Whale Watching Report

Check out the size difference between the newest L pod baby, L119 and his/her uncle Mega L41 (the oldest male in the southern resident population) Today was the first superpod of the year! And we saw the newest member of L pod! Our day began with a California sea lion off Cap Sante. We found a lot of harbor porpoise throughout our trip. We saw a few harbor seals hauled out on Colville Island. We made our way westbound in search of animals, and boy was it worth it! Off of Trial Island in Canada we found orcas! The first group we visited with were some L pod whales including: Mega, Calypso, Cousteau, Matia and her newest calf, L119! We also saw Spirit, Skana, Mystery, Lulu, Racer, Fluke, Nigel, Granny, Spieden, Nyssa, Cookie, Oreo, Oynx, Hy'Shqa, Polaris, Star, Ocean Sun, Nugget, Indigo, Kasatka, Ophelia, Lapis, Takoda, Moonlight, Muncher, Cali, Comet, Spock, Blackberry, Doublestuf, Mike, Lea, Lobo, Sekiu, Tika, Samish, Echo and Slick. The reason we were able to see so many, in such a tight group is because they were in a sleeping pattern. When they sleep, the whole family comes together for family nap time! We were lucky to see so many orcas today! We spent a lot of quality time with them as they escorted us back toward the US waters. On our way back home, we did a slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and found a few harbor seals hauled out as well as a black oystercatcher. We also found two mature bald eagles perched in the trees. There was also a seal playing in the water, splashing around. We found more harbor porpoise on our trip north as well as a few surf scoters! It was an amazing day out on the water with the first superpod of the season!

Today, our boat was the first to find a whale! We found a couple of elusive minke whales. Our day started out with several harbor porpoise swimming in Guemes Channel. There was a California sea lion hauled out warming up in the sunshine. We made our way north up Rosario Strait. We went through Peavine Pass and found three turkey vultures soaring high in sky. On Obstruction Island, there was a mature bald eagle perched in the treetop. We continued through the inner islands and came out of Cattle Pass. At Whale Rocks, there were several harbor seals hauled out. There was a bald eagle that was sitting on the rock. He took flight and flew right over the boat! He was 30 feet off the bow! It was amazing to see that magnificent bird and such a close range! We made our way out to Salmon Bank in search of whales. We continued out toward Partridge Bank, that's where we found our whales. One popped up right in front of us and another came up atthet same time a little further off. One of the whale was more cooperative than the other, he surfaced three time before he disappeared. We searched and searched to see where he popped up at, but was couldn't find him. We made our way toward Minor Island where a mature bald eagle was perched on a piece of driftwood and an immature bird was on the shoreline. There were also several harbor seals hauled out. We slowed down through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock; we found more harbor seals hauled out, a mature bald eagle and two turkey vulture fighting each other! We continued our search to find a more friendly whale. We made another stop by a channel marker and found a different California sea lion lounging. We made it back to the dock, only catching a glimpse of a minke. This look was not an adequate viewing, by our standards, so all of our passengers get to come back out with us again, for free, to search for a more friendly whale! We had a great day full of wildlife and found the first whales!

We found three minke whales today for our passengers. Before finding the whales we found several other animals while we cruised through the inner San Juan Islands. We watched a California sea lion, harbor porpoises, and Many harbor seals. We eventually spotted our first two minke whales out at Hein Bank. One of these whales was particularly small, and the other one was no giant either. These two whales gave us some very good, close up, looks, and they often surfaced side by side, which is unusual for minke whales. We saw Pacific loons and rhinoceros auklets in the same area where we were watching the whales. After a while these two whales started to go their separate ways, and we moved along to look for more. On our way toward Lopez Island we spotted another, much larger, minke whale. Soon after that we stopped at a bald eagle's nest. One adult was perched nearby, and the other adult was perched on the nest next to her eaglet. Later we spotted more harbor seals, a black oystercatcher, purple sea stars, and another bald eagle. This bald eagle was very photogenic as he stood proudly on the top of a rocky cliff. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

