San Juan Island Adventures

This morning, M/V Sea Hawk motored north toward Stuart Island. Just in between Spieden Island and Stuart Island we encountered a group offshore. We first saw a few of them porpoising quickly through the strait, and soon after we saw the whole family porpoising quickly out of the water. By doing this activity the group sped up to 12 knots! This is a pretty fast pace for our Resident Orcas to be traveling at. After trying to keep up with this lead group, we heard of another...

It was a little foggy as we left Roche harbor this morning at 11am but as we made our way to Stuart Island to where the resident whales of L pod were last spotted, the fog cleared and it was a beautiful day. Before we made it out to the orcas we spotted about 10 pacific white sided dolphins!!!! They are rarely seen in this location and we were so excited to see them! They were moving fast and were creating a large splash of what behind them, something that is known as a...

Today we left Roche Harbor on what can only be described as a perfect day on the water.  We went down the West side of San Juan Island and found the whales at Andrews Bay.  We first came across L87 (Onyx).  Onyx usually travels with J2 (Granny) ever since his mom died in 2010.  We then went past Lime Kiln Lighthouse with Onyx and came across the J16's.  The family includes J16 (Slick) and her three offspring J26 (Mike), J36 (Alki) and J42 (Echo).  They were traveling...

Some days you spend all of you time searching for what you want, and other days it comes to you.  Today was the latter.  Leaving from County Park on the west side of San Juan Island, we paddled to Lime Kiln Park where the K-Pod orcas greeted us in a feeding frenzy.  After the show, we paddled north and stopped for lunch on a sunny beach, headed back on the water, and were once again passed by K-Pod who had turned north.  Both times they delighted us with their acrobatics...

Island hopping in the San Juans is always a great experience, but during a full moon the tides expose even more shoreline than normal. Our group rode the flooding tide up to Stewart Island, the most Nortwesterly major island in the San Juans, enjoying clear views of Mount Baker and the North Cascades slipping through John's Pass. Camping at Stewart Island State Park, we got in our boats the next day to see what the extra low tides would expose. What we found were a bevy...

O M G everybody there are whales all over the place! Captain Pete, and guests aboard the M/V Sea Hawk, headed out of Roche Harbor  through some rough seas and intense fog banks to make it to where reports of our Southern Resident Orcas were milling around. The fog lifted just enough for us to spot all three resident pods right off of False Bay. It was quite the experience! The first group we encountered seemed to be in a resting pattern, but they were closely followed by...

M/V Sea Hawk departed on the 3pm trip in hopes to head north. However, Captain Jim heard a report of Orcas closer, so we headed south out of Mosquito Pass. Earlier in the day we saw Js and Ks separate, Js moving north and Ks moving south. By the time we left, Js were already in the Strait of Georgia and Ks were around Eagle Point milling.

Since we know these are resident orcas, we know they are following the Chinook Salmon up to the Frasier River. This is exactly where Js...

Today I had the pleasure of accompanying a wonderful family for a three-hour tour (hold your Gilligan's Island references) bopping around Pearl, Posey and Henry Islands! We had a great time seeing some of the wildlife and plant life of the San Juans. Some highlights included a fly-over by potentially the largest great blue heron I have ever seen, a family of three raccoons on the shore, and some VERY inquisitive harbor seal pups. We also enjoyed looking at some bull kelp...

Today was another beautiful day here in the San Juan's.  Clear skies with great temperatures made for a pleasurable paddle.  The water chop did alter our route a little bit but did not impair on the fun and sight seeing.  We ended up paddling by English Camp and spotting several bald eagles.  We also had a seal decide to follow right behind our kayaks for about one hundred yards.  Also, we paddle by a mother seal with her pup that couldn't have been more than a couple...

Today's trip was full of perfect weather as well as great photo ops for a diverse range of wildlife! From a bald eagle perched atop a a nearby tree to the awesome view of a mother harbor seal playing with her pup, we had great wildlife encounters all day! The jellyfish sure were out today as we were able to identify two common species. The moon jelly and water jelly (not very creatively named, i will say) were all over the place! It was another great day of paddling.

Kaya...