Porpoises going out and coming back! A great day for other wildlife too: Cormorants, Belted Kingfishers, Gulls, Great Blue Herons, Black Oystercatchers, and lots of very cute Harbor Seals!!

September 4th: Today we had all three pods spread out from Andrews Bay (San Juan Island) to north of Henry Island. Naturalist Bart Rulon reports: We had some really great looks at Flash, Wavewalker, Gaia and Lobo ( all sprouter males from L and K pod) Gaia (L-pod whale) did several taillobs as he passed by with an unidentified female. On the way back to the dock we cruised by Spieden Island and saw several Muffant Sheep at the South end.

September 3rd: Whales on the south end of San Juan Island. Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports: L2's and L12's offshore. Lots of foraging and playfulness among the younger whales. Aurora (3 year old calf) did some spyhopping for us. There was some great vocalization among the whales. We also had lots of harbor porpoises near Burrows Island!!! Naturalist Bart Rulon reports from the Island Whaler: We had L-pod off Salmon Bank today. We got some close looks at Mega L41 (29 year old male) They were foraging mainly, althougth we did see some playful behavior including a breach!!

September 2nd: On our 10AM trip this morning we had reports of the L12 subpod off the westside of San Juan Island. As we came on seen we quickly realized that these were not our Residents but Transient orcas (mammal eaters) that have been in the area.Usually the Transients are very stealthy but not today they were active with lots of taillobbing by one sprouter male (juvenile male). As we moved up the shore we found another group of Transients with a small calf which researchers told us that it was born in Febuary 2006!!! Jami Nagel, Naturalist. On our 4PM private charter our guests had a rare and amazing show by those Transients from the morning cruise. Naturalist Jami Nagel reports: We had 5 Transients orcas heading east toward Java Rocks off Saturna Island (Canadian Gulf Islands). Just after the whales passed Java Rocks they changed direction to a SW direction where another group of 6 Transients were coming. The 2 groups meet and started playing, lots of taillobbing, spyhopping, head stands, cartwheels and even BREACHES!!! The new baby T100D from the morning trip was with this group as well as T46 (adult female) and T44 (adult male).

September 1st: Todays our guests had all 3 resident pods (J, K & L) off Eagle Point off San Juan Island! The whales were spread out foraging just offshore! Naturalist Jami Nagel reports: We had a great look at Cappuccino (the only adult male in K-pod). We also had some great looks at Jelly Roll and her calf (1 year old). There was lots of taillobbing, especially while on their backs!! We got to see a family of River Otters near the South end of Lopez Island and a very young harbor seal pup who decided to give us a look from some behind some bull kelp!

August 31st: Awesome tours today to wrap-up the month! Blue skies, sunny, and calm water on the Salish Sea! We started out with Minke Whales - got some great, close looks by our Baleen friend. Then, searching for more whales for our guests, we found 3 Transient Orca Whales! There was a female, juvenile, and one BIG male! Great looks at these awesome, stealthy hunters! Then, Captain Shane had an unconfirmed report of a Humpback in the area - a little early for Humpbacks in the Salish Sea (October is excellent for Humpbacks here!) but at 35 knots cruising speed on the Island Whaler, we can check it out! And...Humpback in sight!! Great looks at this huge, beautiful whale for the lucky people on the Island Whaler!! Lots of birds and other wildlife on our tours too - anything is possible in nature!! Six miles south west of Hein Bank, we had 3 Transients. We identified 2 of them as T44 and T46. We had one Minke before we got up to the Ts and a few Minkes near Hein and Middle Bank as we headed back in! Jami Nagel, Naturalist.

August 30th: Our tour left the dock this morning, without any whale location information, in search of Orca Whales. And, Captain Ham found them! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for updates!! We found 4 Transient Orca Whales at Salmon Bank, heading southwest. It looked like 2 females with two calves, moving very fast - the wind had picked-up and it was a little choppy so they were practically porpoising to get out of the water far enough to breathe!! What an awesome sight! Our guests also saw Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, Great Blue Herons, Cormorants, and Common Murres!

August 29th: Not too many people got to see the Orca Whales today...but our guests did! There were only 3 American boats that got to see Orcas today, and two of them are Island Adventures' boats! Today was the longest tour of the season - out of range for most companies - all the way to Cowichan Bay, Canada! We got to see Transient Orca Whales and a mom with young one. Despite a windy day, it was a great tour and a warm day!! We also saw Harbor Seals, Porpoises, and lots of different birds! Well, today we got to see a lot more of Canada than we usually do! We went around Salt Spring Island, past Sidney and into Cowichan Bay. There we found two Transient Orcas, a mother and a smaller whale, perhaps a few years old swimming side by side. It was difficult to determine what they were doing, but perhaps searching for food, though they weren't leaving the bay. They took regular 4-5 minute dives and would be up for a few breaths. Was a treat to see the Ts and in such a different spot! Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

August 28th: Our guests got great looks today at all 3 Orca Whale Pods!! The Orca Whales ranged from Haro Strait to Eastpoint and Boundary Pass. Another beautiful, warm day with lots of playing, and other wildlife! Our morning whales were spread out foraging heading towards East Point. In the afternoon the whales were active and breaching and we got a good look at Faith too! Bart Rulon, Naturalist. All 3 pods were at East Point headed down Boundary Pass! They were slowly traveling in large groups with a few wanting to be playful. We saw some cartwheels, lots of tail-lobs and big spyhops. Splash and her little one, Aurora, turned and headed right for us and wouldn't let us leave! They went under the boat and rolled around some. Plus, we got a close pass by about 30 whales and you could see them underwater! Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

August 27th: Lots of Orca Whales in sight today and another beautiful, sunny day! The Orcas are spread out today in different groups - stay tuned for reports from the field! The morning trip got to enjoy the whales resting near Victoria! When the whales are resting they group up tightly in a group and surface together. We had J's and K's together (46 orcas)!!!! We had some great looks at the new baby, K41!! The afternoon trips got to see the whales in action as they were foraging for Salmon! The last evening trip of the season got to enjoy a wonderful sunset, the whales and a harbor seal enjoying his meal of fresh Sockeye!!

August 26th: Another great day with all 3 Orca Whale pods on the Salish Sea! We saw J, K, and L Pods near Salmon Bank. Our guests got some great looks at Cappucino, K-21 and K-22, Sekiu with her family - the baby looks great!!! Ruffles was in the lead for J-Pod with Samish, Riptide, and Suttles about 1.5 miles behind! Repeated cartwheels today and lots of breaching! We also saw a super cute family of River Otters on Castle Rock doing ALOT of chirping! An amazing day with tons of other wildlife and birds, and another spectacular golden sunset!

August 25th: The morning tours are with the Orca Whales right now! It's another beautiful Summer day!! Stay tuned for reports from our naturalists.....J's, K's, and L's on our tours today! We saw foraging, resting, breaching spyhopping, tail-lobs, and some really long dives! Awesome day, beautiful sunset and lots of other wildlife too: Harbor Porpoises, Seals, Sea Stars, Great Blue Herons, Rhinocerous Auklets, and Pigeon Guillemots! Natualist Penny Stone reports: Gorgeous day on the water with whales! On our 9:00 trip we (eventually) encountered part of L pod south of Hein Bank - foraging and chasing salmon and spread out for a few miles. Saw one spyhop! J and K pods had apparently gone north and were hanging out up by the Fraser River, B.C. Mt. Baker provided a dramatic background and the water was pretty much flat calm. Got a chance to see the whale poop collecting brigade with
their poop-sniffing dog today - researchers can collect quite a bit of info from whale poop - diet info, contaminant info, and DNA info. Our 1:00 trip took us to west side San Juan Island near False Bay - again L's were foraging - changing direction often and lunging after fish. Had a good look at Mega (L41) as he passed. A very cool thing happened on our way home - we stopped to look at harbor porpoise and they actually came pretty near the boat, playing and chasing - including a mom and itty bitty calf! Fun to see them up close!

August 24th: The wind blew through last night so hoping for calm conditions for todays tours. More to come...What an awesome day for whales!! We found Minke Whales at Hein Bank, feeding. and lots of Marbled Murrelets! There were two different groups of Transient Orcas that were doing alot of lunging, circling, and splashing - one came up with red marks around his mouth, an incredible sight for our lucky guests!! We also saw a SUPERPOD heading east toward Anacortes! Lots of Orca Whales from L-Pod including Faith and Mega, most of K-Pod, and we also saw Ruffles! Double spyhops, multiple breaches, rolls, cartwheels - it was an incredible show! Lots of other wildlife and birds and spectacular weather, a beautiful sunset too!!

August 23rd: Today we had transients 20 miles west of Victoria. This was furthest we have gone this year to show are guests whales!! We were the only company in Washington that had whales today! Stay tuned for reports from the boats... Our morning trip got to see the transients but as the day went on the water conditions really detiorated. The transients kept coming in from the west but it was way to windy to put our passengers in harms way. Can't wait for calm conditions and the return of the resident orcas!

August 22nd: Minke whales feeding near Hein bank today. These whales are the smallest of the baleen whales and are generally very elusive. Stay tuned for reports from the boats.... The Island Explorer II found a few Minke Whales on their trip today. Orcas went west out toward the Pacific Ocean and should return in a day or two. We are still sighting bald eagles, lots of harbor seals with pups, tufted puffins! (somewhat rare), porpoises, and lots of seabirds. The highlights of our trip were Smith Island, Minor Island and Deception Pass! We found 3 Bald Eagles at Smith and Minor and hundreds of Harbor Seals. Many of them were in the water looking at us from close range. Bart Rulon, Naturalist.

August 21st: J's, K's and L's today!! It's that time of year were the pods are spending lots of time together. The whales were spread out forgaging off the west side of San Juan Island. There was lots of playful behavior on our evening trip with 2 young whales wrestling around. We had a small baby breaching several times and some spyhops by the 2 young whales playing. Just before the south end of Lopez we ran across a Tufted Puffin! We found members of L Pod just before Eagle Point on San Juan Island heading offshore. The first group was the L2s. Later we saw Jelly Roll with Nigel and baby Domino! Our last look at a whale was Faith who was fishing off our port side. He then headed straight for us and gave us a great pass! Later we had some really good looks at Granny, Ruffles, Samish and the kids. All 90 whales were there and fairly spread out and heading southeast. Jami Nagel, Naturalist. On the way back into the marina, we saw a family of river otters otts on the dock and all the pups were eating fish! Penny Stone, Naturalist.

August 20th: There was a member of L Pod traveling with the L12s, milling around Salmon Bank. There was lots of foraging with some tail lobbing and pectoral fin slaps. The whale finally committed to heading Northbound towards False Bay on San Juan Island. We also saw a red tailed hawk at the South End of Lopez, which was a first for me in that spot. On our later trip, we saw the L12s again along with the L32s off Lopez Island. We saw several spyhops and a whale gave us several good passes. We got an exceptional pass as the whales all surfaced next to the boat and sprayed us with whales snot!! It was a beautiful sight, snot and all. Jami Nagel, Naturalist. Naturalist Penny Stone was on the Island Whaler and she reported that they also saw kelping, where the whale plays with kelp hooked on its dorsal fin and heard lots of cool vocalizations.

August 19th: Perfect weather, lots of Orca Whales, lots of wildlife - another AWESOME day on the Salish sea!! The Transient Orca Whales, just off the dock, were circling and diving -it looked like they may have caught something but we weren't sure. We also got to see K and L Pods, the southern residents, with their new babies, near Salmon Bank! The L's were traveling close together - everytime we tried to move, L-84, Nyssa would pop up next to us! They were vocalizing echolocating like crazy!! A VERY CUTE little one was cartwheeling and tail-lobbing all over the place! Our guests also got to see Harbor Seals, Porpoises, Black-Tailed Deer, Rhinocerous Auklets, Murres, Cormorants, Eagles, Great Blue Herons, and Turkey Vultures!!

August 18th: A beautiful day today! It was misty with fog in the early morning - that sort of pre-historic look - and sunny and warm all day! Lots of Transient Orca Whales moving in different groups. We saw 6 T's off Dungeness Spit with two little ones that looked about 1-2 years old. Super clear water today with great looks! We were able to ID T-103 and T-104 off of Hein Bank. There must have been about 15 Transient Orcas in the area today!! Lots of other wildlife too: Porpoises, Harbor Seals, Eagles, Common Murres, Marbled Murrelets, Cassin's Auklets, Rhinocerous Auklets, and Phalaropes! The weather outlook looks awesome for the next week!!

August 17th: Another great day on the Salish Sea! Transient Orca Whales, Minke Whales, and lots of other wildlife! We saw Marbled Murrelets south of Lopez Island, Eagles, Cormorants, Rhinocerous Auklets, a Harbor Seal Pup getting a piggy-back ride from mom, Harbor Porpoises rooster-tailing and playing in our wake near Deception Island, and, to our bird-lovers delight, lots of Tufted Puffins!! The sunset was spectacular and we should have sunny, warm days through the next week!

August 16th: Minke Whales feeding off Partridge Point near Whidbey Island! We also cruised by Minor Island to find 100's of Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, and an enormous Elephant Seal!! (They get up to 5,000 pounds!!) We saw about a dozen Tufted Puffins sitting together in a group! What a great photo op! Bart Rulon was naturalizing on this tour and said he has never seen so many Puffins in one spot at the same time! Awesome sunset on our evening tour too!! Plus, as a nice bonus since we didn't have to go out too far, the Island Whaler got to get a good look at Deception Pass!

August 15th: Transient Orcas and Minkes!!! Captain Shane called to report a new baby with the group of 15 transients near Port Townsend. The Minke whales were seen near Hein Bank and Tufted Puffins at Minor Island. Stay tuned for reports from the Naturalist......Today we saw a very cool combination of wildlife! The super-stealthy Transient Orcas were on the hunt! We got to see 15 T's southwest of Eastern Bank and also saw Minke Whales feeding near Hein Bank! There were 2 big males in the group of Transients and 12 female or juvenile males. Our guests got to see lots of Porpoises, beautiful Tufted Puffins, Harbor Seals, and Bald Eagles too!!

