Whale Watching Report

Gray whales have showed up earlier than ever this year out of Everett and now to make it even better a Humpback has showed up in the Hood Canal!! Humpbacks have been increasing in numbers, over 7% each year. There are so many Humpbacks today that it is causing them to expand into different areas. It's going to be an excellent Gray whale season!
There has also been sightings of Risso's dolphins! Rosso's dolphins are one of the larger members of the dolphin family. This is a relatively robust dolphin with a rounded head. They are usually an offshore dolphin, whose inshore appearance is uncommon, so sighting them in the Puget Sound is very exciting!
We are so anxious to get the Island Explorer 3 down to Everett! The wildlife just keeps getting better and better! Remember, first trip is March 3rd!




Humpback Photos by Connie Gallant/Orca Network
Risso's dolphins Photo by Kim Merriman/Orca Network

We are very excited to say that the first Saratoga gray whale has arrived! This is the first gray whale sighting of the year and it has been years that a gray has shown up this early!
Just 2 days ago, right outside of Everett, the gray whale (identified as #53) was feeding near the shoreline for a couple hours on ghost shrimp and tube worms.
We cant wait for the season to start on March 3rd!!

We are very excited to say that we are starting to approach our 2012 Gray Whale Season! The season officially begins on March 3rd out of Everett! Our 2012 Gray whale brochures have been printed and will be distributed very soon.
Our Anacortes office will re-open on January 16th and new gift shop souvenirs and apparel will start to arrive early spring. We have some great looking jackets on their way!
As for the Orcas, members of J and K pod have still been gracing us with their presence in and around the Puget Sound area!
We hope everybody had a wonderful time over the holidays and we look forward to seeing you in Everett soon!

Over 50 Killer Whales (we are assuming J's, K's and L87 Onyx) went past the Port Townsend hydro phone yesterday heading south into Puget Sound. we have joked for years that J pod in particular are Seahawks fans and show up in Elliot Bay on Sundays in the winter. Maybe they didn't look at the schedule this week, as the hawks are in Chicago. They will most likely spend the next few days in Puget Sound eating juvenile Chinook Salmon. Their food supply is rich in Puget sound in December and seeing resident killer whales near Seattle this time of year is pretty common. So if you are a ferry traveler keep your eyes peeled the next couple days, you may get a Christmas orca treat. Our Christmas gift certificate sale ends December 24th so if you are thinking about giving whales to someone for Christmas don't wait to long as the postal service is busy this time of year. We are in the office daily until Christmas Eve. Give us a call and we'll get a gift certificate out to you the same day. Our fist trip for 2012 will be March 3rd from Everett. We have given the website a face lift this month check out all the new photos from the 2011 season. If you are looking for a photo for Christmas check out bartrulon.com or captain Mike's new website picturepangea.com Both Mike and Bart can send images electronically and you can have them printed where ever you live. Costco has a great deal to print images on canvas and they come out great.
Have a great weekend!
-Island Adventures' staff

We have ended our 2011 season but Orcas are still in the area. In the past week they have been spotted near Whidbey Island and Constance Bank. This is the perfect time to get your whale watching gift certificates.

Our holiday special is going on now through December 24th. Purchase a $100 give certificate and receive a $25 FREE. If you purchase a $200 gift certificate receive a $50 gift certificate FREE. You can apply the gift certificate towards a whale watching trip, gift shop items or for food on the boat.

We are also offering 20% off in the gift shop now - December 24th. Come on in and check out our fun souvenirs, warm jackets, hand made jewelry, and much more! We will be open daily until December 24th.

We worked our way southward to start our trip today in the sun. We spotted several harbor porpoises in Rosario Strait, and then we spotted a Columbian black-tailed deer on Lopez Island. At Swirl Rocks we found our first bald eagle of the day perched proudly on the highest spot. Next we searched for whales at Salmon Bank, and we quickly got distracted by a huge group of Steller sea lions hauled out on Whale Rocks nearby. There must have been at least 30 sea lions, and many of them were sitting up proudly, basking in the sunshine. The rest of them were snoozing away on the rocks without a care in the world. Next we cruised out toward Middle Bank where we found some playful Dall's Porpoises. Two or three at a time these frisky porpoises would come up and play at the bow of our boat. Eventually they would drop back and play in the wake behind our boat. After a while Captain Carl would turn around and go back, and they would race over to play at our bow again. We did this about 6 times before eventually peeling off to look for more wildlife. The wind started to pick up so we decided to take a route back through the inner San Juan Islands. Along the way we spotted some harbor seals and four bald eagles. Two of the bald eagles were perched next to each other on Black rock and they gave everyone great views right before they took flight to chase a gull that was flying in the distance. We didn't manage to find any whales today unfortunately, but our birdwatchers saw lots of birds we don't get to see every day. We saw long-tailed ducks, ancient murrelets, brant, red-necked grebes, western grebes, a variety of loons, along with the more common Brant's cormorants and common murres.
It's hard to believe that our 2011 whale watching season has finally come to an end. It seems like it was only yesterday that we started, but time flies by when you are having fun. We had a great whale watching season again this year, and we can't hardly wait to get started again next year with gray whales in March from Everett. We always put lots of work into the Island Explorer 3 during the off season to make it better each year, and this year will be no exception. Be sure to keep an eye on our web site during the off season and we will see all of you in 2012! Naturalist Bart Rulon

