san juan outfitters

Yesterday we were greeted by the happy news that there is yet another new calf in the endangered Southern Resident community of orcas, and the sixth born into the familial grouping known as J Pod.

NOAA scientists observed a new calf travelling between J14 Samish and J37 Hy’Shqa on in the last few days and confirmed the sighting yesterday. Right now there is no confirmation on which female is the mother, but that is not unusual as all females within a family will take an...

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...

Do you ever feel like a day can't get any better? That's how I felt after we left Roche Harbor aboard the Seahawk on Thursday. It was a cool, sunny summer day and we were headed north, to Canada! While we crossed the glittering water in the afternoon sun we got to see some super views on both sides of Spieden Island and headed straight for East Point on Saturna Island. We soon started seeing some blows and tell-tale dark dorsal fins in the distance. It was a group of J...

Today we left Roche harbor with the reports of J pod at Eagle Point headed South.  We headed out Mosquito Pass towards Haro Strait and saw a number of seals on our route.  It is currently seal pupping season so those cute little guys are an adorable sight this time of the year.  Since the whales were headed south during our travels they ended up on the South end of Lopez Island traveling East.  Thankfully there was a trailing group of four whales that were moving at a...

Today Captain Jim and Naturalist Mike boarded the M/V/ Sea Hawk with a boat full of happy people: some celebrating a wedding, some on a honeymoon and some celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary! We love going out with happy people, and they were about to become much happier as we broke the news to them that we had reports of J Pod, part of the Southern Resident Killer Whale population, heading our way!

We left the dock heading North out of Roche Harbor and didn't spend...

Today we left Roche Harbor with no whale reports in the area.  We traveled up through John's Pass in route to Boundary Pass in hopes of coming across some whales.  During our search we came across a few bald eagle pairs in flight as well as some harbor seals and harbor porpoise.  We received a report of two humpback whales, and mother and calf pair, a few miles north of Waldron Island.  We changed course and headed in that direction.  We got to see some great looks at the...

The M/V Seahawk set out on a beautiful May morning in Roche Harbor. Heading north we suddenly got a report of transient (marine mammal eating) orcas to the south near Victoria, BC! We are a member company of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, and as members we are all obligated to share sighting information with one another giving us an unprecedented advantage over companies outside of the coalition. We ended up coming upon my absolute favorite Transient male T19B also...

Today we left Roche Harbor at noon with a nice breeze and overcast day which is great for viewing wildlife because there is no glare from the sun on the water.  We headed out Mosquito pass towards reports of whales around American Camp.  On our way out to Haro Strait we saw an adult bald eagle in flight.  We traveled down the West Side of San Juan Island past Lime Kiln State Park.  Thankfully the whales were moving North so we met with them at False Bay.  We first spotted...

Yesterday we left Roche Harbor and out of Mosquito Pass.  We traveled just a couple miles South into Haro Strait and found a majority of K-pod traveling South.  We saw K13 (Skagit) and her offspring K20 (Spock), K25 (Scoter), K27 (Deadhead) and K34 (Cali).  K13 also travels with her grand-offspring K38 (Comet) and K44 (Ripple).  We also saw K16 (Opus) and her sprouting male offspring K35 (Sonata).  K35 is at the age where he is starting to grow his big 6 foot dorsal fin....

Today Captain Chris and I went on a whirlwind of a tour! With a report in hand of whales traveling south near the Anacortes ferry terminal we set out for a very determined tour. We left Roche Harbor heading south through both Spieden and San Juan Channels. We realized that we would not be able to see the orcas and make it back to Roche Harbor in the regular three hour window, so we consulted our group and they were very excited to go for a longer trip. Through Cattle Pass...