August 14th: The L12's were off the south end of San Juan Island for our morning trips on the Island Explorer II and Island Whaler! The 10am trip on the Island Explorer II reported lots of seabird including bald eagles and numerous harbor porpoise on Burrow pass near Anacortes!! The 4pm trip on the Island Explorer II got to spend part of their evening with K-pod and the new baby, K41!!!! They also had a great pass by Rainshadow K37 who until last night, was not identified as male or female. She rolled on her back belly-up near the boat and it was confirmed, it's a girl!!!

August 13th: New K-pod baby!!!! The Center for Whale Research confirmed that Sekiu K22 had her second baby K41 over the last couple of days!! This is Sekiu's second calf, her first was born in 2001, Tika K33. Stay tuned for more reports from the boats.....Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 10am trip: K's and L's were spread out near Hein Bank. Aurora L101 kept popping up by us and then cartwheeled!!! The visability in the water was so good we could see them under the water. We also got a good look at Mega L41. Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 4pm trip: K's and L's still together now off San Juan Island. Evidence of mating amoung some of the groups!!! We had the boys club surface off the back of the boat; Cappuccino K21, Mega L41 and Faith L57. We then had Jelly Roll L43 breach right off the boat!!!

August 12th: Orca Whales are putting on a phenomenal show today!! Very active with lots of spyhopping and breaches!! Their location, just south of Henry Island, means a tour through the beautiful inner islands going out and coming back to Anacortes! It's another sunny, warm day and the whales are still heading closer to Anacortes!! The 4 and 5 PM tours will be awesome today!!! Naturalist Bart Rulon reports from the Island Whalers trips: We had all 3 pod today with lots of activity; taillobbing, lots of breaching and spyhopping. We watch Spock (K20) chasing a salmon near the boat!!! We even got to see some of the orcas sleeping today!!! Natuarlist Ellen Newberry reports from the Island Explorer II: Great start to both our trips!! The 10am trip had a Peregrine falcon sitting in a tree near the marina and the 4pm trip had salmon jumping out of the water coming out of our marina!! The whales were very active today. We had lots of breaching and cartwheeling on the moring trip. The afternoon trip was just as exciting with Blossom (J11) breaching right next to the boat!! She has done this several times this year! We also had a small group of whales that spyhopped over 20 times!

August 11th: L-12 subpod was on the westside of San Juan this morning. They kept swimming east to south Lopez then north up Rosario Strait - about 5 miles from our dock!! Nice day for us! Then worked their way toward Deception Pass and back west again. The other whales were sighted way north near the city of Vancouver, BC. Hopefully they will be back down our way tomorrow. What a nice evening it turned out to be tonight with a beautiful sunset, shimmering, calm water, and orcas :)

August 10th: Orcas came back! J, K, and L pods were a bit west of Victoria, BC in the morning heading back into the San Juan area - YEAH! The Island Explorer II went way west to see them this morning and had a great show. Our later trips didn't have to go quite as far - the whales kept coming in to the west side of San Juan Island. Most of them went north toward the Canadian Gulf Islands but L-12's stayed back at San Juan in the evening. Minke whales were also sighted today as well as a few baitballs (small schooling fish getting picked off above by gulls and below by diving birds, dogfish, and seals).

August 7 - 9th: The 7th was the first day in about 2 1/2 months that we did not see the orca whales. Man we had a nice streak going! All three pods like to hang out together this time of year so when they decide to head west out the Strait, they all go west. That's what they did from the 7th to the 9th. BUT... August is so cool because when we do see them (which is most of the time) - we typically see all 90 whales!! August is SUPERPOD month. We did get to see lots of other wildlife on these three days including Minke Whales, porpoises, harbor seals, bald eagles, Tufted Puffins, and a black-tailed deer with two fawns on south Lopez!

August 6th: Orca Whales just north of Anacortes, near Lummi Island. Our guests are with the whales right now - there's mostly sunshine but misty fog around in pockets making for some very cool pics! Lots of breaching going on out there! L-pod headed down the middle of Rosario Strait and J-pod hugged the shoreline going right past Washington Park in Anacortes. We watched several whales breaching right off the shore. L-pod gave an awesome show with 50+ breaches with some spyhops and lots of taillobbing!!

August 5th: Super Pod Day!! All the Orca Whales were together today - more reports coming soon! A beautiful day on the Salish Sea! We found the Orca Whales in Haro Strait and saw lots of activity and got some super looks! Our guests saw Porpoises, Seals, Eagles, Herons, Pigeon Guillemots, and Turkey Vultures. Our Sunset Whale Watch tour was spectacular! Whales everywhere, up in the Active Pass area. We saw two pods come together - they rolled onto their backs and were slapping pecs and flukes on the water like crazy! Lots of breaching, some would come completely out of the water! The seas were flat, no other boats were around, the view of Mt. Baker and the Moon-rise was incredible, and the sunset was filled with orange, pink, purple, and gold! WOW!!!

August 4th: Our guests saw all three pods of the Southern Resident Community today! The Orca Whales were breaching, swimming upside-down, spyhopping, and even did a couple of baby breaches! All of our tours spent time with the whales today - another gorgeous day! - from around Henry Island all the way into Canada and Active Pass! Our guests also spotted Eagles, Murres, Rhinocerous Auklets, Herons, Red Throated Pharalopes, Porpoises, and River Otters.

August 3rd: Orca Whales and lots of wildlife on all 4 tours today! Stay tuned to the Whale report for field reports from our naturalists! We spotted J-Pod speed swimming, in a line, and porpoising high, right toward the boat!! L's and K's were spread out, milling, and making longer dives. Our tours saw the whales today all the way from south of Lopez Island up to Stuart Island - another beautiful day in the Islands!

August 2nd: Today we found K's and L's heading west at Hein Bank - they we spread out and foraging. We got some great looks at Lea, K-14 with offspring Lobo, K-26 and Yoda! Cappucino, K-21 made a few close passes and Alexis and Mystery were still swimming together! Our guests also got to see Pigeon Guillemots, Cormorants, Bald Eagles, Oystercatchers, Harbor Seals , Harbor Porpoises! And, our 5 PM Island Whaler tour showed that anything can happen in nature! About 4 PM, the whales were heading west, fast, away from Anacortes and the wind was picking up! Not good for passenger comfort! Then, at 4:40, the whales turned and started heading east back toward Anacortes! Our loyal guests were psyched - Captain Sean showed our guests the Orca Whales and got to see a beautiful sunset!

August 1st: A beautiful tour through the inner islands today with lots of birds, seals, porpoises and Orca Whales on all 4 tours! We found the Orca Whales just north of Salmon Bank - it was an unusual combination and L-12, Alexis was with L-85, Mystery. We didn't see the rest of L-12's family. The Orcas were mainly foraging and doing some breaching, but we did get some good looks!

July 31st:Whales, Whales and more Whales!!! The Orcas spent most of their day foraging off Salmon Bank near the westside of San Juan Island. Orcas need around 200-400lbs of salmon per day! Stay tuned from the Naturalist's accounts of todays trips... Naturalist Penny on the Island Whaler's 9am trip reports: J's, K's and some of L's right out our backdoor of Anacortes in Rosario Strait!! The whales put on quite a show for us this morning with lots of breaching, tail-lobbing, upside down swimming. Naturalist Ellen Newberry on the 10am Island Explorer II 10am trip reports: Two sub-pods of L-pod (L12's and L5's) around Salmon Bank foraging. Ocean Sun (L25) was with the L12's again along with Alexis (L12), Matia (L77), and Mega (L41). They were foraging close to each other and right before we left seen one of the whales gave us a grand finale with 2 breaches!! Natuarlist Penny on the Island Whaler's 1pm trip reports: J's, K's and L's were off Turn Point on Stuart Island this afternoon. They were spread out foraging. We got some nice looks at Ruffles (J1) and Spock (K20) with her baby, who breached about 6 times in a row near the boat. Lots of vocalization today on the hydrophone too!!!!!

July 30th: The Orca Whales will cover 100 miles in a 24 hour period - today we are lucky enough to have the whales within two miles of our dock! All four trips will see whales today and the 9 am tour had to travel about 5 minutes to see the orcas! We'll keep you posted on the details. Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 10am trip on the Island Explorer II: We had all 3 pods today heading down Rosario strait!!! Lots of playful activity; breaching and porpoising. K21 Cappuccino popped up with us quite a few times, with his sister K40 Raggedy.

July 29th: Orca Whales sighted north of Kellett Bluff headed north - may end up in Canada today, eh? The Island Whaler is with the whales now and the Island Explorer II will be on scene any minute! Update: Captain Shane just called in from the Island Explorer II - calm water, excellent visibility, we're the only vessel on scene with the L-12 sub-pod, just off of American Camp. Update: Captain Shane just called in another very cool report from our sunset tour on the Island Explorer II - they are watching Sand Sharks attack a bait ball! Great sightings on our sunset tour - L-12 sub-pod, Alexis, L-25, Ocean Sun, and Mega, L-41. Two Bald Eagles were perched low on a rock and a pod of Harbor Porpoises surfaced very close to the boat, much closer than normal for these shy mammals!

July 28th: J-Pod was sighted north of Waldron Island today. Granny and Ruffles were in the lead - the rest of the pod was close together, cruising very fast, rough-housing, and talking up a storm! Great whale sightings and wildlife viewing on all 4 tours today with Heermann's Gulls, Belted Kingfishers, Great Blue Herons, Bald Eagles, Tufted Puffins, and Turkey Vultures!

July 27th: Today's morning tour had an amazing aerial display by J-Pod! Endless breaches and playing! Lots of Orca Whales and other wildlife on all of our tours today - Harbor Seals, Porpoises, Eagles, Rhinocerous Auklets, Great Blue Herons, blue sky and sunshine!! Stay tuned for more! J's and part of L's headed north toward swanson Channel, lots of vocalizing, breaching and cartwheeling! Blackberry is even bigger than Mike now! Also had bow-riding Dall's Porpoises on the sunset tour!

July 26th: Orca Whales in the Straits of Georgia headed south toward Anacortes! A beautiful tour through the inner islands and lots of Orca Whales on all of our tours today! We've also had lots of sightings and reports of wildlife in unusual areas. Puffins and Minke Whales, for example, in Bellingham Channel and the Straits of Georgia - rarely seen in the inner islands. Also, we've had more Sea Otter sightings this year than in the last 5 years combined! Maybe they're moving east from the west side of Vancouver Island? The Salish Sea is full of interesting surprises! Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 10am trip: J-pod was heading toward Boundary Pass (just above Orcas Island). We got really GREAT looks at J1 Ruffles (oldest male in the southern resident community) and J2 Granny (oldest female in J-pod at 95yrs). They were traveling side by side, they are thought to be related (mother/son or brother/sister). There was another group with a baby that was breaching, cartwheeling and the baby was rolling around at the surface!!!. Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 4pm trip: J-pod off Turn Point on Stuart Island foraging and playing. We had an amazing pass by 2 whales that were belly to belly (breeding very possible!!). We also had a large group of Dall's porpoise that were very playful and decided to give our passengers a show and ride the bow of the boat. Dall's porpoise are the fastest ceteans in the world!!

July25th: J-pod doing the westside shuffle! Captain Sean and his crew onboard the Island Explorer II called to report the whales were heading south at False Bay (San Juan Island). J-pod and possibly some of K-pod spread out foraging with some breaching. Stay tuned for more reports from the Naturalists......Bart got a great picture of two J-Pod members breaching (all the way out of the water!) within 50 feet of a blue, 13 foot Safeboat that conducts reasearch! It was a breach/porpoise combo! It was a little windy today but the sun was still shining. After seeing Orcas on all four tours today, we left the whales last night in Swanson Channel - a great sign for tomorrows tours!

July 24th: L-12 subpod on the westside. Naturalist Bart Rulon reports from the 10am trip: L-12's plus a some other members of L-pod just off False Bay. The water was calm and we had lots of time with the whales. We got great looks at L41 Mega, L74 Saanich, L79 Skana and L22 Spirit. They were fishing pretty seriously but we did see some spyhops and some tail-lobbing. We also got some great views of Harbor seal eating a large salmon at the surface of the water with several gulls harassing him. Naturalist Bart Rulon reports from the 4pm trip: WOW!! what an awesome trip tonight!! L-pod was at the south end of San Juan Island. Lots of interesting behavior happening tonight! One of the females started pushing her calf up out of the water with her rostrum (head). Several other whales joined in on the fun and now there were 4-5 orcas plus the calf rolling around one another. The group seemed to be restling around, lots of rubbing and bring their heads together at the surface. Also lots of spyhopping!!!! There was an adult male that stayed just off the group circling around.

July 23rd: L-Pod is back today! Our lucky guests get to watch all 3 of the Southern Resident Orca Pods! And, it's another beautiful, warm day - but it's just right on the Salish Sea! More about today's tours as soon as our naturalists can be torn away from whale watching! Naturalist Vicki Kirkland reports: We watched the L-12 sub-pod off the westside of San Juan Island. They were spread out and foraging! We even had one of the females bring her fish over and show everyone on the boat!! There was some breaching and taillobbing. L54 (Ino) and L108 (born this year!!) gave us a great looks!!! Also lots of harbor seals with pups, peregrine falcon and Marbled Murrelet.

July 22nd: Let's do the K-Pod shuffle! All 5 tours today were able to spend some time with K's. They were feeding and playing between south Lopez and into Haro Strait. We got to see baby and mom, lot's of Salmon scraps from foraging, spyhops, breaching, and porpoising. Great looks ar Cappucino, K-21, Sequim, K-12 and calf too! An incredibly beautiful, sunny day with glassy seas and lots of other wildlife too - American Bald Eagles, Oystercatchers, Marbled Murrelets, Rhinocerous Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Belted Kingfishers, Turkey Vultures, Osprey, Harbor Porpoises, Dall's Porpoises, Harbor Seals with their pups, and super colorful Ochre Sea Stars!!!

July 21st: A great show today by J and K Pods! We spotted the whales in Haro Strait doing lots of breaching near the shoreline. Our guests saw one Orca Whale that tail slapped about 20 times in a row! Samish, Suttles, and Riptide decided to swim off shore right toward us! We saw lots of Harbor Seal pups today too!