What a beautiful, albeit crisp, Saturday in November! We set off on our journey through the inner islands. We found more bald eagles than we could even count! We saw a few harbor seals and harbor porpoise as well. Near Pole Pass, one of our passengers even found us a sea lion! We headed to where we had some word of news from another captain. We found a minke whale headed in the wrong direction, and for good reason, a group of 7 transient orcas were just around the corner! He was one lucky whale! As we got on scene, we were able to identify T20 and T21, as well as another group of 5 whales, including a little, bitty baby. They maintained a rhythmic breathing sequence. They thrilled our guests as they gave us a close pass. Then the two groups split for about 30 minutes, before they came back together. It looked as though they were engaged in a little feeding behavior although we didn't see anything. Their behavior sure indicated what was going on under the surface of the water. At this point, they were headed east, which was where we had to head as we made our way back home. We had the opportunity to hang out with them for a while longer because of their direction. We headed home along the northside of Orcas Island. At Point Lawrence, we found some more harbor porpoise. As we rounded the southeast corner of Guemes Island, the sun was setting, four bald eagles were soaring and Mt. Baker was a gorgeous shade of pink! It's hard to believe that it was November today, not July (except of course in temperature)! It was an amazing day on the water with those transient orcas!

Our trip today aboard the Island Explorer 3 was run in heavy rain and strong winds. Guess what? The whales don't care about weather like this, so why should we? We headed west from our dock today toward Canada to see what we could find. Throughout the trip we saw at least a dozen bald eagles. Some were soaring in the breeze, others perched in the trees, oblivious to the rain. Two eagles were fighting over a meal of some unlucky fish at the surface of the water. We also saw an extraordinary number of harbor seals swimming together. We would see a group of four or so seals followed by a group of six or more, all swimming together, probably searching for food. As we passed by Spieden Island we watched quite a few harbor porpoise hitting the surface. And then the call came. A boat from San Juan Island had found some Orcas! We were close, and cruised into Haro Strait to see them. It was Resident Orca Killer Whales!! We were stoked! The seas were rough, but our guests on board were a hearty group, and everyone had the opportunity to see these whales involved in amazing activities. It looked like a combination of J and K Pod whales. The first male I identified was K26 Lobo, swimming close to Henry Island. The whales were spread for out over several miles and we continued southbound into the swells. We next saw J28 Polaris and J35 Tahlequah, most likely swimming with their calves. J2 Granny, J8 Spieden and J27 Blackberry were in the mix as well. The whales gathered around a shallow area called Kelp Reef and started going crazy! We saw spy-hops and multiple breaches from young and old alike. It was spectacular! Eventually we turned to head home, with many satisfied people enjoying the memories of the day. What a great season in the Salish Sea-you never know what will pop up next!
-Michael Colahan

OOO Yeah!!! We have reports of Killer Whales in the area right now. The Island Explorer 3 is on it's way to see them as we speak... or read. Stay tuned for pictures and a full whale report from our naturalist Mike.

Unfortunately we were not out today, but there were lots of whales around. We received reports of multiple Humpbacks and Killer Whales today! Our next trip is on Saturday and we still have some space available!

We traveled west today into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and found all three pods of Southern Resident Orca Killer Whales!!! Great, great trip-more to come soon!

All 3 Pods of Southern Resident Killer Whales came back into the area around 3pm yesterday!!
Looks like it's going to be a GREAT weekend!!

We had a spectacular afternoon aboard the Island Explorer 3! We traveled south in search of orcas, hearing that both J and K pod whales were northbound from Puget Sound. We stopped at Minor Island along the way and watched several dozen harbor seals that were hauled out on the point. We also saw some Harlequin ducks as well. Passing Eastern Bank we got quick looks at three minke whales. We continued searching for the orcas, and received word that a boat out west had found them. When we got on scene the whales were spread out over many miles, with long down-times. It seemed like they were definitely in a foraging mood, trying to find the salmon they need to feed upon. We saw some members of Kpod including K25 Scoter, and his sister K27 Deadhead, and her calf K44. One of the whales gave us a close swim-by that was thrilling! We weren't done yet. Two humpback whales were close to our location, and we moved in their direction for a look. Both whales fluked for us (brought their tail out of water). We identified one the humpbacks as BCZ0298, whom we call 'Splitfin'. Eventually we turned to head home, enjoying sun and calm seas along the way. One last treat was in store for our guests, as we found some Dall's porpoise that were swimming in our wake. We had great looks at these speedy creatures! This has been a great autumn on the water, join us November for more adventure!
-Michael Colahan

Orcas are East of Race Rocks headed our way. We are not out today unfortunately but there are many Orcas and Humpbacks in the area. It is a fantastic Fall day! We still have plenty of space on our tour Saturday.