We had some unforgettable,National Geographic moments with a pod of 7-8 transient orcas today. Captain Michael's wife, Chandler, was the hero of the day for us. She was out doing a jelly fish survey early this morning and spotted the pod of orcas. She called us right away and we were able to find the orcas in short order off Point Lawrence. As soon as we arrived the action was amazing. The pod was chasing a couple of stellers sea lions. They were thrashing around, circling, and lunging at the sea lions at the surface. It was non stop action as we watched this amazing drama unfold. The sea lions didn't appear to have much of a chances as they struggled at the surface and were surrounded by the athletic killer whales. Miraculously one of the sea lions eventually made it to shore and survived the attack. As the killer whales slowly swam away the sea lion was panting with exhaustion. We never saw what became of the other sea lion. We followed the transient orcas, which included T36 and T36B and others, as they swam northward in a tight resting formation in the calm water off Orcas Island. Next we peeled off to watch a bald eagle eating a seal pup on some rocks, and looked at another bald eagle near his nest at Puffin Island. We had time for one more visit with the orcas again before we headed back to the dock. On our second trip of the day we found the same pod of transient orcas up near Point Roberts. They were swimming in a consistent pattern, all grouped up together. Two of the calves were being very playful as they rolled around and played together. We had the pod lined up with the Cascade Mountains in the background making for some great photographs. On our way back to the dock we stopped by Barnes Island to look at a bald eagle perched in a tree bathed by the golden light of the setting sun. What an awesome day. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

Incredible weather and wildlife were on tap for our guests today, as we traveled into Canada to see Orca whales! We started the day with a California sea lion in Guemes Channel, and soon after, saw quite a few harbor porpoise in Rosario Strait. Capt. Carl got the call that some Transient Orcas had been found near Victoria, B.C., so we headed west in the pristine conditions. We caught up with a group of about eight whales. There were some adult females in this group and some very active young animals as well. The calves were very playful all day long, and we watched in delight as they rolled around over each other and spy-hopped continuously. It was a beautiful display! After we turned back to home port, we stopped at Swirl Rocks to watch some harbor seals and found a mature bald eagle on the south tip of Lopez Island. It was another spectacular day on the water, and we are looking forward to a great holiday weekend! Enjoy! -Michael Colahan

Today, we had the privilege to take out every second grader in the Anacortes School District! Each school came and enjoyed a private wildlife tour in their own backyard! It was an exciting day full of wildlife! We saw harbor porpoise, harbor seals, bald eagles, turkey vultures, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, pelagic cormorants, double-crested cormorants, California sea lions and a few bait balls! It was a wonderful day on board the Island Explorer 3, the second graders floating classroom for the day!

A passenger found our orcas today! We had a group of seven transients off of Matia Island. As we got off the dock today, we had a black tail deer on the rocks of Cap Sante. The wildlife just continued from there. We had three bald eagles in the first 10 minutes of the trip. Our bald eagle count reached 24 today! We found a California sea lion hauled out on a channel marker. We continued north and one of our eagle-eyed passengers found us a group of transient orcas swimming off of Matia Island. There was a little baby, less than a year old! There were seven total. They were swimming in a circle first, then they became really consistent along the north side of Matia Island. They came by and gave us some great looks as they swam right next the boat! We eventually left them behind us as they continued north. We circumnavigated Sucia Island and headed back toward the dock. However, the wildlife was certainly not done! At Parker Reef, we had at least eight bald eagles on the reef. At least six of them were fighting over something, although we didn't see any food they could have been fighting over. It was amazing to watch them go talon to talon! We continued on and found more eagles. Captain Carl also found us a harbor seal munching on an octopus! There was a gull right there trying to steal a piece. He did but then he dropped it. Our day still wasn't over, there were two more California sea lions hauled out on the Bellingham Channel marker. What an amazing day jam-packed with wildlife!

We saw J-pod today up off of Point Roberts! It was great to have them back in area! Our trip took us north up the east side of Guemes Island. We had three bald eagles of Guemes Island. We continued north and found a California sea lion hauled out on a channel marker. There was a mature bald eagle perched on Clark Island. We had a long trek north today, but it was well worth it! We found J-pod off the west side of Point Roberts! We had an amazing show with a lot of breaches, spy hops and cartwheels! They were having a great time playing in the water today! We spent most of our time with Blackberry, although we saw Doublestuf and Cookie too. Blackberry surfaced right next to the boat and even spy hopped at close range! We spent some quality time with them before we had to head back south, toward home port. On our way home, Captain Carl found us a seal feasting on a fish! It was fantastic to watch him munch on him lunch! A passenger found some harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines off of Point Lawrence. It was such a lovely day, the rain stayed away the whole time we were on scene with the whales! Welcome back J-pod!