And, the following report was just submitted by Captain Sean!...His first OFFICIAL whale report: "It's official, this is my first whale report. I leave this honor to the experts, our naturalists. However, after the last couple of days, I felt compelled to share some awe-inspiring memories from a captains view. All of our whale watching excursions are unique. Each filled with varieties of wildlife, precious moments shared not only with our resident whales, but also with the other creatures that inhabit our waters and shorelines. The last few days have left me saying ' "it can't get better than this." ' and yet it has, time and time again. I'm not going to include every breathtaking moment but will touch on some that have left lasting imprints in my memories.

Yesterday, returning from a spectacular visit with the whales aboard the Island Whaler, we tucked in behind a small island off Lopez to find a harbor Seal eating what appeared to be more than he could chew. For the second time this year we witnessed a Harbor Seal eating an Octopus. This Octopus, though, was as big as the seal. I can only imagine the battle that raged prior to our arrival. This seal was not put off by our presence one bit. It would tear off huge chunks of meat while letting the octopus body sink to the bottom, finish his oversized mouthfulls and dive down to pick the octopus up and start again.

Returning from our second trip filled with breaches, cartwheels, spyhops and more, we passed in between Washington Park and Burrows Island and found an unusual creature swimming in our path. As we stopped to get a closer look we saw what appeared to be a dog attempting to swim in the strong currents that are prevalent in this channel. Wow, were we mistaken. It was a young Coyote. These coyotes are seldom seen but are known to inhabit Burrows Island. From the looks of it, this young creature had been swimming for quite a while and was being swept out by the current. We quickly used the boat to herd our new companion back to the shore of Washington park. My heart momentarily stopped as he neared the shore and I realized he might get tangled in a large patch of Bull Kelp, but luckily he managed to cross it and secure some fragile footing on the rugged shoreline. He made his way 15 feet up the rock wall to find a grassy area to rest. It was obvious he had expended most of his energy but still seemed so overjoyed to be on solid ground that he started rolling around on the grass and getting used to his new home. Coyotes are typically shy and run from humans but this one let us stay not even 50 feet away for about 10 minutes before we left him.

Today, aboard the Island Explorer II, we shared tender moments with a mother Harbor Seal nursing her new pup, (you ought to see the photos taken by our naturalist Bart Rulon.) an assortment of Eagles, Herons, and other birds, then we saw another curious animal swimming by while we were watching K-Pod's newest member frolic with another young whale. A Sea Otter swam up to the boat, rolled around, and raised half of its body out of the water to pose for pictures. Not only did he pose for us but then he ventured off to three other boats to show off again. Within minutes our attention was drawn to the other side of the boat to see a Minke Whale. Minkes are solitary by nature, but this one swam up to the boat, said hi, and then went off to join the Orcas of K-Pod. For the next ten minutes we watched him swim with our Orca friends as if he was part of their pod.

Just when you think it can't get better, it does. Bart captured the true essence of a Bald Eagle taking flight on camera, the two deer on Lopez allowed us a close up visit, the Heron standing on Bull kelp fishing wasn't put off by our presence.

This is a magical place to call home. Thank you for allowing me to share with you and a special thanks to our wonderful passengers who make it possible for me to call this another day at the office."

July 20th: Just in from Captain Sean on the Island Whaler's 9am trip...K-pod is activily foraging between Salmon Bank and Eagle Point (San Juan Island). Lots of activity from K21 Cappuccino and K7 Lummi (oldest female in the Southern Resident Community). The Island Explorer II is on it's way to the whale and this afternoon trips will most likely be watching J-pod in Rosario as they are coming down from Point Roberts right now!! Stay tuned for more updates...Captain Sean on the Island Whaler's 1pm trip just called to report some cool stuff!!! Off the south end of Lopez near Blind Island him and his passengers witnessed a Harbor seal eating an octopus almost the size of the Harbor seal. On their way back into the marina they assisted a coyote that was crossing Burrows pass back to the Fidalgo Island side!!!! How cool is that!!!!

July 19th: Whales on all trips!!Naturalist Bart Rulon reports from the 10 am trip: Really GREAT show today. J-pod was just north of Stuart Island. Great looks at J27 Blackberry, J11 Blossom, J31 Tsuchi and J39 Mako. J30 Riptide gave us a great show with several breaches and cartwheels. Later J26 Mike, J16 Slick J33 Keet and J36 Alki came by for a close-up look!! Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 4pm trip: K-pod spread out offshore of San Juan Island. Spock and her baby (soon to be named) played in the bull kelp for awhile. Then the baby strayed away and all of a sudden b-lined back to mom! They were VERY vocal today, very exciting to here them vocalizing!!! Also LOTS of Phalaropes around today!!

July 18th: Today J and K pods were heading north up Haro Strait at Stuart Island. We had some great looks at Cappuccino and his sister Raggedy. We also got a great look at Lummi the oldest female in the Southern Resident. They were traveling at about 5 knots cruising quickly north.

The 4pm evening trip got a surprise!! We had a juvenile Gray whale about 15ft long. He was traveling west quickly in the Strait of Juan De Fuca. It is not to common to Gray whales this time of year in the Salish Sea. We had some great view of seals and some seal pups with mom.

July 17th: Whales on all trips!!! Captain Shane found J-pod just east of Sucia Island. We had some amazing looks at J1 Ruffles the oldest male in the Southern Residents and J2 Granny the oldest female in J-pod. The whales were spread out foraging. The 4pm trip had a great view of the whales sleeping!!! They woke up soon after getting on scene with a spyhop, then an eruptions of breaches, taillobs and spyhops. We had Ruffles cruise by, WOW he is one huge whale!!!! Natuaralist Jami Nagel reports from the 10am trip: We found J-pod just north of Sucia heading south. J2 Granny was in the lead with J1 Ruffles close behind. Awesome looks at both whales!! We also had great looks at J28 Polaris, J19 Shachi and J41(Shachi baby).We had an unidentified juvenille about 5yrs pop-up next to us!! Possible Mako!! Naturalist Jami Nagel reports from the 4pm trip: J-pod heading south at Tide Point, Cypress Island. They were grouped up and sleeping. As they got to the south end of Cypress Island one of them spyhopped and the whales began waking up. The breaching and tail-lobbing started soon after. We got an amazing look at J1 Ruffles, you forget just how HUGE he is!!

July 16th: WOW! Awesome day today! We had members of all three pods, J,K,and L, right off Anacortes, 20 minutes from our dock! The whales headed south around Lopez Island, grouped into sub-pods. There was some awesome breaching by Colville Island and, after all that breaching, they got hungry and started to forage! Just as we were leaving the whales we spotted a Tufted Puffin right off Iceberg Point! Then, just outside our marina in Borrows Bay, we spotted an Osprey hovering about 75 feet above the water. He took a dive straight down into the water, came back up with a fish in his talons and flew off into the horizon!!! A truly amazing grand finale!!

July 15th: Today we found L-Pod heading south near False Bay - out of nowhere, Alexis appeared at the stern and was fishing! The whales were foraging this morning and seemed to be grouped in clusters of 3 to 4. Our 4 PM tour followed the whales, J's and K's, way up north into Canada! It was a long run but guests did get to see the Orca Whales! Had great looks at Polaris and a sprouter male fishing together, with a Harbor Seals in hot pursuit of fresh Salmon scraps! Our guests saw lots of birds and other wildlife - the day was beautiful, sunny and warm!

July 14th: Whales on all 5 trips today! K and L-Pod were heading south down Bellingham Channel toward Anacortes - lots of breaching, spyhopping, tail-lobbing, rolling on their backs and winging! Terrific looks at Lummi, Hugo, Saanich, and Raven with her new baby! We saw a Cormorant eating what looked like a Sea Star, Rhinocerous Auklets, Turkey Vultures, Great Blue Herons, American Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, and Harbor Porpoises! The 4 PM sunset tour was awesome today! All the Orca Pods that were in different locations turned toward each other and formed a Super Pod! It looked like all 89 Orca Whales from J, K, and L Pods - there was cartwheeling, lunges, tail-lobbing, spyhopping, and tons of breaching!! Our guests could even hear the whales vocalizing above the water (Very Rare!) without a hydrophone!

July 13th: The Island Explorer II and the Island Whaler got great shows from J-Pod - tons of breaching and lots of activity! All takers onboard the Explorer II today got to sample Kelp - no iodine deficiencies here! We saw 30 to 40 Harbor Seals with their pups on Colville Island...more to come when our tours return! We got to see some pups nursing, too. Lot's of echolocation picked-up by our hydrophone today. We also saw American Bald Eagles, Pigeon Guillemots, and Black Oystercatchers!

July 12th: Great whale watching today on all of our tours! K-Pod was heading east toward Anacortes and then turned north toward False Bay. They were porpoising all the way and the new baby looks soooo cute porpoising next to mom! We saw another Osprey on Castle Rock, Bald Eagles, Rhinocerous Auklets, Pigoen Guillemots, Black Oystercatchers, Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, Ochre Sea Stars, and......Llamas!

July 11th: All four trips today will have orca sightings as K pod is on the west side of San Juan and J pod is south of Pt Roberts as I type this. Sean found a Minke Whale near south Lopez this morning on the way to see K pod. Haven't had many Minke sightings yet this season so hopefully they are starting to show up! Heerman's gulls are just starting to arrive, first one sighted by our crew this season just yesterday. We have been getting lucky with some nice close looks at Bald Eagles lately - They have been sitting on the pilings at the marina entrance to Skyline. More details to come from todays tours soon. As you can see from reading this whale report, we are in PRIME whale watching season!! It sure is fun...

July 10th: What an incredible show this morning on the 9 AM trip! Captain Sean and Penny headed south in Rosario, whales just went by our marina at about 8 AM. The water was pretty choppy and our guests got to experience a bit of a roller coaster ride! They had a blast riding the ebb current into an onshore breeze and their persistence paid off. They watched Ruffles come around the corner at South lopez with lots of kelp draped over his dorsal fin! Always a cool sight. Soon after that our gang saw about seven breaches - the whales were coming out like popcorn!! The orcas kept going up the west side of San Juan later in the day. Ellen reports seeing two Osprey at south Lopez being harrassed by gulls, but actually fighting back! That's a pretty cool sighting. On the afternoon trip Ellen saw a SEA OTTER near Lime Kiln Park!! This is a rare and unusual sighting here in the islands, they occur more regularly on the outer coast of Washington and British Columbia. The hunting for pelts virtually wiped them out in the early 1900's. It is really special to see a Sea Otter in here. Lucky Ellen. Busy day today with five trips going out.

July 9th: J and K went all the way around the islands once again - they were in south Rosario in the early AM, on the west side of San Juan in the early afternoon, and back on their way to the north near Active Pass just before sunset! Man they cover alot of water in one day. All four trips today had sunny weather, calm water, and great whale sightings.

July 8th: Lots of water covered today on all five trips. Thought it might be the first no-whale day in a very long time, but low and behold, the whales were found heading in from the western Strait near Race Rocks, outside of Victoria B.C. Jonathan's Report: We looked and looked this morning and it finally paid off - getting to the whales west of Victoria. Both pods were resting this morning when we arrived - a cool sight to see as they are all bunched up together, surfacing together. The whales hit the super-highway shortly after noon. This is the very strong flood current that runs from the west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Haro Strait and western San Juan Island area. When they whales ride this current they are often cruising at 12 knots, without much effort! Other behaviors witnessed throughout the day: spyhopping, tail lobbing, breaching, and traveling. By sunset the whales were near Stuart Island still heading north and Captain Sean lined the whales up perfectly with Mt. Baker in the background. Photo by Bart Rulon of this will be posted up above shortly!

July 7th: Our 9 AM trip heading southwest to see K pod at the south end of San Juan Island - we knew J pod would be coming down Rosario but had not been found yet so we went for the sure thing. The 10 AM, 1 PM, and 5 PM trips watched J pod in Rosario Strait, right near Anacortes! We love it when they are here - lots of time to spend with them. Ellen's report: We saw J pod and maybe some members of L pod foraging in north Rosario today. Were able to see 3 chinook salmon under the water and one of the whales chased after it right near the boat! That salmon was swimming for his life! Hyshqa also spyhopped a couple of times as she chased the fish around.

July 6th: Four trips today again with orca whale sightings on each one near the NW side of San Juan. We have had an amazing sighting record this year with Orcas seen pretty much every day since mid-May! All three pods are in the area making for terrific sighting opportunities. More details to come soon from our trips today... Report from Bart Rulon: Today we caught up with the orcas near Henry Island. J pod and K pod were moving quickly and we mostly watched members of J pod. Saw a lot of speedswimming and porpoising (makes for good pictures) on the 10 AM trip. We also saw a few breaches and several of the whales tail slapping while they were on their backs. On our last pass of the trip a group of orcas hugged the shoreline in front of the Turn Pt. Lighthouse making for a good photo-op!

July 5th: A bit windy for our four trips today.. The Island Whaler split directions again, heading to the west side of San Juan for a sure thing in the AM, then heading north toward Point Roberts in the afternoon after getting a later report of whales up there. The water was calmer to the north so we took advantage of that! L-12's were near San Juan Island while K's, other L's, and perhaps J's up north. Watched the L-12's rest, the whales up north were a little more active. Penny reports lots of breaching going on! Bart Rulon: Today we found part of L pod on the southwest side of San Juan Island. They were definitely in a feeding mode with lots of direction changes. On our last look of the trip, L 79 and another orca were chasing salmon near the surface - always a great sight! On the way home we saw many harbor seals and got an up-close look at a Peregrine Falcon on Burrow's Island. On a side note, Captain Jim Aggergaard of Catchmore Charters had three very nice salmon today, in the upper teens and 20 pound range - good news for the orcas in that there are big fish around to be eaten!!

July 4th: Our spotter with his scope on the westside of San Juan Island spotted a group of whales with lots of large dorsal fins (males) this morning!! Probably L-pod so stay tuned reports to come soon...... Capt. Sean called from the Island Whaler's 9AM trip to report: L-pod at Kellet Bluff heading south being VERY playful, lots of breaching, spyhopping and taillobbing!!! The 1 PM trip went north to see J and part of L pods as they cruised down towards Rosario Strait. The 10 AM departure also went north, less boat traffic and calmer water, to see this other group of Orcas. Ellen Newberry: Just in time for sighting the whales, it stopped raining and the sun came out! J's and part of L's again together at Alden Bank (north of Orcas Island, south of Birch Bay) and it seemed as though the little ones were practicing breaching again. It looked more like back bends than breaches, but they were trying! One of the little ones was Surprise's calf, L-108.