We traveled a great distance to see whales today, and it sure was worth it! We made it all the way past Victoria to Race Rocks to visit with eight humpback whales! It was such a great day, we enjoyed sunny skies and calm waters throughout the trip. We had so many close passes from the whales, and they fluked (showed their tail fins) over and over. We also saw a ton of harbor porpoise, harbor seals, and a bald eagle on the journey. Great, great day, pictures coming soon!

Our trip today aboard the Island Explorer 3 was another great one, filled with a variety of wildlife. The forecast today called for rain and strong winds. Gotta love when the weather man/woman is wrong! We seemed to dodge the rain for most of the day, and enjoyed calm waters throughout. We first saw a few harbor seals hauled out on the rocks at Colville Island. We continued west, as there was a report of orca whales in the area yesterday. We stumbled upon two minke whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and one of them gave us some excellent looks. Moving on we discovered several dozen Dall's porpoise. some of them rode the wake from our bow and stern for awhile, giving our guests excellent views! We got word of a humpback whale north in Haro Strait. When we arrived, she turned in toward us and gave us a nice, close pass. I say she, because I identified this animal as BCY0324, a female that we sometimes see in these waters. This humpback has markings on it's tail that helped us to ID her. She showed her tail quite a bit before we started back toward our dock. We stopped along Spieden Island to see many Sika deer, Fallow deer, and Mouflon sheep dotting the landscape. We also spotted four Steller sea lions at the east point of the island, swimming in the strong currents. Our wildlife luck continued as we traveled home. We spotted six bald eagles spread throughout the inner-islands! We had a great trip today, glad everyone on board enjoyed it!
-Michael Colahan

40 + Killer Whales just came into the area today and during our private trip yesterday we were with 7 Humpbacks!
We still have plenty of space available this Saturday and Sunday!
Looks like it's going to be a great Whale weekend!!!

Great day on the water, as we took a private charter out to see whales. We enjoyed seven humpbacks and about thirty Steller sea lions along with beautiful conditions on the water! See you this weekend, plenty of room for Saturday and Sunday!
-Michael Colahan

Today was another exceptional day on the water, with flat-calm seas and sunny skies. We traveled south in Rosario Strait and stopped at Colville Island to visit some harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. We had word of two humpback whales out west, so headed toward Canada. We crossed the border line andbegan the search, as there were no boats on scene with the whales. Capt. Carl shortly spotted the humpbacks moving west toward Victoria, B.C. It turned out to be an adult and juvenile whale, side by side, most likely a mom and calf. Humpback whales spend time in the fall in these waters, to feed before they head south to the breeding grounds. The warmer waters do not provide food for the whales, so they must feed on small fish in this region before their journey continues. We spent an hour with the whales, and enjoyed quite a bit of surface time with these beautiful animals.
Leaving the area, we happened upon an incredible number of harbor porpoise, probably well over two hundred of them, as they seemed to be feeding in the current lines of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we continued east, we stopped at Swirl Rocks to visit with a mature bald eagle and some more harbor seals. The sunshine warmed our passangers, and enjoyed another beautiful October day.
-Michael Colahan

We enjoyed gorgeous fall weather on the water today, as we searched for wildlife. We first saw some harbor porpoise in Guemes Channel, followed by a Steller Sea Lion near the Anacortes Ferry terminal. He was very cooperative, swimming very close to the boat for some good looks. We traveled west today, well into Canada to find some whales. Along the way, we were treated to a visit from some Dall's porpoise, and they put on a great show. The porpoise were bow-wake riding with us for quite awhile, and our guests were loving it! We continued along and received word of a humpback whale near Kelp Reef. This turned out to be a five year old whale, that is nick-named 'Splitfin'. He seemed to zig-zag quite a bit in the area, never really moving very far. It was great to see this whale, and it sounded it's tail flukes for us on several occasions. We left the scene and continued to head west, with more good news. Transient Orcas had been found close by! We got on scene as the whales cruised through Baines Channel. This was the T18/T19 group. We got a couple of great looks and the male tail-slapped as well! They stopped near some rocks with a harbor seal hauled out, and we were not sure if they had made a kill. The whales were on one side of the boat and two mature bald eagles were on the other side, lined up perfectly with Mt. Baker! We eventually had to leave, as our journey took us far from the dock. We enjoyed beautiful, sunny skies as we returned home. This was a really fun day, with a large variety of wildlife!
-Michael Colahan

