San Juan Island Adventures

Yesterday was a wet one here on San Juan Island, but the whales didn't mind. Captain Brent and I had a 1:00 trip yesterday out of Roche Harbor and were able to see J, K, and L pod on the west side of San Juan Island. They were spread out along a huge portion of the island so we did not see every single animal but we did have great looks at several small groups of whales including a particularly close look at a male in L-pod. In addition, we saw a few close...

All three of my kayak trips had excellent harbor seal shows! The water was glassy enabling us to see every little seal head. This time of the year harbor seal pups are starting to leave their mothers and are more adventurous than ever! We had one particular pup who was very interested in our kayaks and continually popped up next to and behind us. It is also harbor seal mating season and we watched many seals launch their bodies out of the water and lob their...

On our 11am Whale Watch tour out of Roche Harbor, our naturalist Kevin reported not only seeing some members of L-Pod but also being fortunate enough to see the newest addition, L-112 born to L-86. L-112 was extremely playful at the surface of the water, rolling around and as well as breaching (leaping out of the water). It was very exciting to see such a small Orca exhibiting so much exuberance!

Orca calves are born after a 17 month gestation period and on...

Today our guide Megan had an awesome familly sea kayak tour! They saw red rock crab, purple and green shore crab, mossy chiton, and an abundance of ochre sea stars when they got out on Posey Island to stretch their legs. Later that afternoon she took out a group of adults on a Bicycle Adventures specific tour, where they paddled to a kelp bed and saw two bald eagles relaxing in a nearby tree on McCracken point.

Whales Again!!! On our second Whale Watch tour for the day, Captain Brian, reported seeing our resident K-Pod. There are two types of killer whales seen our waters: Transients and Residents Orca whales. Transients diets consist of marine mammals while the residents are fish eating Orcas.

It was quite a show with lots of spy hopping, a behavior in which the Orca comes straight out of the water with its eyes above the surface before dropping back down.

Another...

Our Captain Brian returned from our 11am Whale Watch out of Roche Harbor with a report an uncommon sighting of Transient whales. They saw the very large male T-102, as well as T-100 and T-90. Transient are the marine mammal eating whales that you see on the Discovery Channel. Although they do frequent the San Juan Islands, their sporadic movements and elusive behavior make them a rare sighting. They were spotted near Halibut Island near Kelp Reef on the...

Today I paddled out with two friends from Seattle who were excited to see all the wildlife the San Juans have to offer. We were getting some great looks at bald eagles, sea birds and harbor seals and were taking a short break in a forest of bull kelp when the report came in that whales were in the Haro Strait and headed south-- towards us! We watched as whale watch boats moved down the strait and then noticed that a few whales were much closer to shore--to us. At...

Naturalist Kevin is on his lunch break and he has reported of a fantastic first trip today. Kevin and Nancy had a lovely experience viewing a superpod in Boundary Pass. A superpod is a term used to describe when the three pods: J, K, and L, join together to socialize and mate. The crew and guests were able to view quite a bit of exciting behaviors including adult males breaching as well as calves breaching. They also saw all of J-pod traveling very close...

Guests on our 11am Whale Watch tour were able to beat the heat (we are having 90 degree days) while they enjoyed watching J, K and some of L-Pod. The Orcas were spotted from Open Bay to the Light House and throughout the tour there was lots of breaching.

It was a great day on the water and an awesome sight to see!

Captain Brian P. and Naturalist Kendall just returned back to Roche Harbor on San Juan Island from a successful whale watch trip in Rosario Strait. They were able to view members of J and K pod which combined is over 45 whales! Typically, when pods join up and travel together, they may spend time socializing and mating and often we are able to see some very interesting behaviors such as tail slapping, breaching and spyhopping. They were also able to see other...