roche harbor

Today Captain Gabe and I left the dock on the Seahawk with a boat full of excited passengers and reports of whales. I was particularly excited because I have been off the water and away from the wonders of the ocean for a few days. As we motored through mosquito pass under the hazy sky, we began to rack up the wildlife sightings with a great blue heron lazily flapping by and some playful river otters fearlessly running around on some rocks.

We didn't have long to wait...

Capt. Gabe and I headed out of Roche Harbor with a beautiful, sunny day and slightly cooler temperatures than this hot, hot weekend. The reports of orcas were coming from way up in Canadian waters near Vancouver, so we sailed north to see if we could rendezvous with our friends north across the border. On the way there we stopped and said hello to almost 80 Harbor Seals hauled out on rocks near Spieden Island! I don't think I've ever seen so many Harbor Seals in one place...

Today Captain Gabe and I left the dock with warm weather, calm seas, a boat full of excited passengers and best of all, Whale Reports!! We headed North off the dock to find some wildlife. As we exited Mosquito Pass, we spotted a small pod of harbor porpoise so we decided to watch them slip in and out of the calm water. Harbor porpoise are the smallest cetacean (whales, dolphins and porpoises) found in the Salish Sea, and were at one point the most abundant. They spend...

Today Captain Gabe and I had a wonderful day aboard the M/V Seahawk cruising down the west side of San Juan Island. The water was gorgeous and smooth, and it was one of our first warm days out on the water. I was happily wrapped in a fleece while cruising, but while sitting watching the whales the sun was just perfection! We spent plenty of time with some of the J16 matriline, including one of my favorite whales J26 Mike. J26 Mike is a full grown male killer whale, so he...

Today Captain Gabe, Brian and myself took out the Seahawk with a boat full of excited passengers and a clear blue sky looking for wildlife. We had no reports of whales when we left the dock so we began to head north to see what we could find when left to our own devices. Up near Spieden Island we encountered maybe 40 or 50 harbor seals both hauled out on an exposed reef as well as swimming around in the water. One inportant way to differentiate seals from sinilar animals...

Today Captain Jim and Naturalist Mike boarded the M/V/ Sea Hawk with a boat full of happy people: some celebrating a wedding, some on a honeymoon and some celebrating a 50th wedding anniversary! We love going out with happy people, and they were about to become much happier as we broke the news to them that we had reports of J Pod, part of the Southern Resident Killer Whale population, heading our way!

We left the dock heading North out of Roche Harbor and didn't spend...

Today the Sea Hawk left the dock with great news! Captain Jim had reports of both a Humpback whale and some transient killer whales in the San Juan Island region. Our passengers were excited to see some wildlife so we headed Southeast into Haro Strait where we got some fantastic looks at "Big Mama," a whale that has been spending time in the Salish Sea over the past few weeks. When Humpbacks initiate a deep dive (known as a "sounding") they typically raise their tail, or...

The M/V Seahawk set out on a beautiful May morning in Roche Harbor. Heading north we suddenly got a report of transient (marine mammal eating) orcas to the south near Victoria, BC! We are a member company of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, and as members we are all obligated to share sighting information with one another giving us an unprecedented advantage over companies outside of the coalition. We ended up coming upon my absolute favorite Transient male T19B also...

Today we left Roche harbor with a recent report of transients down towards salmon bank.  We headed out Mosquito Pass and headed South on the West side of San Juan Island.  Thankfully the transients were moving in our direction so we met them around False Bay.  We watched a large group of transients with a large male and 3 young juveniles including what looked to be like a very young calf.  The whales were heading North up the West side of San Juan Island at a very slow...

It might have started out as a potentially very rainy day, but again, it turned into a wonderful day out on the water. The clouds were dynamic as the sun peaked through, giving everything a golden tinge to it- this includes the incredible North Pacific Humpback that was right outside of Roche Harbor! Not even 3 minutes out of the harbor, and M/V Sea Hawk was already on seen with the magnificent 45 foot long behemoth! The scientific term for the Humpback is Megaptera...