Another beautiful fall day on the water today! We began as we got off the dock with a bald eagle perched on a metal structure behind the parking lot. We also had a great blue heron on the shoreline. We continued south on our journey toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We found a couple of minke whales, but couldn't spend too much time with them because we had other whale news further away. On our way toward Victoria, we had quite a treat! We had two Pacific white-sided dolphins jet over to our boat and play in the bow wake! They were jumping and swimming all over! They swam over to another boat, but didn't spend too much time with them, before they came back over to us! It was amazing! It was the first time this year we had seen Pacific white-sided dolphins! We left them and continued west and found lots of orcas! We spent some time with members of J and K pods! We saw Blackberry, Princess Angeline, Moby, Tahlequah, Notch and Scoter. We watched as they did a little bit of fishing. They were very spread out. Princess Angeline's group (PA, Moby, Tahlequah and Notch) all came over and gave us a thrill as they popped up off of the bow and were rolling around playing. After some quality time, we had to head back toward home port, but not before a few more big surprises popped up! We saw a humpback whale off of Victoria who was moving quite quickly. We saw a few good passes from him, but we were late, so we had to go. Then, Captain Carl found us two more humpback whales! This one looked like a mom and a juvenile. They were maintaining a rhythmic breathing sequence and had some synchronized diving. I also spotted another minke closer to San Juan Island. We didn't have time to stop. We continued home. Captain Carl spotted an elephant seal who only stayed up for a couple of minutes before he disappeared. Upon turning the corner up Rosario Strait, we found another mature bald eagle perched on Lopez Island! It was a gorgeous day, simply full of amazing wildlife!

Today was a beautiful fall day in the Salish Sea! Our trip began as we got off the dock with a belted kingfisher and a great blue heron. We rounded the corner and found some harbor porpoise swimming in Guemes Channel. We headed south down Rosario Strait and did a slow down at the south end of Colville Island and saw some harbor seals hauled out. We continued west and it wasn't too long until we found some orcas! The first whale we saw was Mike. He was engaged in some fishing behavior. We also saw Echo, Granny, Riptide and a few other whales. We could even hear the squeaks of one of the whales as she stayed swimming at the surface. It was so fantastic! We had some great looks as a couple of little ones played off of the stern of the boat. Then I spotted a minke whale swimming in the same vicinity as some of the orcas! Then we got some good news, there were two humpback whales another boat found, just about three and a half miles away from where we were! We headed in that direction and found some Dall's porpoise. They weren't interested in us; we weren't going fast enough. We had a couple of good looks of the humpbacks as the mother and calf surfaced right next to each other. The humpbacks led us to where there was another minke, who surfaced right off the bow of the boat! We had to head home after seeing so much diverse wildlife. Captain Michael decided to give us a little bonus time! Boy, was it worth it! We caught up with the orcas for a couple more passes. As we got on scene, a group of about seven orcas (Skagit and her family, including newest K-pod baby, K44). They were rolling all over each other, cartwheeling and tail lobbing! It was such an amazing pass, quite the finale! As we headed home, the sun came out to stay and we enjoyed the spectacular fall day on the water!

WOW! Talk about being in the right place at the right time... The Island Explorer 3 was on scene with L and K pod, 2 Humpbacks, and 2 Minke whales. Not to mention all the other wildlife through out the tour. More to come from our naturalist Brooke.

Our trip today started in some cold, foggy conditions. The fog was persistent throughout the first half of the trip. We stopped at Minor Island to see some harbor seals hauled out on the beach. It was pretty cool watching the island appear out of the mist. We continued south, due to a report of orcas that were headed north from Puget Sound. No boats were on scene with the whales, so it would be up to us to find them in the fog. As we approached Admiralty Inlet the fog cleared and WOW, orcas were everywhere! J2 Granny was the first to appear, leading the charge northbound. She was quickly followed by J8 Spieden and L87 Onyx. Soon we came across a HUGE number of orcas, all traveling together. All three pods were represented. The whales were porpoising, spy-hopping, breaching, and rolling around all over each other! We would see several double spy-hops through the day. It was easily one of the best days of the year, watching these beautiful animals, as they enjoyed each others' company. You could feel the affection that these family members have for one another. It was spectacular! Our guests on board were treated to quite the show, and they loved it! Toward the end of our time with the whales, we had a nice pass from K21 Cappuccino.
As our season winds down, it will be a great memory, thinking about these family groups traveling through the waters they call home. We live in a special place, and are very fortunate to share it with such amazing wildlife.