It was a wonderful day to spend onboard the Halcyon for the winners of the photo contest, Ben and Kim! We stayed out of the rain (for the most part) and saw a ton of wildlife! Our wildlife included: a peregrine falcon, pigeon guillemots, bald eagles, purple sea stars, harbor seals, black oystercatchers, Dall's porpoise, minke whales, Steller sea lions, Pacific loons, common murres, mouflon sheep, fallow deer, sika deer, a mink, Canada geese and gooslings, belted kingfisher, red-necked phalaropes, rhinoceros auklets and cormorants. We also spent some time at Roche Harbor enjoying the beautiful day! Congratulations to Ben again for that award-winning shot! Good luck to everyone for the 2012 contest!

Today started off like any normal day in the great state of Washington. Overcast skies with scattered showers moving in, none of us (the crew) or passengers of the Island Explorer 3 had any idea what was about to unfold for us. As we headed out of Cap Sante Captain Michael quickly spotted some beautiful purple sea stars hanging out on marina pilings. It was as if they were there, wishing us good luck our trip. We rounded Cap Sante lookout and the trip was underway, as we were full speed ahead. As we headed down Guemes channel we had a wonderful view of the Guemes Island ferry as it headed from Anacortes to Guemes Island. It was excellent timing on our part as we even got to watch the ferry make its landing on the Guemes island dock. As we left Guemes channel Captain Michael spotted us yet another animal. It was a big old California sea lion, hauled out on one of the channel markers. As we passed him we found he was catching some Z’s and drying out for a nice lazy Sunday. We waved goodbye to our sleepy buddy and pointed southwest down Rosario straight. It was there that things began to spring to life. Suddenly we were surrounded by at least a dozen groups of harbor porpoise, and man they were in a porpoise frenzy!!!! We circled them and enjoyed the show as group after group kept popping up out of the water. Many of them were very close to the boat allowing for us to get some excellent looks at these beautiful creatures. With newly found exuberance we continued southwest toward castle rock. Before we had a chance to round the end of Lopez island we were greeted by an eagle perched high in a tree, crying out to what we later found to be what must have been it’s mate as a second eagle came soaring over head answering its calls. After some beautiful looks we pressed on between Lopez and Castle rock. We got a great surprise as Captain Shane came by on the 40-foot yacht, The Halcyon, to give a wave and smile. After we passed him we entered McArdel bay where Captain Michael found us yet another bald eagle!!!! We watched the eagle take flight and it actually led us right to its nest. What a sight it was to see!!! We knew then it was on, karma was running high and excitement was building. Captain Michael then pointed us South again and we moved out back into the open waters of the Salish Sea. Suddenly a voice came over the radio and we received reports of a minke whale ahead of us. Captain Michael and crew sprang into action, engines roared and we were cruising toward what we thought was going to be our first whale sighting of the day. We searched and searched to no avail, and soon decided to check out some steller sea lions hauled out on some rocks just south of cattle pass. After some great looks and a renewed hope we headed again into the open waters south of Lopez and San Juan Island. This time it was whale or bust…. And whale we got!!!! It was the minke from our earlier report, and it seemed he had brought a friend. At first the whales were not giving us much surface time but that soon changed. They began making some nice lunges out of the water as they moved around the boat. We had some great close passes off our bow and even heard the minkes exhale!!! What a spectacular show it was!!!!!! After what seemed like hours passed, our time grew thin and we had no choice but to say goodbye to our whale friends and head east toward homeport. Nobody knew that Captain Michael had one more surprise for the group. We headed east straight toward Deception pass and wouldn’t you know it, Captain Michael took us into the pass and under the bridge for some looks that most people don’t get out here. After that we headed back toward Cap Sante making a nice slow up at Burrows Island to admire the lighthouse and then up into Guemes channel again. This time however there wasn’t an empty channel marker to be seen as even more California sea lions had hauled out to enjoy an end of the day nap. We had an excellent day out in the islands today on glass calm water, with minkes, eagles, sea lions, and a whole plethora of bird life… A day that really proved you never know what is in store on the Island Explorer 3!!!!

We enjoyed fantastic conditions on the water with two minke whales and a wide variety of wildlife! A late report came through of JPod Orca Whales headed this way from the Pacific Ocean, so tomorrow looks like another great day! Stay tuned for more from our naturalist Tyson.

