bald eagle

Eagles. Especially Bald Eagles, as our national symbol, our very majestic birds. They perch high up with their stoic stares, and gracefully swoop low with astounding speed. In the San Juan Islands, there is one of the largest concentrations of mated pairs of Bald Eagles in the country. The only places that surpass us are located in Alaska! It’s a fun game to play how many tiny white heads you can spot in the green backdrop of the islands as we boat by.

Adult Bald Eagle

Today's wildlife tour took the Seahawk on a cruise around some of the most beautiful and eccentric islands in the San Juans. We ducked out of Roche Harbor through Mosquito Pass where double created and pelagic cormorants were drying their wings off on the buoys marking private docks. Once we moved into Haro Strait we picked up a little bit of a breeze and a light chop until we put the wind behind us and headed north. We spotted a bald eagle soaring past the west side of...

Today we started out by launching out of county park and started paddling north on a 5-hour kayaking trip.  The weather was perfect with blue skies and sunshine the entire trip.  Not long after being on the water we were surprised by a harbor seal popping up with 15 yards with what looked like a canary rockfish in its mouth.  We got to watch it gorge itself for awhile before paddling on.  We stopped for lunch and were just finishing up when we spotted a bull orca.  So we...

So I Know that I talk a lot about how social orcas are and how they are almost always found in their family groups, but like almost everything else there are exceptions to these rules as well. Yesterday (Wednesday) Captain Gabe and I left with a pretty small group to search for some more Transient Orcas. Just around Friday Harbor we came across a pair of male Transient Orcas! This is a little bit unusual, but definitely sometimes happens, especially in the Transients...

We started our trip out today with reports of transient killer whales just off the coast of Victoria. Feeling determined and adventurous, we started out south, hoping to spot them as they moved away from Discovery Island. We braved a particularly choppy voyage down Haro Strait before breaking through to glass-calm seas at the junction of Haro Strait and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

As soon as we had spotted some distant dorsal fins cutting through the water, a juvenile...

Pete and I left Roche Harbor for our 11 o'clock tour without any promising whale reports. Luckily, Roche Harbor is very close to Henry, Speiden, Stuart, Johns and the Cactus Islands. Each of these islands are home to an array of different wildlife. First, we cruised through mosquito pass where we saw our first (but certainly not last) Bald Eagle, as well as a harbor seal swim by the boat. We motored north along Henry Island where we found two more Bald Eagles. We also...

On this beautiful Wednesday the Sea Hawk headed north towards Haro Straight in pursuit of the T-124’s. We quickly arrived on scene, and were able to spend a full hour travelling with the killer whales.  We witnessed what appeared to the young pod hunting and then potentially engaging in some playful behavior. We interpreted hunting behavior originally when the orcas were moving cryptically through the water and making movements with purpose. Once they finished hunting...

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...

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...

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...