July 3rd: Orcas in Rosario!!! The 9 AM trip headed off the dock to have the whales right in our backyard!! They were off Washington Park and spread out to James Island. The 10 AM trip was soon to follow!! The whale have been VERY active today. Capt. Sean called to let us know about the double spyhop off bow of the boat. Guess they wanted to check him and the passengers out. Stay tuned for more reports to come from our 1pm and 4pm trips.... Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 10am trip: J's and K's were heading south down Rosario Strait (in our backyard). K's were in the lead and we got a good look at the only adult male in K-pod, K-21 Cappuccino!! J's were taking up the rear and being very active with lots of spyhops, cartwheels and breaching babies!!

Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports from the 4 PM trip: J's are still traveling behind K's this evening. We watched J's and J2 Granny gave us an awesome spyhop!! Soon after we saw J38 Hy'shqa pop up alone and then J14 Samish spyhop alittle ways off, guess she was checking out were her youngster was. Then J30 Riptide (Samish's son) pushed his younger sibling J40 Suttles (1 1/2 yr) out of the water, belly-up, with his nose!!!! They whirled around then porpoised away. We also saw lots of other wildlife today: 8 Bald Eagles, Rhinocerous Auklet flying candle fish back to their burrows and lots of harbor porpoise!!!

July 1st-2nd: Orcas and beautiful weather!!! What a wonderful weekend we had beautiful weather and VERY active orcas!! Lots of breaching, spyhopping and taillobbing. We even had them sleeping on the 1pm whaler trip on the 2nd which is wonderful for photos. The whales are grouped up and surface all together!!! 7/1 AM Tour: The water was a little rough today but we saw lots of great wildlife. Visited with J and K pods, along with some of L's. PM Tour: Beautiful trip tonight! went through the middle of the islands for a nice smooth ride and watched the whales near the NW end of San Juan Island. They were fishing at first, then we watched a small group of orcas stop dead in their tracks as a freighter was passing. They slapped their tails in the water until the ship passed, communicating with each other I suppose. Bart Rulon, naturalist. 7/2 AM Tour: K's and rumors of part of L pod headed up Boundary Pass, just past Turn Pt. They were sleeping (or resting) - I saw the new baby! And Lummi too! (she is one of the oldest female whales in the area, about 90 years old) It was very nice to see K pod after so long! PM Tour: Saw the same group of whales again but this afternoon they had already gone up to Pt. Roberts and were heading south again. We found them a few miles south of Pt. Roberts. Georgia popped up then Spock was going to cross our bow but turned & swam down the side of the boat! It was so cool because you could see her under water! Spock is the new mother, didn't see the calf so guessing that another whale was babysitting & Spock was enjoying some free time. Ellen Newberry, naturalist.

7/1 IW report from Penny: 9:00 a.m.: Headed out into huge waves in Rosario Strait with a stalwart group of U.S. Navy veterans who were quite game for some excitement! Lucky for us, J and K pods were right out in front of us as we left the harbor!! The big waves only seemed to make them all the more active - they were breaching right and left - what a show! Some nice spyhops close to the boat too - bet they were wondering what a little boat like us was doing out there with them... 1:00 pm: Went thru the middle of the islands to try and catch the group at the north end of San Juan Island, but they changed their minds and went south, so we had a long trip to get to them near Lime Kiln, but it turned out to be way worth it - most of the groups were out far from shore, and they turned north towards us by the time we got there - one J pod whale breached not more than 20 feet off the boat three times - WOW! we didn't expect that one! 5:00 pm: Again we did the mid-island tour to the north end of San Juan Island and found most of J pod heading north towards Stuart Island - it's always a beautiful sight in the evening trip to watch a line of whales heading off toward the sunset, blow after blow in the golden sunlight.... Penny

June 30th: L-pod heading north off the westside of San Juan Island! 9am, 10am, 1pm, and 4pm had a wonderful show today. The whales have been very active!! 10am trip naturalist Jami Nagel reports: L's off Henry Island heading northbound bucking the current. They were grouped up in 2 groups and would surface all at once, at one point I counted over 20 dorsal fins all up together!! Lots of taillobs and spyhops!! We got great looks at some of the babies!!! 4pm trip naturalist Jami Nagel reports: L-pod heading north at Falso Bay toward Lime Kiln lighthouse. The whales where spread out foraging with lots of activity inbetween. We got GREAT looks at Hugo a 20yr old male and Jelly roll and her calf (1 yr). We also got some good looks at Rhinocerus Auklets flying Candle fish back to their chicks!!

June 29th: J-pod on all trips today!! J-pod was found by the Island Whaler today just off Lummi Island. The whales were very active! The Island Explorer II started off the dock at 10am and was with the whales about 30 minutes off the dock. The whales where just off the north end of Cypress heading south down Rosario Strait. Lots of breaching today. J1 Ruffles gave everyone onboard a wonderful photo-op when he cartwheeled infront of Mt. Baker!!! There was also lots of spyhopping and taillobbing, with one spyhop off the stern, guess she wanted to check us out.

June 28th: 9, 10, 1, and 4 o'clock trips today all with orca sightings as usual! Orcas first reported this morning at about 7:30 AM near the Anacortes ferry dock heading south with the ebb tide. Today's orca route was a little different than usual in that they continued past South Lopez, down the west shore of Whidbey Island to the Navy base. Captain Matt on the Glacier Spirit, coming from Port Townsend, found them and called us right away. Thanks Matt! Our 9 AM trip was on scene soon after the call, then the 10 AM trip intersected them as they swam in the direction of south San Juan. The group continued up the west shore of San Juan, presumeably to make the loop once again. They are feeding on Sockeye Salmon that are returning to the Fraser River up north near Vancouver. The orcas must also be finding some Chinook Salmon down here since they keep making the loop.

June 27th: 9, 10, 1, and 4 o'clock trips today, each one sighting J pod with a small part of L pod. Orcas were first seen at 6:30 AM near south Lummi Island by a friend of a fellow whale watch operator who was heading back to Bellingham! They were heading south as usual with the fast ebb tide. They sure know how to use the currents to their advantage. Report from Naturalist Jonathon who was on the 10 and 4 o'clock trips: Great show today on both trips! Got J pod and a few members of L pod (Faith and L-79) - they're still hanging out together! The evening trip was a little late returning but always well worth the journey, especially on nice, calm water. We watched the whales on the northern edge of their summer range, near Pt Roberts this evening, and had a beautiful sunset over the Strait of Georgia. With Mt. Baker as a backdrop, some of our passengers captured great photos of the whales! It is amazing how far and fast these creatures move in a day!!

June 26th: 9 AM, 1 PM, and 5 PM Island Whaler, 10 AM Island Explorer II - J pod and a small part of L pod are still hanging together and cruising the clockwise loop around the San Juans. They were in front of Anacortes early in the morning today, heading south quickly with the ebb tide. Throughout the day they continued northwest around San Juan Island and again up into the Canadian Gulf Islands, through Active Pass, and on to Pt Roberts. during the day today we saw several spyhopping orcas, even had two spyhop together at the same time! Here's a report from Naturalist Penny Stone: Morning trip started with a cool look at a harbor seal munching on an octopus, right outside the harbor -we navigated the outside route, south Lopez to San Juan Island and came upon resting J pod, with a small group that included L57 -....L57 has been hanging around with J pod the last few days, and it looks to us like a "dating opportunity" as one of our passengers so aptly put it. We have observed him in close company with a few females, and much rolling around behaviors, both male and female - and the summer "sea snake" has also been observed on a few occasions. We may even have pictures to prove it. We had what looked kind of like a "group grope" this morning on our trip, with L57, a couple of females, and a couple of youngsters. The young ones spyhopped a few times. Then they joined up with the rest of J pod who were approaching in resting formation.....verrry interesting.... the afternoon trip took us through the middle of the islands to catch the group headed north into the Canadian Gulf Islands. they were more spread out at this time, and breaching occasionally. L57 was still involved with a small group of females and, what looked like one of the sprouter boys too. Gorgeous day on the water, and a cool breeze at times as well - mountains all aglow as well!

The Island Whaler went out at 5 PM as well, heading south into the calm water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca since the whales up north were swimming out of range for this evening's trip and the weather report up there was not pretty! We were hoping to find other members of the southern resident community or some Transient Orcas to the south. We searched high and low but to no avail. Lots of wildlife seen, however and our folks were able to join us for free the next morning - and saw ORCA WHALES!

June 25th: 9 AM and 1 PM Island Whaler, 10 AM and 4 PM Island Explorer II - We had two groups of Orcas today - Transients to the west and Residents to the north! The Transients were moving east toward Anacortes and we were able to identify T-103 and T-104 in the group of 7. There were Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises close-by but the big T's were cruising past! J's and L's were to the north - Faith was with Polaris and Blackberry again today...is Polaris breeding this year?? She also popped up right next to the boat with a big Salmon in her mouth, showing it off! We saw lots of other wildlife - Belted Kingfishers, Rhinocerous Auklets, Bald Eagles, Black Oystercatchers, Cormorants, Porpoises, and a magnificent sunset in the Islands!

June 24th: 9 AM and 1 PM Island Whaler - Another beautiful, sunny day - we're having a terrific streak of great weather! Today we headed north toward Cypress and Lummi Islands as J-Pod and part of L-Pod headed south toward Anacortes. The Orcas were being VERY VOCAL today and our hyrophone was picking up some really cool sounds! Great looks at Tsuchi, Mako, Suttles, and J-41. Blackberry and Shachi were close by. Captain Sean took an enthusiastic crew out this morning on the hunt in beautiful summer weather - calm seas, hot sun, mountains glowing in the distance - found a large group of whales (some J's and L's )spread out across the Strait of Georgia just north of Lummi Island - saw lots of cool activity: breaches, tail lobs, porpoising, and an adult male from L pod (L57) seemed to be enjoying a "dating opportunity" during our visit as well! These morning trips truly rock when we're one of the first boats on scene! Penny
10 AM and 4 PM Sunset Island Explorer II - We found J's and part of L's at Lummi Island heading south. The Orcas were spread out and super active! Great looks at Faith, Princess Angeline and the clan, with Spieden. All of a sudden, the whales made a sharp right turn and started heading into Rosario Strait instead of Bellingham Channel - very cool to watch them turn in-sync! A huge group of J's popped up out of nowhere by the boat and started breaching and tail-lobbing all over the place! Our 4 PM sunset tour was spectacular today - warm, sunny, calm (barely a ripple), and tons of Orca Whales!! Faith, L-57 and some other L's are still with J's. We saw Blossom do a couple of awesome breaches and got to see a mated pair of Bald Eagles watching the sunset. Our afternoon tour went north to Point Roberts, next to Canada!

June 23rd: 9 AM, 1 PM, and 5 PM Sunset Island Whaler - 10 AM Island Explorer II: All kinds of wildlife in the Salish Sea today! Our guests spent this BEAUTIFUL day seeing Peregrine Falcons, American Bald Eagles, Great Blue Herons, Rhinocerous Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Turkey Vultures, River Otters, Black-Tailed Deer, Moon Jellies, Harbor Seals, Dall's Porpoises, and ORCA Whales! L-Pod and J-Pod were heading through Rosario Strait, made a turn at Lopez Island, and started speed swimming to the west! They were almost flying! Saanich and Faith were cruising and foraging alone, with Mom and a baby close by.

June 22nd: 9 AM and 1 PM Island Whaler - Our morning tour spotted K and L Pods just south of Henry Island. We had a beautiful morning, lots of playful whales, and the tour through the inner islands was beautiful too! Our afternoon tour headed off in a totally different direction because the Orca Whales had cruised north into Active Pass, in Canada! We cruised past Sucia and Saturna Islands, and watched an icredible show - Active Pass is stunning and our lucky guests got to see it with the Orca Whales! 10 AM and 4 PM Island Explorer II - The morning tour got to see the Orcas north of Stuart Island and saw some awesome breaches in a super turbulent tide rip! We saw spyhopping when we arrived on scene, Faith and Hugo were breaching, and the sunset was spectacular! The whales have been very active and the weather forecast for this weekend is super!!

June 21st: Orcas in Rosario Strait this morning!!!! Happy first day of summer!!! Stay tuned for reports from the 9 AM, 10 AM and 1PM trips.....9 AM and 1 PM Island Whaler - Today we spent time with K-Pod! Our first tour headed west of Deception Pass to south Lopez Island. Our guests got some great, close looks at K-21, K-40, and K-7! Our afternoon tour headed north of Blakely Island to the south side of Spieden Island. K's were spread-out and feeding - got some great looks at mom and her new baby and saw lots of Eagles!! 10 AM Island Explorer II - The first Orca Whale we saw today was Lummi, K-7, the oldest member of K-Pod. Blackberry, J-27 was swimming close to Lummi - very cool to get to see that! K-21, Cappucino, did a couple of great breaches right off the bow!

June 20th: All 3 pods are in!! The 9 AM Island Whaler trip had K-pod in Spieden channel. Our passengers on this trip got a great look at K's. This is the second time K's have been in this summer, they should be here to stay!! The Island Explorer II left the dock at 10 AM and also watched K-pod. Our passengers got a wonderful look at President channel which is a beautiful area but very unusal for K's to choose!! As the Island Explorer II headed home they got J-pod in Rosario Strait, we call this a Double Header!!! The 1PM Whaler trip also had J-pod in Rosario Strait and got to spend over 2 hours with the whales. The weather and water was beautiful today, what a great last day of spring!!!

June 19th: The 9AM trip on the Island Whaler headed west in search of whales. They were south of Hein Bank when J-pod was found up north in Boundary pass. Unfortunately they were not able to see them on the morning trip but most of the passengers on the Island Whaler where able to go on the 1PM and had an amazing afternoon with J-pod!!! The 10 AM trip headed through the inner islands and had J-pod just south of Stuart Island. Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports: We really got a special look today at Slick, Keet and Mike heading towards us. One of them came by the stern of the boat and we watched for several seconds, belly-up, pumping it's fluke underwater and seconds later, Keet breached and Slick popped up nice and high!!!! Very exciting. Plus record breaking eagles today, 26. 15 were at Spieden Island, all in flight, wonder what the occasion was?

