San Juan Island Adventures

We received another misty Monday yesterday. Clouds floated low in the sky, slowly tearing away from the treetops on the islands. We headed north, and since we’re still in the shoulder season before the main schools of salmon start running through these waters we were looking mostly for Transient Orcas. Of the two ecotypes of orcas that live here one, the Residents, arrive in the summer to eat the salmon runs that occur annually. They are fish eaters and around 90% of...

Today on the M/V Sea Lion we cruised out of Friday Harbor into another sunny, brilliant, San Juan day. Today we headed south, hoping to maximize on some early reports of whale blows southwest of Cattle Pass. We crossed into a boiling current as we broke west of Cattle Point, past Whale Rocks and a couple of wary looking harbor seals. As we rounded the corner into Haro Strait it seemed the other boaters in the area had been stumped, losing track of the whales since we had...

We started out the day departing Roche Harbor with a small group of 3 guests, two from Ireland and one from the Dominican Republic.  It was an awesome opportunity to display the Pacific Northwest and all of it's natural beauty to guests visiting from so far away.  After about 45 minutes of paddling we got out to the Haro Strait where we were instantly greeted by many harbor seals.  Not 10 minutes later I heard some loud breathing and turned to notice a large tan head...

A fluke

Did you know that commercial whaling (mostly) in 1982 with a moratorium that was adopted by the International Whaling Commission? A few nations still apply for scientific permits to distribute to citizens, and another few object to the moratorium. Worldwide though, whaling is becoming less and less popular among peoples and so is declining. Sometimes it is possible to see the positive outcomes of this moratorium. Most of us have no idea how whales there normally...

It’s cooled down a little bit here, getting closer to normal May weather. The sun was still out in full, bright force but air wasn’t so hot as it has been, but summer still feels like it is here a little early. Everything is opening on the island, more folks are starting to walk around enjoying the longer sunny days, and all the plants are so excited for the sunshine after a pretty grey winter. This sunny Saturday we had a choice to make, since there was no reports out...

Many people come to visit the San Juan Islands in the summer time, our peak season runs from June through August. The summer in the Islands is absolutely beautiful, but many visitors overlook the spring and fall as a great time to visit! Why should you visit in our shoulder seasons? Glad you asked!

1) Wildlife is off the Charts

During the spring and fall we see a transition in our wildlife species as animals start to migrate to and from the islands. In the spring and...

This Tuesday, May 3^rd we set out again on another warm, sunny day. Today it was Captain Brian and I heading north with a great crew of folks form all over world here for various conferences in Seattle. Since it was a little bit hotter today everything was spending as much time in the water as possible. The Harbor Seals would poke their heads up to stare at us, and the Steller’s Sea Lions were rafting up together, doing spins, an loudly snorting their exhales up and out of...

Did you know that Humpback Whales have one of the longest migrations of any animal? Each year they spend their summers in polar regions and their winters in warmer climes closer to the equator. Imagine swimming from Alaska to Hawai’i then back again every year, almost every year of your life. Oh and you also don’t get to eat during your winter vacation in the tropics, there’s not really that much food and you’re worried about finding the perfect mate anyway. That what...

Yesterday we had yet another amazing day of encounters with some of the magnificent cetaceans that call the Salish Sea home. Captain Mike and I headed out on a bit of a grey afternoon in search of adventure and whales, of course. We had a lovely group of guests on board, and even a few birthdays!

We steered the mighty M/V Sea Lion north towards the Canadian Gulf Islands where we found J Pod, part of our Southern Resident Killer Whale population, traveling south through...

[caption id="attachment_1339" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mike J26 and sibling near Gooch Island"]

The San Juan Islands are the most well known for being the home of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. The famous J, K, and L pods make up the Southern Residents, and are so famous that some of them ended up in some film sequences for movies such as Free Willy, pretty cool, huh? In spite of their ecotype name though, these ‘residents’ only like...