Bald Eagles

Our 5-hour paddle today was full of iconic Pacific Northwest wildlife sightings!  We counted several Bald Eagles, some soaring and some perched in tree tops, others dive bombing for big fish. Harbor seals swam playfully around our boats as we paddled along the West side of Henry Island. With the wind at our backs and a flooding current carrying us forth, we felt quite rewarded during the second half of our paddle after working hard against some southwest wind coming...

This afternoon, M/V Sea Hawk headed north to meet K-Pod. We met up with the group right at Turn Point on Stuart Island. The group that we were watching was traveling close to shore and guests asked how that was possible. Haro Strait is the deepest body of water in the San Juans. At the deepest point, it gets to over 1,300 feet, so there are dramatic drop offs right close to the shore.

Once getting around Turn Point, K-pod had a decision to make, they could turn and head...

We were caught by surprise after a mellow paddle through Mosquito pass to find a large pod of Orcas swimming North just off Henry Island. Foregoing an early lunch,  and bracing ourselves for rough waters, our group pushed forward toward Kellet Bluff, keeping  a generous distance between us and the whales, as well as getting the ultimate panorama view of the traveling Orcas. With our hearts racing, the screams at every whale breach, and the pace we had set for ourselves...

M/V Sea Hawk got to experience some curious resident orcas this afternoon. Captain Chris and myself took our guests over to the west side of San Juan Island to encounter J-pod. When we approached the orcas they were porpoising quickly and high out of the water. A lot of the time when we see them doing this, they are picking up speed while traveling.

We watched Granny's group travel past us and then slow down. They started to socialize with one another and it looked as...

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

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

What started out as a grey San Juan day, turned into an excellent day of sunshine and fun on the water! Naturalist Andrew and Captains Nancy and Chris encountered members Jpod and Lpod today off of the North West coast of San Juan Island. While traveling with the whales whale watch guests saw lots of spy hops and breaching. A young orca in the group was very active and got a lot of air while breaching! The orcas were swimming very close to shore around Kellett Bluff on...

Another beautiful June day on San Juan Island. After pouring rain early morning, the storm blew off and temperatures got near 70 degrees again!

Our whale watch boat, the Seahawk, went out on the water today and encountered both J-Pod and L-Pod near the Lime Kiln Lighthouse! J-pod was showing some impressive feeding behavior with spy-hops and breaches all around. One whale even soared through the air with a salmon in its mouth!

Guides Nick and Brenden just got off the...

Today was an incredible day on the water! With temperatures nearing 70 degrees and blue skies all around, our guides and guests had a taste of summer in the beginning of June!

Several of our guides took part in a 3-Day Overnight Training. The paddled out to Stuart Island and used that as a base camp for two nights while they explored the area, both on the water and on land. Highlights included hiking to Tip-Top and the cemetery on Stuart Island as well as multiple...

Friday and Saturday the Sea Hawk went out with reports of our resident orcas. Friday Captain Brian and Naturalist Aimee motored out of Roche Harbor and headed south toward False Bay. False Bay is on the west side of San Juan Island. We caught up with a female and a calf swimming. Brian and Aimee identified the calf and J-49 who was born last summer. Newborns are usually six to eight feet and around 400lbs! After seeing those two, two more mother and calf pairs swam by...

Today I was able to paddle out with a lovely family new to the Northwest. Luckily for us we had gorgeous weather and could see clear to the Olympic, Cascade and Vancouver Island mountain ranges. The wildlife was visible as well, with a number of harbor seal sightings, various shorebirds seen and heard and even three harbor porpoise. I thoroughly enjoyed showing off a bit of the splendor of the islands, and the Pacific Northwest!

For me the highlight was spotting...