June 18th: 9AM and 1PM Island Whaler-10 AM and 4PM Island Explorer II: What an amazing day!! The weather was wonderful and the whales were GREAT!! Our morning tours watched J-pod in Boundary pass and our afternoon and evening trips watched the J-pod off the westside of San Juan Island!! The whales were very active today with lots of breaching, spyhopping and tail-lobbing!! Naturalist Ellen Newberry on the Island Explorer II commented: It was like whale popcorn, we counted about 15 breaches in a 5min period!!! Our guests also got some great looks at harbor seals hauled out on Peapod rocks and lots of bald eagles throughout the trips!!!

June 17th: 9 AM, 1 PM, and 5 PM Island Whaler - 10 AM Island Explorer II: All of our tours today had fantastic looks at J-Pod as the Orca Whales passed right off our dock, and Washington Park in Anacortes! We watched Samish and her clan for a while - Suttles was trying to breach but wasn't quite getting the hang of it, so Riptide came over to show her how it was done! Practice makes perfect! They stopped to chase a bunch of fish and then Riptide was showing-off with a couple of cartwheels! The tour also took our guests south of Lopez Island and through Deception Pass on this beautiful, sunny day with calm seas - it's starting to look like another gorgeous sunset is shaping up for our 5 PM Island Whaler guests!

June 16th: 9 AM, 1 PM, and 5 PM Island Whaler - We left the dock in search of Orca Whales this morning, looking everywhere through the islands but no one could find their mysterious location! After our search, and seeing lots of other wildlife, we headed back toward the dock when in came the report - Orca Whales sighted! Catch 22 for Captain Brett - he wants to show our guests whales but he's got to get back to pick up the guests on the 1 PM tour! No problem! With The Island Explorer II enroute to the whales, Island Adventures staff coordinated a ship-to-ship transfer for those passengers who wanted to board the Island Explorer II and continue toward the whales! Other Island Whaler passengers had lunch and then went on our 5 PM sunset cruise, and others took our guaranteed passes for another day - everyone got to (or will get to) see Orca Whales! Both afternoon Island Whaler tours saw lots of active whales with breaches, spyhopping, and cartwheels, and the sunset in the San Juan Islands was magnificent! 11 AM Island Explorer II - We cruised to within 2 minutes of latitude from the Canadian border to be with the Orcas! Our guests got to see lots of breaching by J-41 (he looks tiny compared to the others!) and Polaris was chasing fish out of the water!

June 15th: 9 AM and 1 PM Island Whaler - Captain Brett got a report of orcas about 2 miles SE of Pt Roberts as he was leaving the dock this morning so headed up to find them. K and L's were heading west out towards the ocean so the J's up north were our best bet today. Here's the report from the field: Another great orca day! Naturalist Jonathan spotted J pod near Birch Bay. It's always great to be the first boat in the islands to see the orca whales. In the morning they were traveling south at a fast clip but got some good looks at Ruffles and Shachi & her calf, J41. The afternoon trip was flat calm and Ruffles gave us a great look as he swam off our bow. The deer carcass is still on Blakely Island, near Willow Island and saw 4 adult bald eagles, 2 juvenile eagles, and 4 turkey vultures there feeding! 11 AM Island Explorer II: Found J pod just off the north end of Lummi Island heading south. Right off our bow we had action! Ruffles and Granny were in hot pursuit of salmon just under the surface!! Granny erupted from the water! I'm assuming that she caught the fish at that point because thins calmed down and she and Ruffles heading south again. We also got a great look at Polaris, Blackberry, Shachi, & J41, who was practicing her breaching again; she is sooo cute! We left them at the north end of Bellingham Channel where they turned with the tide and headed north. Jami Nagel.

June 14th: We took out an 11 AM tour and a 1 PM tour today and were our guests in for a treat! Last night J's went north to Pt. Roberts and I had a feeling that K and part of L's would be coming down from the north today, meeting up with the J's. My prediction came true! All of J's, all of K's, and about half of L's were first sighted at Boulder Reef (north of Anacortes by about 5 miles) by one of the captains of the Victoria Star 2, who then gave us a call. Thanks for that! All the companies out here are so cooperative about sharing wildlife locations - it makes working in this area so much fun. K and part of L's were heading down the inside passage a few days ago so we were expecting them soon. The other part of L's are out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and they'll most likely come in to the islands, then go back out every couple of days or so. This is the first day that members of all three pods have been here together! There were about 60 orcas sighted on our trips today. Report from naturalist Bart Rulon (11 AM tour): What a great day today! The orcas of J, K, and part of L pods were traveling south down Rosario Strait and we were able to catch up to them near the south end of Lopez Island. All the orcas were spread out in small groups. We spent most of our time with J and K pods and a really special treat was getting to see what appears to be the newest member of K pod, a new calf that was swimming alongside K12! How exciting! We also saw hundreds and hundreds of harbor seals today! AWESOME!

June 13th: 9 AM, 11 AM, and 5 PM trip today - all got to see the J pod orca whales! It has been many, many trips in a row that we've seen orcas - what a great start to the peak season! Here's a report from the 11 AM trip by Naturalist and photographer Bart Rulon: We found J pod today just as they reached the south end of San Juan Island (they were first spotted at 9 AM about two miles southwest of our marina!). First we watched Ruffles offshore by himself, then motored in toward shore to check out the rest of the pod. Got good looks of Samish, Riptide, Hyshqa, Suttles, Speiden, Shachi, and Shachi's newest calf J 41. (You can help name the calves, 5 of them, by logging on to www.whalemuseum.org and submitting ideas!) We took the inner island route on the way home and found a Minke Whale near Whale Rocks in the Cattle Pass area - my first Minke sighting this year! The 9 AM and 5 PM trips were excellent as well, time of day is NOT a factor for whale watching!

June 12th: Wow! a long burn today for the IE II. J pod was heading north fast, up through Active Pass in the Candian Gulf Islands. By the time we caught up to them we were nearly to Vancouver, BC! Our passengers were all very thankful for the extra effort of our crew, as they got to see a great show by the J's. Ellen writes: Long trip today but worth it as usual! We got awesome looks at Blackberry again! He was babysitting J40 (Suttles) and might have been teaching her how to fish. It was so cute as they made their way to Shachi. She was fishing too & jumped out of the water after a fish that was jumping to get away! It was so cool. Lots and lots of Harbor Porpoise today, as well as 8 Bald Eagles. 5 PM trip on Island Whaler: they got to see a part of L pod today that had come in from the west late in the afternoon - makes for a much shorter trip to see whales! Saw several of the bigger males spread out and feeing in the strait. Had a nice cruise in the innner islands tonight as well. It stays light until nearly 10 PM now so evening trips are great!

June 11th: 9 AM, 11 AM, and 1 PM trips today! Started off in the fog and were lucky that J pod was up north in the clear! They had come down the Strait of Georgia, making their way to the south again. Lots of great looks and good activity on the orcas' part! On the 11 AM trip J41 breached 9 times in a row! It was awesome. Welcome to June!!

June 10th: 9 AM Island Whaler - Captain Shane cleared our marina entrance, spooled-up the jet pumps and blasted off into the Salish Sea! With no whales sighted yet this morning, he banked the Island Whaler to the right and headed north - his very experienced nose was telling him that the whales would be there! We passed the west side of beautiful, unspoiled Cypress Island and started coming up on Lummi Island. Orca Whales in sight!! Our guests got to see some great breaches and close passes. We were the only boat on scene. J-Pod is heading toward Anacortes! 11:00 AM Island Explorer II - J-Pod in our backyard! They are really active today - Ruffles cartwheeled, twice, off our bow! He's so huge!! It was so cool!! Princess Angeline and her crew sneaked-up on us and passed next to us. We found a large group of Harbor Porpoises near Burrows Island, got good looks at them, and could also hear them breathing! Our guests also got to see Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, Cormorants, Harlequin Ducks, Marbled Murrelets, Turkey Vultures, and even Bull Kelp!

1 PM Island Whaler - Still right off Anacortes, J pod was nosed into the current off Blakely Island. Lots of time with the whales today, toward the end of our tour J pod members grouped up and rested. This is a pretty cool sight because they mostly all surface together to breath, making for great photo-ops.

June 9th: 9 AM Island Whaler - We headed out into Haro Strait where J pod had been reported. We found some Orca Whales near Eagle Pt. swimming pretty close in to shore, and for a while had them to ourselves - no other boats! They were lazily swimming along, changing directions now and then, sometimes playing in the kelp, draping it over their tails. As we were about to leave, got a nice close pass by a family group that we ID'd as Blossom (J11)'s family, including J31, J39, and J27 (Blackberry). We were also treated to a couple of breaches in the distance on our departure! Also saw many harbor porpoise, harbor seals, eagles, and a nice look at the peregrine falcon on Burrows Island- Penny Stone, Naturalist. 11 AM Island Explorer II - We saw lots of wildlife today and our guests were treated to some great looks at Orca Whales! J-Pod was near Eagle Point - we saw Ruffles, identified Tsuchi, and watched Blackberry and Mako doing some cartwheels! The Sun came out for us, the water was calm and it was a beautiful day on the Salish Sea! On our tour, we also saw Black-Tailed Deer, Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, American Bald Eagles, Pigeon Guillemots, Rhinocerous Auklets, and Cathartes Aura, or The Turkey Vulture!! 1 PM Island Whaler - Sunshine in the afternoon! Looks like the same subgroup of J pod was in pretty much the same area this afternoon, so we returned to the scene. This time we got a much closer look at Blackberry (J27), one of the "sprouter" males. At one point they all turned and decided to head north at a faster pace - perhaps figured it was time to catch up with the rest of J pod farther north. We then headed over to Deception Pass for a little tour, spotting a California sea lion on the Salmon Bank buoy along the way. Gorgeous afternoon out on the Whaler! Penny

June 8th: 9 AM Island Whaler - We left the dock and headed north toward the Straits of Georgia following up on an unconfirmed report of Orca Whales. While enroute, Captain Brett got a confirmed report of Transient Orcas to the south so he decided to head that direction. They watched 5 of them at the south end of San Juan Island and saw some porpoising action where they swim so fast that most of their body comes out of the water! Makes for good photos! 1 PM Island Whaler - Captain Brett cruised with our guests through the inner islands to meet up with the Transient Orcas who had moved north. Our guests got to see some tail lobs and a cartwheel! Also, an INCREDIBLE sight when a Harbor Seal was being chased by the T's. The Harbor Seal jumped out of the water onto a boat to escape from the Transient Orcas! The Transients started circling the boat, waiting for the seal to get back into the water! The Seal was very happy to have a whale watching boat on-hand for his narrow escape!!

11 AM Island Explorer II: We left Anacortes heading north, bound for Canada and a rendez-vous with J-Pod, now confirmed and heading south, toward Anacortes. We started looking for the whales when we got close but they had mysteriously vanished! Our crew and passengers scanned the horizon intensely but we couldn't locate them! All of our passengers still had a great wildlife tour and cruise through the San Juan Islands, and everyone gets to come back again for free, for life, until we show them whales!!!

June 7th: Island Whaler: Another beautiful sunny afternoon on the water - perfect for a ride on
the Island Whaler! We cruised through the middle of the islands when we heard J pod was headed north on the west side of San Juan Island. Stopped briefly at Spieden Island where we saw a bunch of bald eagles
and turkey vultures soaring, then cruised to the north end of San Juan where we met up with the J's - there was a large group of whales in tight formation surfacing at the same time, as in whale "resting" mode. There were, however, a number of tail lobs, upside down swimming, cartwheels, and one baby breach! Perhaps they were waking up? It is always a beautiful sight to see the whole family close together like that. Our cozy crew today included folks from Holland, Russia, Florida, Arizona, and Redmond! Whales were headed north as we left - where will they be tomorrow morning - Lummi Island? more to come....Penny. The Island Explorer II headed west from Anacortes into Haro Strait. We found J-Pod in a sleeping pattern, close together, coming up and going down together - this made for some great photography! Later in the tour, our guests got to see spyhopping, some cartwheels, and one Orca swimming upside down on it's back, at the surface! We left the Orcas at Henry Island and toured through the San Juan Islands on our way back to Anacortes - it was a beautiful day!

June 6th: They're back again!!! J-pod was just reported heading down Bellingham channel toward Anacortes, again!! Our guests are going to have the orcas right off the dock today!! Stay tuned for more reports......The whales passed right off Washington park in Anacortes!! There was a great deal of activity - breaches, spyhops, tail lobs and porpoising. J17, Princess Angeline, and her kids, J28 Polaris and J35 Tahliqua passed right by shore!!! More to come from the Island Explorer II...J-Pod was breaching, cartwheeling, and talking like crazy! Cookie and Doublestuf were chasing each other! They moved from Rosario Strait off Anacortes, to south Lopez. We saw lots of other wildlife including 6 Bald Eagles!

June 5th: J-pod in our back yard today!!! Naturalist Ellen Newberry reports: We sure got a great look at the San Juans today! We saw lots of harbor seals and 16 Bald eagles, 11 of the were on Minor/Smith Islands. J-pod showed up heading south in Rosario, right past Anacortes!! It was recess for the youngsters. The young whales were grouped up in 2 groups with lots of breaching, cartwheeling and porpoising!! It was sooo cute!!

June 4th: J-pod was seen this morning at the Cone Islands early in the a.m. heading south toward Anacortes!! Stay tuned for more to come....Naturalist Bart Rulon on the 11AM trip reports: J-pod was heading north along the westside of San Juan Island. We caught up with them right at Lime Kiln light house were they changed direction and headed south. We spent some quality time with J1 Ruffles offshore. We also got a good look at the rest of the pod near shore. They were pretty active with several breaches, cartwheels, spyhops and tail lobs. After leaving the whales we saw 5 bald eagles on the south side of Lopez Island. Then we found a huge bait ball that attracted a large group of harbor porpoise, harbor seals and gulls!!! On our 1PM trip on the Island Whaler Naturalist Jonathan Robinson reports: An active day for J-pod off the west side of San Juan. We got a great look at J8 Spieden. We had lots of taillobs and breaching. Great vocalization and echolocation through the Hydophone!!