We had a National Geographic type minke moment today as two minkes decimated a bait ball where hundreds of birds were feeding! We also had tons of harbor porpoise and both species of sea lions! Our day began with tons of sunshine and flat calm waters! We found a California sea lion lounging lazily on the Guemes Channel marker. He lifted his head up just enough to check us out, then it was back to his nap. There were harbor porpoise everywhere throughout Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait. We snuck through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock. We found a couple of turkey vultures flying overhead and a lone harbor seal hauled out on the rocks. There were numerous harbor seals hauled out on Swirl Rocks. We made our way out to Salmon Bank and found our first minke of the day. Two Steller sea lions popped up right off the bow while we we ere watching the minke. It was awesome to see them just swimming around, playing off the bow. We had some great looks at our minke friend, but as more boats came on scene, we left in search of other animals. We went to Hein Bank, then over Eastern Bank. In between Eastern Bank and Partridge Bank, we found at least four, maybe even five minkes! They were all spread out. The birds started getting really active at the surface, all feeding on a bait ball. Then all the birds took flight and two of the minkes eliminated the bait ball! It took the disappointed birds a little bit to calm back down. Watching the minkes take out the bait ball was fascinating! One of the minkes decided to come right over to the boat to say hi! Ww watched them for a while longer before we had to start heading for home. We stopped by Minor Island and found a mature bald eagle perched majestically on a piece o f driftwood. There we a lot more porpoise that were popping up on our trip home up Rosario Strait. We passed by, what could have been, the same California sea lion on the Guemes Channel marker.

What a day! We had four minke whales and an amazing bald eagle on our trip today! The day started off with some purple sea stars clinging to the pilings of the marina breakwater. There were numerous harbor porpoise swimming in the waters of Guemes Channel and Rosario Strait. At the south end of Lopez Island we did a slow down through Castle Rock. We found about five turkey vultures and one bald eagle soaring high in the sky. Thee were also two harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. We headed toward Hein Bank in search of whales. We didn't see any at Hein, so we turned east toward Eastern Bank. One of our passengers found a minke. We slowed down and three more popped up in the area! We had four minkes swimming around the boat! They gave us a great show, at one point, one swam right over to the boat. We spent some time with our minke friends for a while until we made our way to Smith and Minor Islands. On Minor Island, a bald eagle was being harassed by two Caspian terns. The eagle dove down on the island and came up with a gull! A passenger got a great photo so we were able to identify the bird as a gull, not one of the terns. Then we watched as he feasted on the island. There were also a lot of harbor seals hauled out on Minor Island. We had a nice look at the Burrow's Island Lighthouse as we headed north, back toward the dock. It was a beautiful day as the water calmed down and the sun came out!

Today we had a beautiful day on the water! We found a minke whale who was pretty shy. We found a plethora of other wildlife though: Steller sea lions, California sea lions, harbor porpoise and harbor seals. Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the Guemes Channel marker. He poked his head up to check us out, then continued with his nap. We went south down Rosario Strait and found a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. On Boulder Island, a mature bald eagle was perched on a tree. There were also a few harbor seals swimming off the island. At the south end of Lopez Island we did a slow down where we found some turkey vultures flying high above the boat. A lone harbor seal was hauled out on the rocks. We pushed further offshore in the Strsit of Juan de Fuca. On Salmon Bank, Captain Carl found us a minke whale! Our minke only showed himself two more times before he completely disappeared! We searched and searched trying to find him. He didn't want to play. We went to Whale Rocks where several Steller sea lions were hauled out. There were two that were having a standoff, growling at each other. We headed back out to see if we could find our minke or another whale. We searched as we took a big turn off McArthur Bank. In Rosario Strait, there were a lot of harbor porpoise and some bird action, but no whales. We found a minke today, but he wasn't as cooperative as we would have liked him to be. All of our passengers get to come back with us, for free trip to experience more wildlife. It truly was an amazing day full of wildlife and sunshine!

