San Juan Island Adventures

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...

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...

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...

Today Captain Gabe and I left the dock on the Seahawk with a boat full of excited passengers and reports of whales. I was particularly excited because I have been off the water and away from the wonders of the ocean for a few days. As we motored through mosquito pass under the hazy sky, we began to rack up the wildlife sightings with a great blue heron lazily flapping by and some playful river otters fearlessly running around on some rocks.

We didn't have long to wait...

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 was another perfect day here in Roche Harbor.  Blue skies and warm weather made for a pleasurable paddle around Henry Island.  During our lunch break we did some tidepooling to see the great diversity of life in the intertidal areas where we saw seastars, anemones, crabs, gobies, and all kinds of shellfish. On the water we saw lots of bald eagles, jellyfish, and seals.  A high point of the trip had to be a mother seal with her new pup coming within 10 yards of us...

Capt. Gabe and I headed out of Roche Harbor with a beautiful, sunny day and slightly cooler temperatures than this hot, hot weekend. The reports of orcas were coming from way up in Canadian waters near Vancouver, so we sailed north to see if we could rendezvous with our friends north across the border. On the way there we stopped and said hello to almost 80 Harbor Seals hauled out on rocks near Spieden Island! I don't think I've ever seen so many Harbor Seals in one place...

A 3-hour family kayak tour departed Roche Harbor on an unexpectedly sunny day on the island, as always with hopes of catching a glimpse of the incredible wildlife here in the San Juans. Leisurely making our way to the west side of Henry Island, we bumped into a few members of J-pod making their way north to Turn Point on Stuart Island. Today, the whales were in transit mode, so we caught the pod porpoising and making their way towards Boundary Pass, of course with...

Today Captain Gabe and I left the dock with warm weather, calm seas, a boat full of excited passengers and best of all, Whale Reports!! We headed North off the dock to find some wildlife. As we exited Mosquito Pass, we spotted a small pod of harbor porpoise so we decided to watch them slip in and out of the calm water. Harbor porpoise are the smallest cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) found in the Salish Sea, and were at one point the most abundant. They spend...

6/26/15:

San Juan Outfitters five hour tour departed Roche Harbor at 11:30am this morning and travelled South through Mosquito Pass.  The conditions were fantastic; a balmy 75 Fahrenheit and just enough breeze to offer our paddlers relief from the cloudless skies.  After taking a quick lunch at Open Bay, we were met by several J-Pod resident Orcas and enjoyed witnessing tail slaps and breaches from under fifty yards away.  Whether it's your first time or your hundredth...