J-pod was observed on the west side of San Juan Island in the past half hour. They were first spotted (most recently) on Saturday in the strait of Juan de Fuca eastbound (towards the San Juan Islands). Hopefully this means they are around for the spring/early summer now.
For those who are familiar with the Lime Kiln hydrophone, apparently vocalizations have been heard today.
Many photos were taken recently of the Killer Whales spotted in Admiralty Inlet over the weekend. Almost all of J-pod were spotted, as well as L-87 who has been traveling with J-pod quite a bit the past couple years. Unfortunately the whale missing this weekend was J-1, and it's been confirmed by the Center for Whale Research founder Ken Balcomb that he has not been seen since November. For those who are new to the life cycle, family and social structure of the...
Killer Whale sightings continue to occur in the San Juan Islands and outlying areas. After having gone without sightings for a few days, J-pod (and L-87) were once again spotted in Admiralty inlet. If their pattern holds, Whidbey Island and Seattle residents may be treated to whale sightings along public beaches and parks. Keep your eyes open as you travel to and from home today along the water.
For our readers who live in the Seattle area, the southern resident killer whale groups spotted in the area recently are continuing to forage both in the north and south sound area. Killer whales were spotted in Saratoga Passage and Admiralty inlet through the weekend. There were also reports of Killer Whales in Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan Island yesterday, but they have not been confirmed. We're running trips this weekend, with cool and clear weather...
Today's whale watching trip out of Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, was THE most amazing trip in the San Juan Islands that I can remember! Our trip started with limited knowledge of where our resident killer whales were located and it seemed that they might have been out of range for our trip. However, it wasn't long before our luck turned and soon we were getting great looks of J-pod in every direction - and some of them were even breaching!!! This, however, was not the...
Captain Brian just reported back from today's whale watch trip this afternoon, and he described it as "one of his Top 3 wildlife encounters- ever!" The boat left Roche Harbor and headed out in search of the transient Orcas that were in the area. Upon arriving they saw harbor porpoises "everywhere" and Brian and Kendall were on the alert and watching the hunting transient whales. Suddenly both transients dived down and disappeared. Everyone was scanning the waters...
Well what a day! Noelle and Captain Nancy headed out for a whale watch tour yesterday with sunny skies ahead. Transients were in the area, and Noelle was pleased to report back great views of some extremely active orcas. "Transient" means these killer whales (orcas) have a large home range and often pass through the Puget Sound. These whales have been spotted as far south as Monterey Bay, CA where they prey on gray whales resuming their long migration north. When...
We've been sighting a wide variety of marine mammals in our area this week, but none so spectacularly huge as the Steller Sea Lion. The Stellers, also known as the northern sea lion, is a massive pinniped, only smaller than the walrus and elephant seal. With males up to 8-11 feet long and over 2,000 pounds, it's hard to believe they are not at the top of the food chain!
The Stellers come into these waters to looking for all sorts of food-- salmon, rockfish, herring...
San Juan Island Whale Watch report from Saturday, April 11th:
The predicted rain held off for us, and Captain Brian P. and I headed out into the sunshine as we left San Juan Island in hopes of whales. Reports of whales off the Saanich area of Vancouver Island held true for us, and as we came close to shore we sighted them. At first it looked like a small group of two individuals, but as we drew closer we could identify two adult whales and one small calf! The...