We found four minke whales today and lots of other wildlife on top of that. We started out with a California sea lion in Guemes Channel. Rosario Strait was full of harbor porpoises,and we must have seen hundreds of them scattered about. Later off Lopez Island we found a bald eagle harassing a big flock of gulls feeding at a bait ball. The eagle made four attempts to steal food from one of the gulls, and he got very close at times, but the gull never surrendered his meal. Afterward we headed to Eastern Bank and found a minke whale feeding near a big flock of gulls. This was a very cooperative minke whale that spent lots of time near the surface. On one occasion he sent all the gulls bursting into the air when he sliced through the bait ball they were feeding on. Captain Carl spotted another minke whale and so we cruised over to look at this one too. After departing the whales we visited Minor Island where we found about 100 harbor seals, a couple of bald eagles, and big flocks of caspian terns,and double-crested cormorants. Soon after that we spotted two more minke whales and visited with them for a while before it was time to head back to the dock. The calm water and a multitude of wildlife helped make this trip special for all our passengers celebrating Mother's Day with us. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

Today's trip took us south in search of whales. Our wildlife viewing started in Guemes Channel when we spotted two bald eagles flying overhead. Later we stopped at Williamson Rocks to look at harbor seals,cormorants and pigeon guillemots. Next we headed south past Lopez Islands searching for whales. Today one of our passengers spotted our first whale. It was a big minke whale and he was swimming in a circular pattern. Eventually we spotted a second minke whale nearby. Next we headed out toward the Olympic Peninsula in search for more whales, but a nuclear submarine was coming out with several escorts so we had to avoid the area we wanted to be searching in. On our way back we found a bunch of actively feeding harbor porpoises and harbor seals in Rosario Strait. The harbor porpoises were very entertaining today and we had them surrounding the boat at times. Then just before we reached the dock we saw a California sea lion on one of the Guemes channel markers. Naturalist Bart Rulon.

What a beautiful day! We spent our time in the Strait of Juan de Fuca with at least 4 minke whales! Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the shady of the channel marker. We made our way out in to Rosario Strait where we found harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. We did a slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock. There was a Canada goose perched on a rock, possibly sitting on some eggs. There were also a few turkey vultures flying overhead too. We stopped by Swirl Rock where there were multiple seals hauled out and a mature bald eagle. It was quite a picturesque sight. We pushed south in search of animals. We had a sighting of a minke whale at Salmon Bank, but he didn't want to play. We continued south and made our way toward hein Bank. We found our first minke whale of the day! He was booking it to the west! We had a couple of good looks at him, until he disappeared. We moved on in search of more whales. We saw a Steller sea lion at the northern marker of Hein Bank. He was posing pretty for us! We found at least three other minkes at Hein Bank. They were swimming in circles and being pretty elusive. But they came right over to the boat a few times! We actually heard the exhalation of the biggest minke, as he surfaced right off of the bow! They kept us guessing at their direction, hopefully they were finding some good food in the area!we spent some nice quality time floating amongst the minkes before we headed off. With one more look at the Steller hauled out on the navigation marker, we headed north toward homeport. At Burrows Island, we had two mature bald eagles perched high in the trees and harbor seals hauled out on the rocks! The harbor porpoise were loving the currents off the island! It was a sun-filled day on the water!

Today was a beautiful day full of sunshine on the boat! We encountered a lot of wildlife! Our trip began with a California sea lion hauled out on the Guemes Channel marker. He was lounging in the sun. We turned north to search for whales. We tried to cover as much ground as we could on the search. There were a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in Rosario Strait. We made our way up to Peapod Rock and found a mature bald eagle perched on the rocks above a bunch of harbor seals. On the north Peapod, we saw a few more bald eagles and a couple of turkey vultures soaring over the rocks. Captain Michael got the call that another boat had found the whales, so we made our way in that direction. We went inner islands toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we made our way south, the waves kept getting bigger and bigger. We made our way to Cattle Pass where Captain Michael made the best decision for all of our customers, we turned around and headed back north to try to find some other whales in the area. The water conditions were deteriorating the further south we went. The waves kept building and the boats that had the whales eventually lost them in the rough waters. We went through Obstruction Pass and continued over toward Lummi Island. On the Buckeye Shoal marker, we found another California sea lion hauled out. We turned south along the backside of Guemes Island on our way home. We found another mature bald eagle perched in it's nest on Jack Island. Throughout the day, we also saw pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, cormorants and Brandt geese. Even though the whales were in extremely rough water today, we had a wonderful trip in the sunshine. It was one of those rare days that we didn't see the whales, so all of our customers get to come back out with us, for free, until they see a whale!

The forecast for Wednesday looks good and this morning we got a report of Killer Whales on the west side of San Juan Island, heading north. This is great news and we are looking forward to tomorrow's trip!!!