June 3rd: The Island Whaler was off the dock at 9am this morning. Captain Shane found J-pod at Pile Point, San

Juan Island. They had excellent looks at J1, Ruffles the oldest male in the Southern Resident community. They also had Dall's porpoise, harbor porpoise, lots of seabirds, 150 Pigeon Guillemots near Castle Rock and a Brown Pelican!!!The Island Explorer II was off the dock at 11am and the Island Whaler went out again at 1pm. Stay tuned for their report.....Naturalist Bart Rulon on the 11am trip reports: J-pod was heading northward up the westside of San Juan Island today. During our quest to find orcas we saw several Bald Eagles, harbor seals and a Large group of Dall's Porpoise!! We found J-pod just off the north end of San Juan Island, J1 Ruffles was the first whale we saw as he swam solo quite aways offshore. We later saw the rest of J-pod near Turn Point. Heading back we came throught the inner islands and saw a variety of wildlife including an Osprey!!

Naturalist Penny Stone on the 9am/1pm trip reports: What a gorgeous day for two trips aboard the Island Whaler!! The morning trip took us around the south end of Lopez to find J pod cruising north along the west side of San Juan Island. Sun was out and the water was flat calm as we watched a large part of the pod swimming tightly together close in to shore - we got a nice close look at ol' Ruffles (J1). When we first got on scene- he was out from shore traveling on his own, slowly. We had a chance to see lots of seabird activity as well - including pigeon guillemots and pelagic cormorants in their nesting areas at Colville Island - and spotted lots of harbor and Dall's porpoise! The afternoon trip crew was an 8th grade class from New Mexico with some teachers and parents - a really fun and special trip as this was the first time for many of them to ever be on a boat, or see whales, seals, porpoise, eagles....We caught up with J pod at the north end of Stuart Island on their way north to Canada - we saw a couple of spyhops, tail lobs, and some upside down swimming - and Ruffles once again gave us a nice pass at the end of our visit! The kids really loved the surfing we did in the Island Explorer II's wake on our way back! They were pretty starry-eyed and happy kids when they got off the boat!

June 2nd: Days like this are the reason people choose Island Adventures! We will be one of the very few boats that see Orca whales today. They (J-Pod) were first reported in Active Pass heading north toward Vancouver BC and the Island Explorer II is off the dock and going north. We may have to go a ways to see them, but it's always worth it! More to come...Naturalist Ellen Newberry reported: All the way to Vancouver today! We were nearly off the chart. We got to see J-pod and it paid off because we got some really GREAT looks at J27 Blackberry, J11 Blossom and her sister J19 Shachi. Blackberry loves us these days!!! There are still more Stellar Sealions around!! There were 5 on Peapod rocks with tons of harbor seals!!!

June 1st: 12:30 pm. The Island Explorer II is with J-Pod right now!! They are spread out across Rosario Straight, (right off of our dock!!) slowly moving south with the ebb tide. They're in a great position for our guests on the 1 pm Island Whaler tour too!! Stay tuned....Naturalist Penny on the 1PM Island Whaler trip reports: J-pod off Williamson rocks right past Anacortes!! The whales were very active with lots of breaches, spyhops, and taillobs. They headed toward the south end of Lopez and Iceberg Point where we caught up to J1, Ruffles!!! We also had 4 bald eagles, very friendly harbor porpoise and 40+ harbor seals hauled out! We also had a good look at the fastest bird in the world, a peregrin falcon!!!

May 31st: The Island Explorer II was off the dock today at 11:00 am in search of Orca Whales! We spotted a foraging J-Pod and got some great looks at J-26, Mike, and J-16, Slick with her family. The whales were staying fairly close to shore today and when we started to head south we found about 100 Dall's Porpoises! The Island Whaler was off the dock today at 1 pm and cruised toward Henry Island. We found J-Pod, after a beautiful cruise through the islands, off of Kellet Bluff and got super looks at J-1, Ruffles, and J-2 Granny. We drifted north of Battleship Island and watched all of J-Pod go by! We saw lots of other wildlife including Sitka and Fallow Deer on Spieden Island!

May 30th: The Island Explorer was off the dock at 11AM and is in route to Salmon Bank where J-pod is heading north bound toward False Bay, San Juan Island! We also have reports of a pod of orcas in-bound off Race Rocks near Victoria, BC. Maybe L's or K's or both!! We just got some news from Captain Shane, K's are inbound and L's are already in!! Wow, this should be an exciting week with all 3 pod in the islands!!! Update: The Island Explorer II spent a beautiful day on the Salish Sea! Calm seas, sunshine, and lots of wildlife - of course, we spent some time with our old friends J-Pod! We moved with them as they headed north and then had a very pretty tour through the San Juan Islands, back to Anacortes! The Island Whaler departed at 1 pm and turned north, going through the inner islands for their rendez-vous with J-Pod! Our guests on both boats had a wonderful, exciting tour with Orca Whales, Dall's Porpoises, Harbor Seals, and saw lots of American Bald Eagles! We also got to see a young, very inquisitive, Minke Whale on our private sunset dinner cruise! We saw a gorgeous sunset at south Lopez Island and had a great dinner cruise - thank you Burlington Rotary!

May 29th: Both the 11AM and 1PM trips had J-pod today!! The whales were sighted heading up San Juan Channel toward Friday Harbor(very rarely happen) Naturalist Ellen Newberry reported: We spotted J-pod off the North point of San Juan Island and cruised with them until they reached Haro Strait and headed down the west side of San Juan. J30 Riptide , J27 Blackberry, J26 Mike and J14 Samish gave us some good looks and even a few Breaches. We also saw 10 Bald Eagles!!

May 28th: J pod sighted on all four trips today (9, 11, 1, and 5 pm)! They stayed on the west side of San Juan all day but will hopefully head north tonight so that we have them on our side tomorrow. More to come...

May 27th: I'll have to post the crew's report when I get them but sounds like an awesome day today! Captain Sean took our folks out on the 9 AM Island Whaler trip and headed north in the search. He cruised up Rosario (at 30 knots!) looking hard for dorsal fins. How excited he, and our passengers were to be the first to find J Pod!! They spotted them just north of Lummi Rocks on the south side of Lummi Island heading south with the big ebb tide. It was a pretty easy day for our 11 AM tour as well since they had such a short distance to go to see the orcas - right near Cypress Island, just NW of Anacortes. They had a nice cruise through Deception Pass before heading in this afternoon as well. The whales were still right by Anacortes when the 1 PM Island Whaler trip departed! We love days like these!

May 26th: Both the 9 AM and 11 AM tours saw J pod today. They most likely rode the fast ebb tide down Rosario this morning pretty early and were first located on the south end of San Juan, still going clockwise. Last report before posting was J pod at Henry Island (near Roche Harbor) still traveling north. If they keep doing the loop this weekend it looks good for sighting them on our side in the mornings! More detail to come... 11 AM Tour: Watched J pod at Open Bay (near Roche Harbor) as they were headed north. J-1, Ruffles was fishing at the time as well as the others, and Mike (a sprouting male) was in the distance splashing around. Some Dall's Porpoises popped up in Haro Strait, riding boat wakes and some younger orca whales crossed by to follow a freighter and play in its wake! On the way back in we cruised near Speiden Island where we saw lots of the exotic deer and sheep that were brought out here many years ago for a short-lived wild game hunting park (that didn't last long with all the local outcry!) Naturalist, Ellen Newberry.

May 25th: Awesome tour today! Jami just called in a report from the Island Explorer II - lots of wildlife and an incredible Orca whale watching experience! They're just leaving J and L pods now (4 pm)! Jami said their activity today was like a greeting ceremony - the two pods lined-up, facing each other, took a deep dive and then shot out of the water and played together for awhile! J-Pod was swimming in circles, doing tons of synchronized deep dives and breaching, spyhopping, and tail and pec slaps while on their backs!! To top it off, we never got the rain that was forecasted - it's nice to be in the Olympic rain shadow! Tomorrow's tour should be another great day on the Salish Sea!! Now for Jami's report: Words cannot express how amazing today was! We came on scene with J pod and parts of L pod (about 26 of 44 total) in between Portland Island and Saltspring Island (of the Canadian Gulf Islands). When we got there the two pods were lined up as if in a greeting ceremony (looks like a scrimmage line on each side). They stayed like this for about a minute then took a very long dive (5-7 minutes). L pod headed towards us and J pod trailed slowly behind. L's grouped up and were very silent, as if resting. We watched them like this for sometime. We knew they woke up (or got ants in their pants) when one breached off our port side which triggered another 3-4 whales to start breaching!! We also saw lots of spyhops and before we left the area we had a mother and calf roll onto their backs and start slapping their flukes and pectoral fins! Oh by the way, there is a NEW CALF in L pod! ( first seen on Tuesday).

May 24th: No trip today but Shane and I ran out in the Island Whaler for a look at J pod as they were cruising past Washington Park on the west side of Anacortes this morning! They have been making their clockwise loop a lot this spring. It sure is fun to see them so close to our dock. See photos above (taken at 10:30 am).

May 23rd: The Island Explorer II headed south around Lopez Island this morning where we saw some choppy waters - still much better than the outer coast. J pod was near San Juan and we got to visit with them for a while today. L pod most likely went west out the Strait toward the ocean yesterday or last night. Will update with details of the trip soon...

May 22nd: We'll see orcas on both trips today again - Got an early report from Captain Jim of Catchmore Charters who saw whales out off San Juan Island this morning. He was describing a male that may be Mega - a member of L-12 subpod. If so, this is the first day of the spring/summer season that members of another pod have been sighted! J's have been in the area for a couple of months now. With L's here, K pod should be showing up any day. YEAH! A little rainy today but quite calm out there. An update at 4 PM: J pod just reported up north at Sand Head which is near Vancouver, BC. They are headed south. The whales we saw must have been all or most of L pod today (about 45 members) because there were a lot of whales south and west of San Juan Island - all spread out. Lucky that L's came in today because J's weren't found until just now!

May 21st: Orca Whales on both tours today! Rumor has it that the whale watchers on the Island Explorer II got to see a Harbor Seal catch an Octopus for dinner! See photo above!! Jami Nagel: J-Pod was just off False Bay heading west. Lots of spyhopping, tail-lobbing, and a breach! We got a great look at Ruffles (the oldest male in the southern resident community of orcas, at 55 years old). On our way back in we had harbor Porpoises everywhere around us near Burrow's Island Lighthouse. Popping right in front of us as we drifted was a Harbor Seal with a freshly caught octopus in his jaws! We watched him eat and enjoyed the porpoises for a while before heading back in - we even beat the rain! 15 minutes after the big boat left the seal and octopus the Island Whaler watched a Steller Sea Lion also eating an octopus - the sea lion likely stole it from the seal, or parts of it anyway. What a cool sighting!

May 20th: Today we got to see Gray Whales and Orca Whales! On one out of three tours there were no whales to be found, but our guests still got a great wildlife tour through the beautiful San Juan Islands and get to come back again for free! We spotted two Gray Whales from the Island Explorer II, T-22 and T-49, they were resting and got some really cool looks! Deception Pass was beautiful and the water was an awesome emerald green! We also got to see Dalls Porpoises playing in the wake of a little wave runner! On our 1 PM Island Whaler tour we were in search of Orcas - Yes! J-Pod was feeding and playing - Ruffles and Granny have been really active! We also saw Harbor Seals, Great Blue Herons, Canadian Geese, and Pigeon Guillemots.

May 19th: 9 AM Island Whaler - Captain Shane knows these whales!! He left the dock heading north on the search for J pod. Score!! Found them at Lummi Island heading south. On his call this morning he reported an incredible fishing observation - one of the mothers caught a fish pretty close to the boat and then brought it over to her youngster to eat! Sooo cool to see that. The 11 AM trip is just leaving the dock now. More to come...

Orca Whales on all three tours again today! J-Pod was heading south off of Eagle Bluff on Cypress Island - great looks at J-16, Slick and J-27, Mike. While we were watching the whales, an American Bald Eagle was swooping down right in front of our bow, trying to catch a fish! We left the whales at south Lopez and got to check out the wildlife on Castle rocks. On the way back to Anacortes, at least 50 Harbor Porpoises were swimming over Lawson Reef so we shut down the engines and enjoyed the show! We also got to see Harbor Seals, Ochre Sea Stars, Great Blue Herons, Pigeon Guillemots, and Rhinocerous Auklets! -JN

May 18th: 3 for 3 today! We ran 3 trips and all three saw J Pod on the west side of San Juan Island. Here's a couple of reports from the field from our naturalists:

11 AM Island Explorer II - Awesome Day!!! Just south of Henry Island we watched the trailers cruise south close to shore: J-14 (Samish) and her offspring (Riptide, Hy'shqa, & Suttles). As we headed south we got GREAT looks at J-27 (Blackberry). At one point he was kelping, where bull kelp is draped over the body, hooked over the dorsal fin. We then watched a member of the pod playing with something for about an hour - this something turned out to be a Harbor Porpoise!! See the photo above. Jami Nagel.

1 P M Island Whaler - A beautiful summer-ish day to be on the water - flat calm, warm, visibility for miles, Olympic and Cascade Mountains out - after a scenic tour through Deception Pass, we headed up north past Lopez Island to meet J pod in the False Bay area of San Juan Island, heading south slowly. They were very spread out and didn't seem to be in a hurry - spotted J1 (Ruffles) and mom cruising down the shoreline, then turned to watch a few whales who looked to be a bit active - turns out that one of the whales (Polaris, J-28, it looked like), was seemingly "playing" with, or nosing along, a small harbor porpoise (photos to confirm?) that appeared to be lifeless. An unusual but not unprecedented incident - this has been reported before but it seems unusual as the resident, or fish-eating orcas, like J pod, do not eat mammals - only fish, preferably salmon. Verrrry interesting..... Penny Stone.

5 PM Island Whaler - Headed around the south end of Lopez to the northwest of San Juan where we had a nice visit with J pod again. Watched them fish and saw a few great breaches. They were heading north so we expect to see them on our side of the pond tomorrow morning, riding that ebb tide down south. Went all the way around San Juan Island on the tour - in 3 hours!! It's fun to have a fast boat :)

May 17th: Another beautiful day on the Salish Sea! The Island Whaler departed today at 1 PM looking for Gray Whales. Captain Brett took our guests through Deception Pass and into Saratoga Passage where we found a 40 foot California Gray Whale! We also spotted some very speedy Dall's Porpoises! The Island Whaler is still out on the water - no Orcas spotted yet but we'll keep looking!

