southern resident killer whales

Captain Jim and I left Roche Harbor with reports of whales South off San Juan Island. The Seahawk slipped out Mosquito Pass and into the Haro and we were off into a beautiful day on the water. By the time we hit False Bay we'd caught up to a group of Resident Killer Whales milling a mile offshore.

Some groups of Residents we see on a regular basis as Naturalists, and some we don't see all that often. Myself, I have less experience with L Pod and find it a run challenge...

Yesterday, Capt. Gabe and I hit the watery trail with a good ol' group down to False Bay to see if we could spy us some of the Souther Resident Killer Whales - or Rezzys as we affectionately call them. When first caught sight of them I honestly have to say that I was a little surprised. Because I couldn't really really positively ID any of the few we spotted first. I thought and thought and thought and suddenly Ocean Sun (L-25) popped up near us. It was L pod! This was...

What an incredible afternoon with K Pod! The Seahawk left Roche Harbor with positive reports of our Southern Resident killer whales. On our way to the whales we headed north out of Roche Harbor towards Battleship Island. As we rounded the north side of Henry Island we got some awesome views of both the amazing diving cormorants (medium-sized black birds with long necks , who nest on the cliffs at Kellett Bluff) as well as some beautiful bald eagles in our area. Bald...

Yesterday on the Seahawk, we had an amazing day. Capt. Gabe and I set out with a bunch of great guests on a very sunny and calm day on the water. There were reports of some of the Resident Killer Whales heading east along the north side of Henry Island which is really close to Roche Harbor! We managed to head them off at the pass! Right when we exited Mosquito Pass into Haro Strait. It was the J-16s! We moved out of their way and watched them swim south. It seemed like...

On this fine Thursday afternoon, Captain Pete and I departed from Roche Harbor for our second trip of the day. We headed directly for the west side, and assumed we would meet up with the same residents that we had been hanging out with this morning, and were expecting pretty much the same trip we had this morning (fairly active residents, up and down the west side). But my oh my, this second trip was even better than the first.

We came across one matriline after another...

This past weekend's overnight was one for the books, or in this technological day, one for the blogs! Try as I may, I feel my words will pale in comparison to the outstanding trip our lovely guest had this weekend... but here I go. Friday morning came with some much needed rain for the San Juan Islands. Things had been quite dry, and so locals alike were happy to see the precipitation. I was worried it would affect the guests mood and excitement but when Tyler and I...

A Long day and perhaps a shorter than normal post.

Capt. Gabe and I took two tours out with us today and we were blessed with the fast that s small portion of the Southern Residents were already moving south from Point Roberts, and moving fast! The heat wave we had a few days ago had broken so we had cool breezes and a very sunny San Juan morning. The orcas were apparently on a tight cetacean schedule because they beat us to East Point off of Saturna Island. It was the K...

Today we left Roche Harbor expecting to have to drive north for a bit before we got to any orcas. Instead, we drove for about 10 minutes, and were surprised to find the J19s right away! Traveling with them, was Onyx (L-87), which led us to believe that Granny (J2) was also somewhere in the area because she is his adoptive mother. Everyone was so excited to see the new baby in J19 clan, which belongs to J41 (Eclipse), one of 4 calves born to the southern resident...

Today Captain Jim and I crewed on the ol' Hawk with sun in the sky and wildlife on the brain. We had a boat full of excited passengers hoping to see (and photograph) killer whales. The only problem: We had no early reports. Always hoping for the best, we left the dock headed south through Mosquito Pass to the Haro Strait, the body of water that separates the West side of San Juan Island from the East side of Vancouver Island, BC (Canada).

As we got towards the open water...

It was a cool morning, and the reports that Capt. Gabe and I were hearing were that most of our nearby Southern Resident Orcas were on the south end of San Juan Island. But, one family group, the J-16's were headed east from Discovery Island in Canada! So we all headed out of Roche Harbor to meet up with one of my family groups. So, the Southern Resident Killer Whales that live here live in large groups called pods, and each of these three pods - J, K, and L - are made up...