Today was the first day of the season that we found a humpback and a minke whale! Two new species to check off for the season! Our day started under blue skies and calm waters! We found a great blue heron standing on the shoreline. We headed down Guemes Channel and we found a lot of harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. We made our way south down Rosario Strait where we found a humpback whale! It was the first humpback of the season. He was swimming down the north western side of Whidbey Island. He maintained a rhythmic breathing sequence, showing us his fluke on many occasions! He popped up close giving us great looks and also a pretty good stinky smell... Humpback breath! It was an amazing encounter with this juvenile humpback! After a while, we headed off toward Eastern Bank to see what else we could find. We ended up finding not one, but four minke whales feeding in the shallow waters of Eastern Bank! They came right up giving us some great looks at their sleek bodies! The guests concurred that the minke whales' breath was definitely worse than the humpback's breath! We spent some time with our minke friends before heading toward homeport. On our way, another minke popped up right next to the boat! We stopped and watched him for a few breaths before we continued north. We saw Brandt geese, red-necked phalaropes, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets and cormorants. We did a beautiful slow down through the south end of Lopez Island and Castle Rock. We found a mature bald eagle perched on Lopez Island. On our way home, we saw more harbor porpoise. It was such a wonderfully gorgeous day out on the water!

Today we spent time with a group of about eight transients including T002C, T002C1, T002C2, T002C3 (less than a year old), T019, T019B and T019C. It was a great day on the water! Our trip began with a harbor seal swimming in Guemes Channel. We pushed west and made our way toward Rosario Strait where we saw some harbor porpoise swimming in the current lines. Our trip took us through the inner islands. We went down Upright Channel and took a right into San Juan Channel where we met up with a group of transient orcas! As we got on scene, they started becoming more active! It looked like they woke up from their naps and long downtimes! A mature bald eagle also soared off the side of our boat! The orcas were very playful! We watched them roll over each other, tail lob, spyhop, lunge and cartwheel! We saw more than one orca belly today! They were enjoying the sunshine just as much as we were! After some amazing looks, we headed toward Spieden Island. Swimming off the southern tip of Spieden, Captain Carl found us two Steller sea lions! There were three Canada Geese waddling on the island as well. We made our way to the north side where we were treated to some looks at the mouflon sheep that call Spieden Island their home! By the timewe turned to the south, the orcas were still headed I our direction. We continued watching them as they continued north toward Canada. Eventually, we had to turn to head home, but we weren't done watching wildlife! We saw some harbor seals hauled out on some rocks off of Bell Island. Mt. Baker even decided to make an appearance! We found another bald eagle perched on Decatur Island. In the current lines off of James Island there were a lot of harbor porpoise! As we made our way to Guemes Channel, we found a California sea lion hauled out on a channel marker. Our last wildlife popped up as we turned the corner to the harbor, a river otter poked his head up to say hi a couple of times! It was a beautiful day on the water, full of sunshine and wildlife!

We had a fantastic first day out of Anacortes today! We found members of J-pod south of Eastern Bank! Our day began with a bad eagle flying over Cap Sante! Then another one flew in front of the boat as we turned the corner into Guemes Channel. We found our first marine mammal hauled out on the channel marker! It was a California sea lion lounging in the sun. We made the turn and headed south down Rosario Strait. We made our way down past Smith Island toward Eastern Bank. The first orcas we saw were Talhequah and her son Notch. Notch was quite the show off! First, he cartwheeled for us! Then he repeatedly tail lobbed! He was rolling around having a great time! Then Tsuchi showed up swimming right next to Talhequah and Notch! Doublestuf also popped up, but just for a brief visit. We had a couple of groups come together and we shut down the boat and just watched and listened! Then, Captain Michael treated us to a little extra time and we pushed further toward Dungeness Spit where we found Mike, Slick, Echo and Alki. They gave us some great looks as they swam around the boat! We had to leave eventually, as we headed north we found many different birds: pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, surf scoters and common murres. We did a slow down at the south end of Smith and Minor Islands. We found a lot of cormorants, harbor seals and two bald eagles. One eagle was perched on the structure on the island and the other was feasting on something on the shoreline. There were many harbor seals in the water, keeping an eye on the eagle. He was probably taking up their real estate on the beach! We continued home under blue skies and flat water! What a wonderful way to start our season out of Anacortes!