May 16th: Naturalist Bart Rulon's Report - You can't find the orcas much faster than we did today! They were heading south in Rosario Strait and we hooked up with J Pod just off Washington Park (right around the corner from our dock). The whales were very active; we saw at least 15-20 breaches today! Got some great looks at the most prominent males, Ruffles, Blackberry, and Mike. Blackberry breached 3 times in a row for us (makes for a super photo-op!!) Also had some great action watching Blackberry chase a salmon at the surface, with his dorsal fin slicing through the water like a shark. A GREAT day!

May 15th: No detailed report yet but watched the J Pod orcas off the south end of San Juan Island today! They came in from the west past Victoria this morning.

May 14th: We left the dock at 9 AM aboard the Island Whaler and headed north looking for J-Pod - calm water, beautiful blue sky, and warm sunshine! Based on their position after being with them yesterday, we were hoping they would be heading toward Anacortes today - sure enough, J-Pod just off Cypress Island! Captain Brett said this was the best trip so far this year with lots of arial displays, and we were the first and only boat on scene! Our guests also got to see tons of Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises! On our 1 PM Island Whaler tour, J-Pod had continued south of Cypress Island and was about 2 miles from our Marina! At Lawson Reef, between Deception Pass and Lopez Island, our afternoon guests got to see something very cool - Orcas and Minke Whales within 200 yards of each other! Good thing these weren't Transient Orcas! We had some very happy and excited moms onboard with their families watching Whales!

May 13th: Today we covered more than 100 miles on the Island Whaler and were one of the only American boats to see Whales! J-Pod was well into Canadian waters and even though we returned a little late, our guests got to see the whales!

May 12th: A great day for wildlife, but no whales today.We saw Harbor Porpoises foraging in the riptides, Harbor Seals, Stellar Sea Lions happily snoozing on some rocks, and American Bald Eagles everywhere! We also saw Ochre Sea Stars, Surf Scoters, Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, and Rhinocerous Auklets!

May 10th: Much easier today!!! Got a report of J pod in south Bellingham Bay early this morning from the Victoria Star 2. They must have come down from the north last night. The folks on our 11 AM trip are in for a treat today! They'll have to travel no more than 5 miles until they see them. We also had a private charter on the 9 AM Island Whaler tour - Captain Shane was watching whales with our passengers from Decatur Island by 10:30 AM. What a nice, calm, sunny day - couldn't ask for anything more! J-Pod was on the west side of Lummi Island. Lot's of tail slapping today and our guests got some great looks at Ruffles, Granny, and Blackberry. Countless Harbor Seals today and 2 Stellar lions on Peapod Rocks who proudly sat up for the photo op! An interesting happening today was that the Captain of the Victoria Star 2 reported a HUGE school of herring in south Bellingham Bay - and the orcas were feeding on them. A great sight to see, that they are utilizing other food sources in the area.

May 9th: Got word of J pod way up north near Vancouver, BC this morning. Captain Shane decided to go for it with the Island Whaler. The whales were last heading north at about 1:30 PM. We gave it our all but couldn't find them up there. Most likely they headed too far north and the other boat that was with them left quite a bit before we arrived. What a nice calm day though! We're enjoying the weather lately and it's going to continue - yeah!

May 8th: J-pod back in town!! The Island Whaler found J-pod feeding near Open Bay off San Juan Island. J30 Riptide was seen with his younger sisters, J37 Hy'shqa and J-40 Suttles, fishing and playing around. J27 Blackberry was also seen in hot pursuit of fish. There were 20 bald eagles on Speiden Island feeding on something near shore along with several turkey vultures. They had Dall's porpoise off the west side of San Juan and Captain Jim from Catchmore Charters saw a PELICAN on Williamson Rocks!!!

May 7th: The Island Explorer II had 3 gray whales near Hat Island near Everett! Two of the whales were together sleeping side by side. We got good looks as they slowly rose up and down to breath. The other one was feeding a ways off. Passengers got lots of good pictures and we even had some fluking. We had lots of bald eagles and pigeon guillemots too!!

May 6th: We left our marina this morning in search of Orca Whales but they had magically vanished overnight. But we did find California Gray Whales for our guests, including our friend #49, Patch! The Gray Whales were north of Baby Island, feeding, and we were able to see some beautiful flukes! Deception Pass was beautiful and exciting, and we saw Pelagic Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, American Bald Eagles, Grebes, Pigeon Guillemots, Belted Kingfishers, Harbor Seals, and lots of Porpoises!

May 5th: The Orca Whales decided to spend some time up north in Canada today.... no problem, eh(?), so did we! Our vessels are permitted to cross into Canadian waters so our guests were able to see a great show by J-Pod. J-19, Sachi, and J-41, (baby) were identified as well as J-1, Ruffles. And, as reported by our naturalist Jami, J-41 was doing an "excessive" amount of breeching! Also saw a great tail-lob by Ruffles! The Island Explorer II cruised past beautiful Sucia Island and checked-out 8 big, roaring Stellar Sealions! We saw lots of birds, including American Bald Eagles and lots of Harbor Porpoises - we got back a few minutes late but our awesome guests saw whales!!

May 4th: The Orcas are back today! We had a long run but it paid off for our guests who were able to spend time with J-Pod! They put on a great show and were heading south, toward Anacortes, when we left them - hopefully a good sign for our 11:00 AM tour tomorrow!

May 3rd: Today we had numerous reports of Gray Whales but none of Orcas - we turned south, cruising through Deception Pass and into Saratoga Passage. We looked up and down, back and forth, and side to side but the Gray Whales were elusive today. Our guests were still able to see lots of other beautiful wildlife and can come again anytime for free!

May 2nd: Another great day on the Salish Sea! Lots of wildlife today, including a very active J-Pod, and a beautiful sunny day! We even had a surprise cartwheel, compliments of a young J-Pod member, 40 feet from the boat!

May 1st: Today we headed west looking for Orcas - we saw Seals, Sealions, lots of American Bald Eagles, and Fallow and Sika Deer. The seas started to get a little rough and we headed for the lee of the islands and calmer waters - no whales today but our guests can come again anytime for free!

April 30th: An awesome show from J-Pod today! The Island Explorer II and the Island Whaler guests both enjoyed a look at a very playful pod! There was a tide rip with lots of Eel Grass, sticks, and logs - the Orcas were pushing logs around and frolicking in the Eel grass! One Orca put his head above the water and shot a stream of water from his mouth - really unusual and very cool! We also saw Eagles, and their enormous nest, Harbor Porpoises, and beautiful Seals hauled-out on the rocks. On the return to Anacortes we cruised along south Lopez and through Deception Pass - a great way to finish off a beautiful day on the Salish Sea!

April 29th: Kudos to our hearty guests on our whale watch tours today! It was rainy and a bit lumpy at times - the Island Explorer II searched the big water and the Island Whaler searched through the inner islands but the whales were elusive today. We did see Sea Lions, Seals, Porpoises, American Bald Eagles, and lots of other birds - of course, with our guarantee, all of our guests can come again for free, for life, until we show you whales! Lots of birds out today! The peregrine falcon was in its nest today. We saw lots of harbor porpoises around James Island along with some curious seals. A mated pair of bald eagles sat on the rocks off Blakely posing for the camera. Then we also caught sight of a Steller Sea Lion out fishing near Bird Rocks It's always a nice treat to see Stellers. Ellen Fortado, Naturalist.

April 28th: Today on the Island Explorer II we had soooo much wildlife!!! We started the trip with the peregrine falcon on Burrows, followed by lots of harbor seals on Colville. Then we went in between Lopez and Castle Rock, what a low tide!! We had purple seastars, harlequin ducks, turkey vultures, more seals and a mated pair of bald eagles (one of them swooping down for a little lunch on the shore!!) We then set off for Salmon Bank where we found 2 Minke whales and about 30 Dall's porpoise not to mention lots of birds feeding in the tide rips (Scoters, rhino aucklets, pigeon guillemots, brants geese and common murres). Later in the day we saw 2 stellar sealions off whale rocks and then another fishing along Lopez Island. On our trip back we encountered about 40 harbor porpoises feeding off Allan Island. What a trip!!! Jami Nagel, Naturalist.

April 25th: A spectacular day on the water - lots of wildlife, blue skies and sunshine, warm, and mountain views on a tour through the islands! But, no whales today...that is why our guarantee is so awesome - our guests got to see all that and can still come back again for free! We saw California Sea Lions, 100's of Dall's Porpoises, including two hybrids, a mated pair of Bald Eagles, a Peregrine Falcon, singing Oyster Catchers, Loons, Great Blue Herons, lots of Plovers, Pigeon Guillemots, a River Otter, and tons of Harbor Porpoises rooster-tailing outside of Deception Pass!

April 24th: J pod near Victoria, BC this morning!! And they're heading east! Hopefully they will stick around for tomorrow...

April 23rd: Today was an amazing day on the Salish Sea - ANYTHING is possible in April!! The Island Explorer II departed Anacortes and headed through Deception Pass in search of Gray Whales. We had tons of sunshine, flat calm water, and beautiful views of Mt. Baker! We found 2 Gray Whales, Patch and his buddy #314, and we were surrounded by the sound of Loons calling each other - it was truly magical! After spending some time with the Grays, Captain Shane got the call that Orcas were in the straits - so off we went to find the Orcas. And....we found them! Our guests were able to spend some time with the Orcas too and then, on the way home, encountered a Minke Whale! Three species in one day - very cool! Our guests also got to see California Sea Loins, Porpoises, Seals, River Otters, and the beautiful San Juan Islands!

April 22nd: Spyhopping Grays!!! Beautiful day in Saratoga passage, sun and the mountains were out! We spent some time with 2 gray whales off the south end of Hat Island near Everett. They were slowly moving west stopping at Hat Island and started spyhopping, we lost track at 20 spyhops!! Heading back north we found 2 more gray whales at East Point making a total of 4 grays!!

April 19th: Orcas are back!! We got to spend time with J-Pod today on our tour! Nice to see them back. The whales were spread-out, feeding, and we saw some great tail-lobbing by J-19 and J-41! Our guests also saw porpoises surfing a bow wake, harbor seals, American Bald Eagles, Cormorants, Murres, Oystercatchers, and even Loons!

April 16: The Island Explorer II was the only boat to see whales on Easter! Captain Shane took the boat through the small pass at Deception Pass. What an experience. Then Captain Sean spotted two Gray whales just east of Baby Island, closer towards the Camano side. It turned out to be a beautiful day too! One of the Gray whales was Patch again, as well as another common one we've seen recently- the mystery fluker. They sure do love it around here! The Explorer II also got to go through Swinomish Channel through La Conner and got a really good look at a friendly Sea Lion!

April 15th: Spy hopping Gray Whales today! We found the Gray Whales between Baby Island and Lowell Point, feeding and moving slowly to the south. When they were getting closer to shore we saw some spy hopping - checking out the scenery? It was a bit cool today but our hearty guests stayed warm by ducking into the cabin and drinking lots of hot chocolate and coffee! We also had some great looks at Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, California Sea Lions, Surf Scoters, Grebes, Great Blue Herons, and American Bald Eagles!

April 11th: Orcas sighted yesterday near Neah Bay on the outer coast. Photos were taken by a researcher and sent to The Center For Whale Research for ID. Senior scientist Ken Balcomb confirmed that it was J pod and the researchers reported them heading east, toward the San Juans! So I think we'll head west today in hopes of finding them. It will be a nice change from the waters down south, the crew is looking forward to seeing different territory! Will update with sightings soon. - Had high hopes for today but J Pod never showed themselves. Either they stayed out west or they came in last night and slipped up to the north without detection. We did have a very nice trip out in the straits though with sightings of seals, Dall's porpoises (riding the wake), Steller Sea lion, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagles, and a very elusive Minke Whale. The close up Steller photo above was from today - this guy really checked us out! Since the Minke whale only surfaced a couple of times and was so elusive, Captain Newberry decided to hand out free passes to come another time, even though the overall trip was excellent!

April 10th: No trip today but lots of wildlife reports from Orca Network - many Minke Whales, Gray Whales, porpoises, Bald Eagles, Sea Lions, and a report of Orcas off Neah Bay!

April 9th: The Island Explorer II headed south to see the Gray Whales today. Another great day of whale watching!

April 8th: Both boats running today - at this posting the Island Explorer II has spent time viewing the Gray Whales near Camano Island and the Island Whaler is headed that direction. Captain Shane was heartbroken when he couldn't locate the Grays that our other boat was with. I think the weather didn't help at all - the wind came up as he arrived and there was a bit of a chop on the water, knocking down the sprays so you couldn't see them. With the Island Whaler, the boat ride itself is worth the price of admission! We still hold pretty good stats with 22 of 23 trips with whales. There were also 5 or 6 transient orcas off west Whidbey sighted late in the day (about 5 PM).

April 6th: Found Gray Whales in Crescent harbor near the opening of Penn Cove (Oak Harbor area) and had several good looks. They were heading south fairly quickly. Lots of birds and at least 16 Bald Eagles! One of the eagles was enjoying his lunch on a branch close to the water (had a great look at him!). Harbor porpoise feeding north of Deception Island and a lone California Sea Lion traveling south in Rosario Strait. Jami Nagel, naturalist. Spent quite a bit of time with them today since they were so far up to the north, closer than usual to Anacortes.

April 4th: We're still waiting on J pod - they could be arriving any day now! L pod was sighted off the SW shore of Washington State and J's might be up north on the coast. Lucky for us there are quite a few Gray whales in Saratoga Passage and we've been seeing them on every trip. Today we watched four Grays near Camano Island. One of them was identified as Patch (pretty easy to do!). They all went into a resting state, moving slowly and shallow so that we could the whole whale just under the surface. Just after that a sea lion popped up with a fish in it's mouth right behind the whales! Also saw many Harbor porpoise and Harbor seals, along with 8 Bald Eagles and lots of seabirds.

April 2nd: Was a great trip today with the Gray whales close to Anacortes, near Penn Cove. 'Patch' was there again with two others and they gave us a super pass, coming towards us, then kind of rolled to the side showing a half-fluke real close. You could see them underwater from the upper deck! More harbor porpoises and seals today as well along with 10 Bald Eagles, heron, vulture, oystercatchers, loon, arctic tern, and western grebes!! Spring is a birdwatchers dream out here in the islands.

