San Juan Island Adventures

Although our Southern Resident Killer Whales have started to spend more time in the South Puget Sound area in recent weeks, they still come cruisin’ near San Juan Island. All three pods were spotted in Haro Strait several times in November so far!

Firstly, Captain Nancy and Noelle were super excited about their last whale watch trip on the Sea Hawk, which was on October 29th. Noelle, Nancy, and guests on the Sea Hawk ended up encountering J-Pod off of Hein Bank! Noelle...

That’s what one of our guests said about our trip on Sunday. Little Macie just turned 7 years old and her mother, aunt, and cousin surprised her with a fun day out on the water!

Although we didn’t see killer whales, we still had amazing luck on both trips this weekend. Please keep in mind, San Juan Outfitters is pretty much the only company still operating this late into fall! On both days, there were only three other whale watch & wildlife companies on the water, for...

We all cannot believe this wonderful luck we’ve been having! The weather on San Juan Island has been perfect. It’s been chilly at night, but the days are crisp and comfortable. Everyone on the island is in full-on Autumn Coziness mode! Pumpkins, winter squash at the local Farmers’ Market, and harvest celebrations. The whales must know that we are all in love with the fall wonderful-ness, because they are still here too :).

Captain Nancy and Naturalist Kevin had a group of...

It seems as though the 2011 season is really, reaaaally, starting to wind down. Almost all the employees are on exciting winter-season adventures, or are back in college. It also means that our San Juan Outfitters Blog will be updated less frequently. It’s not because the wonderful wildlife isn’t out there, though! It’s just because we are all snuggling in for winter and are running trips much, much less often.

Here are some interesting updates about the wildlife within...

Yup! October Orcas. I know we’ve said it a hundred times before, be we are very lucky to be seeing killer whales this consistently, this late in the fall. These Southern Resident Killer Whales feed on the Chinook Salmon. Basically, the Chinook Salmon govern the SRKW movements. Remember, an adult orca needs about 400lbs of salmon a DAY! Usually this time of year, the salmon have already completed their annual runs through this area, which means the killer whales most often...

The blog updates have been less frequent because we have been out on the water much less. But don’t worry! The whales are still here! The Southern Resident Community of orcas have been here almost everyday for the last 2 weeks. That is absolutely amazing considering it’s nearly October!

We just received word that a brand new, bright orange little calf has been spotted traveling with K-20! K-20, Spock (born 1986) was long thought to be a male because of her larger dorsal...

Jeeze, ya think it’s August with all the killer whale encounters we are getting!

I had a few moments to catch up with multiday guides Nick and Michael about their recent 4 Day trip (departed Sunday and returned Wednesday). This trip was a pretty neat experience for everyone. This particular group was part of an outdoor therapy program for young men & women. Nick and Michael were the guides, but the program had two of their own specially trained wilderness therapy...

Oh where to begin! First off, so sorry I’m late on the posts! It’s been busy enough to keep me from writing :).

We are in the midst of an Indian Summer. It’s more back & forth with this chilly and sunny weather. The last two days were beautiful, then a bit cloudy, and now it’s supposed to be in the 70s again this weekend.

Tuesday was a pretty fantastic day on the water! Here's why:

Captain Brian and Naturalist Kevin were on the Sea Hawk and had a remarkable whale watch...

Ahh yess…September. The coolest month on the island, besides October. So really, I guess you could say, fall is the best season on the island. It’s surprising how quickly things “slow down” on San Juan Island. There is really only about eight staff members left, which is down significantly from the 22 we had during the summer. The eight of us are really keeping busy though J. The wildlife is still here and amazing as always.

In the past week, we had a lot of really...

Well, we all survived this crazy late-summer heat wave. The air temperature was 83 on Sunday, and down on our kayak docks it felt like it was, oh I don’t know, 90s? We are in the perfect spot to get all the sun and no wind.

The great news in the all of our guests saw killer whales on Saturday! Kayak guide Don had a private all day kayak trip. They put their kayaks in at Cattle Point and paddled all the way up to the County Park, which is north of the Lime Kiln Lighthouse...