San Juan Island Adventures

We’ve had three SUPERB days on the water! The killer whales definitely have been making their rounds in the Salish Sea. Orcas can easily travel 100 miles in 24 hours! Last week, Captain Nancy recorded the killer whales' travel speed at 11mph and they easily can have bursts of speed of up to 30mph!
On Tuesday (June 12th) Captain Brian, Naturalist Kevin, and guests on the Sea Hawk encountered members of J & K pod as they traveled south in Bellingham Channel, which is east...

The weather has been absolutely stunning the past few days! Sun is shining and it’s a warm and comfortable 65 degrees.

Libby & Katy had a very exciting Family Kayaking Tour yesterday morning. They had a close up encounter with an adult bald eagle perched on drift wood near the shore and saw many species of sea stars including a leather star, bat star, ochre sea star, and a bright orange brittle star! The most common specie of sea star, the ochre sea star, is bright...

Captain Nancy, Naturalists Kevin & Andrew and guests on the Sea Hawk had an amazing killer whale encounter. We encountered L pod as they traveled south. Earlier this week, Ls were spotted in Johnstone Strait, which is actually Northern Resident Killer Whale territory.

Captain Nancy reported that L pod was traveling along at about 11 mph! New L pod baby L119 and mother L77 were keeping up just fine with the rest the family group. L119 popped up right next to the Sea Hawk...

Photo from Road Scholar kayakers Amy L & Mark D.

Guides Nick (aka Biscuit!), Katy, Jesse, and Michael had the best time hosting guests from the Road Scholar’s Kayak Program last week! They paddled out of both Friday Harbor and Roche Harbor. We had a very interesting weather pattern that week…first it rained, then it poured, then it was sunny and almost too hot!
Guests encountered killer whales during their Friday Harbor kayak tour. Southern Resident Orcas traveled into...

Long over-due announcement! Last week ago, the first Southern Resident Killer Whales super pod of the summer season was spotted coming in from the Pacific Coast. And guess what!? There was a brand new baby killer whale with them! New baby, L119, was born approximately one month ago. Born to 25 year old L77, Matia, L119 is L77's 2nd calf.
L pod (including L77 and new calf L119) and K 40 were observed in Johnstone Strait yesterday afternoon.

Captain Brian Goodremont and Naturalist Jesse had an amazing trip yesterday. Brian said this trip was easily in his “Top Five” transient killer whale encounters ever. It’s not often that Captain Brian experiences many “first times” on the water because he’s be on San Juan Island since 1998.

In the early spring months, most of our Southern Resident Community of killer whales are out in the open ocean feeding on salmon. Although we don’t see the J, K, and L pods much, we...

Had a great tour yesterday with a family willing the brave the cool and damp weather. We ran a circuit in North Haro Strait around Kelp Reef, Henry Island, Stuart Island, and Speiden Island. We were hoping to encounter a group of Transient Killer Whales (marine mammal eating) that have been sighted frequently in the area. Weather conditions made visibility greater than a mile difficult. We did not see any whales, but did find large groups of Harbor Porpoise in Speiden...

Our Southern Residents continue to be seen in the northern part of Puget Sound (Port Townsend, South Whidbey Island). Both J-pod and K-pod have been spotted between the 16th and 18th (when the new calf was first reported in J-pod).

There have also been lots of Transient (marine mammal diet) Killer Whales in the San Juan and Gulf Islands. On December 21st, several Transients were spotted off the west side of San Juan Island, and later in the Kelp Reef area.

It's official. Scientists from the Northwest Fisheries Science Center have announced a new calf in J-pod, J-48. The calf belongs to J-16 "Slick", historically a very successful mother who has 4 surviving calves. This is great news for J-pod which now has a total number of 27 animals, and is the pod most frequently seen by our summer tours.

The calf was confirmed in Admiralty Inlet Area on December 21st. J-48 brings the Southern Resident Killer Whale population to 89...

We had absolutely stunning autumn weather this year. It extended far into November, and even a little into December. Long time locals couldn’t remember the last time we’ve had such beautiful late November & December weather.

Everyone on the island is in the holiday spirit! Downtown Friday Harbor is decorated with beautiful twinkling Christmas lights. Nearly every storefront has gone all out with their decorations! Even the lamp posts have HUGE lighted snowflakes. Friday...