April 1st: Report coming soon, but we did see some Gray Whales today near south Whidbey! The boat crew and passengers visited with 3 Grays down by Camano Island. They got some good looks and one of the whales was 'Patch'. Another highlight was sighting 3 California Sea Lions in Saratoga Passage who appeared to be fishing there. Other marine mammals included harbor porpoise and harbor seals, and lots of birds today! Again, many Bald Eagles (11 total) along with rhinocerous auklets, pigeon guillemots, western grebes, and great blue herons.

March 31st: The Island Explorer II headed south through Deception Pass towards the Gray Whale feeding grounds on east Whidbey Island. The day started with sprinkles but they ended shortly after leaving the dock. With the calm water and no rain, it was a real nice spring day! We didn't have to travel too far on this trip - we came across 4 Grays near Penn Cove, about half way down Whidbey Island. The Grays gave us some super looks , they were making circles out in the channel then came to us as we drifted. Some good photo-ops were had as three of them fluked pretty close to us! Our naturalist Ellen called in to the office very excited to see 8 Bald Eagles gathered on a beach, then later saw 6 others together. All in all they saw 22 Bald Ealges on the trip today!! Other wildlife sighted: a Peregrine Falcon, a Great Blue Heron, and hundreds of Harbor Porpoise feeding around Burrows and Allan Islands. The porpoise were roostertailing - going so fast they leave a spray of water off their dorsal fin. Maybe chasing fish?

March 27th: We don't have a tour out today but Ed, from the Island Transporter in Anacortes, called with a report of a Gray Whale just east of Allan Island in Burrows Bay - that's less than one mile from our marina! Wow - Spring is here and anything is possible!

March 26th: Today we ran two trips from Seattle, one on the Island Explorer II and one on the Stellar Sea. Both boats got to see two Gray whales each and there were three other Grays reported up north. Though it was a breezy day, we had a great show with good activity. Other sightings included California Sea Lions, Marbled Murrelets (seabird), and Harbor porpoises. The Island Explorer II will now be departing from Anacortes on weekends and a limited mid-week schedule until May 1st, then DAILY from Anacortes. Check out the great photos by Jami Nagel at the top of the page!

March 25th: The Island Explorer II was with two very friendly, very active Gray Whales today. They are loading up on food and seem to be getting more active - Ellen and Jami said today was the best show of the season! A Harbor Seal was checking us out while we were checking out the whales. Also saw another juvenile American Bald Eagle, Pigeon Guillemots, (Back for the season) and lots of other bird life. The Island Whaler departed Anacortes at 1 pm on our exhilarating jet boat tour! Our guests are having a blast going through the ripping currents and whirlpools of Deception Pass, effortlessly, on the hydrofoil assisted catamaran jet boat! Today we had Gray Whale reports and found a lone Gray Whale in Saratoga Passage - he was sort of a snoozer so we rocketed further south to locate the two Gray Whales that were with the Island Explorer II earlier in the day. Our guests were also able to see a great show from the friendly, energetic whales, and took some great pics!

March 24th: The Island Explorer II departed from Seattle today at 11:00 am and saw 2 juvenile American Bald Eagles right after leaving the dock. Just off of Baby Island, we had Dalls Porpoises, the fastest marine mammal, catch a ride from our bow wake - very exciting to watch! We also sighted some very curious California Sea Lions and one pretty active Gray Whale near Hat Island. That makes 11 tours in-a-row with whale sightings!

March 23: The Island Whaler, our Jet Boat, departed from sunny Anacortes today at 1 pm. We had recent Gray Whale sightings and headed south through Deception Pass and into Saratoga Passage. We found the Grays feeding and being quite active. Our guests had a great encounter with the whales and got some super pics!

March 22nd: Today, on the Island Explorer II, we saw Sea Lions enjoying the afternoon, relaxing on some buoys, lots of birds, including the pigeon guillemots, and two Gray Whales. We were with the whales between Clinton, Whidbey Island, and Mukilteo. They were feeding and are happily eating before they continue north!

March 19th: More Gray Whales today near south Whidbey Island! Best gray whale trip of the years so far! We watched grays traveling south near the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry lanes. They were so predictable today, it made it really easy to get lots of good looks. The two were traveling side by side and stayed near the boat for quite a while. We also had a California Sea Lion that was intrigued by us. He too stayed near the boat and kept watching us watch the whales. I love it when the marine mammals are so friendly! We saw our eagle friend near the Edmonds ferry terminal on the way home. Plus, the weather has been holding out. Hope it keeps up. Ellen Fortado, Naturalist.

March 18th: Gray Whales Abound! The Island Explorer II, leaving from Seattle, found Gray Whales in Possession Sound, off of Whidbey Island! A beautiful afternoon, we had terrific views of the Olympic and Cascade Mountains, and also encountered Sea Lions, Loons, Brant's Geese, and Cormorants. The Island Whaler, leaving from Anacortes, cruised through Deception Pass and headed south into Saratoga Passage. We found two groups of two Gray Whales and got some great looks and great pics! Our guests saw some awesome scenery and had a blast going through Deception Pass - our Jet Boat produces virtually no wake and you can get close-in looks of the pristine shoreline! 8 tours in a row with whales - 100% success for March! Next tours: Seattle, 3/22, 3/24, 3/25, and 3/26; Anacortes, 3/23 and 3/25.

March 17th: This morning orcas were reported off of the west side of San Juan Island - J-Pod! Yesterday morning orcas were reported off of Langley, Whidbey Island and multiple reports of Gray Whales there as well. March has been a great month for whales - lots of reported sightings and we've seen whales on our last five trips in a row!

March 12th: Another Great day with Gray Whales!! We, while onboard the Island Explorer II, found 2 Gray whales in Saratoga Passage between Langley and Mabana on Camano Island. One of the two whales were ID'd as T49 (Patch). Patch has been coming back to this area to feed in the spring for many, many years. It's great to see him doing well. The two whales split up while feeding so we watched the more active one feeding on its side very close to shore. While it was feeding in the shallows it kept raising its pectoral flipper and fluke (tail) out of the water, as if trying not to get stuck in the mud! The shallow waters here provide a great feeding opportunity for the Grays - they scoop up a mouthful of mud while swimming on their side, then strain out all of the small crustaceans with their baleen plates.

March 11th: Gray Whales are here! The Island Explorer II found 2 Gray whales feeding off Possession Pt., Whidbey Island. Cascadia research volunteers were onboard and ID'd both whales as T49 (Patch) and T56. We also sighted several California Sea Lions resting on buoys and in the sea lion cage at Shilshole (near downtown Seattle).

March 6th: Orcas sighted off Kayak Pt. in Puget Sound. Glad to hear they are sticking around for a while!

March 5th: The Island Explorer II is with the whales right now! We sighted Orcas at 1 pm off the Mukilteo ferry landing, spread-out, and feeding. We were able to identify K-21 (Cappucino), L-74 (Saanich), and L-83 (Moonlight). There were several calves in the group too. Also saw about 40 seals having a relaxing afternoon and catching a ride on a log boom! Jami got some great pics and we'll post them asap.

March 4th: Orcas sighted today off of Vashon Island - K's and L's! These are probably the same whales that have been in the area for the last several days and they were finally identified. Very cool to have these two pods in our area right now, hopefully they'll stick around to greet us on our tour tomorrow!

March 3rd: Most likely transient orcas on the 1st but not confirmed. On March 2nd, there were 8-10 transient orcas near Kingston heading south toward Seattle! Gray whales should be in the area any day now and we're still seeing lots of wildlife in and around the sound.

March 1st: Is it J-Pod???? A large pod of orcas were seen traveling east this morning past Port Townsend. They were seen again this afternoon feeding between Point no Point and the entrance to Hood Canal. Check back for further sightings of this pod......

February 18th: Today was a beautiful, sunny day! Pretty views of the mountains and the moon was even peaking-out. Lot's of birds seen on the tour today - Grebes, Cormorants, Surf and White winged Scoters, Pigeon Guillemots, and Arctic Loons. We saw Dall's Porpoises off of Westpoint and a Bald Eagle perched atop a light post, south of Edmonds. Next tour is this Saturday, February 25th. Gray Whales should be arriving anytime now - they spend about 3 months in Puget Sound on their northerly migration. Viewing Gray whales in our calm waters can be the experience of a lifetime! Through March 26th, we'll run tours on Saturdays and Sundays, and limited mid-week, from Seattle on the Island Explorer II, looking primarily for Grays. Starting on March 12th, we'll also start running tours on Saturdays on the Island Whaler from Anacortes, looking primarily for Orcas!

February 13th: Reports today of 10-15 Transient Orcas off Vashon Island, including two large males and a calf! Saturday was a spectacular day for a tour - blue skies, unrestricted visibility with incredible views of the Olympics and Mount Rainier! Spotted lots of birds, seals, porpoises, and sea lions. The Orcas were elusive that day but there have been numerous reports of Transients and J-Pod in the area.

February 11th: Gray Whales Coming Soon!! Gray whales reported near Crescent Bay and just west of Port Angeles. Gray whale trips start March 1st out of Seattle and on March 17th we will be running out of Anacortes with our newest addition the Island Whaler! The weather here has been amazing with blue skies and calm seas, Great for watching whales. J-pod was reported heading inbound past Victoria yesterday. Check back for the sightings of todays trip....

February 6th: Transient Orcas have been sighted consistently over the last week - and we've come to expect it this time of the year. Yesterday morning, Transients were seen off Vashon, and then Bainbridge Island, heading North. The sunshine is out, the rain and wind have stopped, forecast for the week is looking great! We're really excited about our next trip, Saturday, February 11th!

February 3rd: A group of Transient Orcas was sighted on February 1st, southbound off of Edmonds - transient sightings are more frequent in February and March. Unfortunately, we won't be going out tomorrow to look for these transients - super high wind forecasted, batten down the hatches! Next tour will be Saturday, February 11th, - we'll keep you posted on the wildlife scene in the mean time!

January 21st: We out ran the rain today! Lots of birds today; Western Grebes, Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemonts and the best a Bald Eagle by Shilshole marina. There were many California Sealions today. Some were lounging on markers and others were fishing. We also had Dall's porpoise fishing around the boat. There was no sign of Orcas, but the Gray whales are starting to be seen in the area!! Some of them are starting their migration early! Jami Nagel, Naturalist.

January 17th: Two sightings of Orcas today - around noon, reports off Race Rocks of one male with three or four females or juveniles heading East. Also, a very cool acoustical report from Haro Strait of Transients feeding around midnight!

January 16: Orcas! Reports of orcas in Saratoga passage, but no one has been able to identify them. There was a report of six orcas in Saratoga passage that just came in from Friday, and today reports of orcas in Saratoga Passage again, around Langely. Also, more gray whale reports. One gray whale was seen from the Port Townsend/Keystone ferry. Looks like we've got whales headed down into the Puget Sound again. Let's keep them coming down for this weekend!

January 14: The sun finally came out today! And the rain even stopped at times. The sea creatures knew the sun was out today. I think we saw just about every type of seabird you might think of today: cormorants, grebes, pigeon guillemots (my favorites), phalaropes, golden eyes, arctic loons, Brant's geese, scoters, common murres, rhinoceros auklets and even a couple different types of gulls! Lots of CA Sea Lions today too and they all waved at us. There were even two Stellers out fishing today. At the northern end of Bainbridge Island we found Dall's Porpoises very actively fishing. They didn't want to play with us, but we got quite a show from the fish they kept making jump all around. No sign of the orcas, but there have been reports of gray whales around Sequim lately. Ellen Fortado, naturalist.

January 2-5th: There have recently been some reports of Humpbacks around Victoria. This week there have been three days of Transient Orca sightings. Perhaps seven were seen off Sooke and they even had a calf with them. Perhaps our residents have been away because they have new babies too. Who knows, hopefully we'll find out when they come back and see us.

To view more trip photos visit:

Northwestwhalephotography.com

and

Bartrulon.com

The Island Explorer III, our new Whale Watching Boat for the 2007 season, shown in the photos below as she leaves Hawaii bound for Anacortes, WA.

This great photo of a Humpback Whale was taken by Linda Lee Walters on our November 24th Whale Watching Tour.

Humpback Whale

10/25/2006 tour, taken from Island Explorer II by Bart Rulon.

Taken by Bart Rulon, 10/25/2006, from Island Explorer II.

Awesome photos of J-pod sleeping and foraging taken by Naturalist Jami Nagel Oct. 2006

Awesome photos taken by passenger Alex Nash on October 1, 2006 onboard the Island Whaler!!

Transient Orcas hunting Harbor Seal, Photos taken by Naturalist Jami Nagel 9/28/06:

Transient orca just under the surface Harbor seal hiding in the kelp

*Harbor seal is to the left of the orca's eye patch

NEW!! K-pod baby (K41) taken by Naturalist Jami Nagel on 8/26/06:

More Awesome photos by passenger Brad Lashua from 8/19/06:

Tufted Puffin

Annette Columbini 8/16/06 Blossom J11, Jami Nagel L-pod female, Splash (Jami)

Photos by passenger Robert Benward on July 10, 2006:

Big air! Big air 2! Ruffles with kelp on dorsal fin

Sunset photo by Kevin Brewer, passenger Kissing seals by Brad Lashua, passenger (I love this one!!)

Tail slap with Mt. Baker, July 8, 2006 Island Whaler with Mt. Baker, July 8, 2006

This is a breach sequence taken by passenger and local photographer Aaron Whitney on June 11, 2006. It is of the same orca, it first breaks the water to the right, then shows how it finished the jump as you go left. I thought it was a great photo zip job by Aaron and at first glance it looks like 5 seperate whales breaching at the same time! It's kind of a cross between a 'breach' and 'porpoising'. Too cool...

The Island Whaler as it watches J pod family members frolick near the Anacortes ferry terminal in early June.

WOW! This is a Harbor Porpoise on the orcas' chin! The orca is belly-up with his pectoral fin in the air and part of his tail fluke above water as well. Very unusual for a resident Orca to use porpoises for play toys. Resident Orcas do not eat mammals, just fish. It apparently played with it to death. Photo by our naturalist Jami Nagel on May 18th, 2006 off the NW shore of San Juan Island.