Whale Watching Report

"Our search began in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. We ventured towards Salmon Bank and the southwestern portion of San Juan Island. Heading west in calm waters we found 2 Minke Whales feeding along the shelf of Hein Bank. They zigged and zagged focused on feeding until curiosity got the best of one of the Minkes as our guests got great looks at the whale moving quickly through the water! We enjoyed the calm water conditions along with a multitude of other animals including feeding Harbor Porpoise in Rosario Strait, Bald Eagles, diving Rhinoceros Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Pelagic & Double-crested Cormorants! By the afternoon the winds had picked up as we headed back into the Strait of Juan de Fuca! We ventured back towards Salmon Bank cutting a grid pattern throughout its water as we watched a frenzy of bird activity producing feeding Glaucous-winged Gulls, Heerman's Gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets and a Caspian Tern!! We made our way back towards McArthur Bank and as we scanned a Minke Whale appeared briefly! We had two glimpse and then it disappeared in the small chop that had developed. Our Minke's quick visit was witnessed only by a few on board, and because we pride ourselves in giving our guests great looks at whales, each of our guests received a "It's Just a Fluke" to join us again to see whales for free! We however enjoyed another wonderful day out in the San Juans taking in not only the beauty of the island but also the other wildlife that calls this place home!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

Our first whale sighting today was two Minke Whales near south Lopez Island! Our guests could smell the "fishy" breath as these whales would exhale. Click here to see the position of the

Orca Whales have been sighted just north of Anacortes heading south! The Island Explorer 3 will be leaving the dock shortly for the 9:30AM tour - stay tuned to the Whale Report for updates from Naturalist Bart Rulon! Our morning trip started out well since we knew the orcas were close to home. As we left the dock we watch a bald eagle get chased around by some glaucous-winged gulls. He perched in a tree close by giving us a good viewing. Since there was an extreme low tide today we also saw many ochre sea stars along the rocks and pilings. It didn't take very long before we were able to find J-pod just off the south end of Lopez Island. We saw a lot of J26, Mike, close up and we also watched as two J-pod calves played around together, porpoising, tail slapping, and just rolling around with each other. No moms were nearby to help identify which calved they were, but they sure were having fun. A bald eagle flew low to the water right toward us and gave all our passengers a great view on the bow. Next we spotted a minke whale amongst the orcas. We spent 15 minutes watching the minke whale and he came out of the water twice lunge feeding at close range. We were close to Swirl Rocks so we decided to take a short detour to look for wildlife on the rocks. We spotted lots of harbor seals on the rocks, and several oystercatchers were flying around causing lots of noise. The seals seemed to get alarmed by the oystercatchers antics and about half of them slipped into the water. Next we drove back out to watch the orcas one last time as they had moved north along San Juan Island. We said goodbye to J-pod then headed back along the path we drove out on. Naturalist Bart Rulon

3:30Pm Trip - By our afternoon trip the weather had improved. The rain stopped and the sun kept trying to come out. We started out this trip with our bald eagle perched on the same tree we saw him on this morning. The orcas had moved further away from us so we knew we probably wouldn't make any stops until we reached them. Along our way however we saw lots of harbor seals in the water, harbor porpoise, and several Dall's porpoise. Shortly after that we found J-pod again out near Hein Bank. They were spread out pretty well. The first orca we saw was Mike, J26. We watched him for a while then we moved over to watch a group of 4 orcas traveling together closer to shore. It was J11, Blossom, J27, Blackberry, J31, Tsuchi, and J39. They were swimming in a tight group then as they got closer they appeared to be chasing salmon because they spread apart and did several changes of direction. All day we heard chatter on the radio that nobody had spotted J1, Ruffles, or J2, Granny. We were the first boat today to spot Ruffles, J1, as he was swimming slowly by himself. We never did find Granny but I'm sure she was out there somewhere because J-pod was pretty spread out today. The last sub pod we watched today was J14, Samish, J30 Riptide, J37, Hy'Shqa, and J40. It was a beautiful evening with orcas, sunshine and calm seas. Naturalist Bart Rulon

We started out our day with several great sightings of purple sea stars on the pilings and rocks as we worked our way out of Cap Sante Marina. Then within a few minutes we spotted a bald eagle perched in a tree on Fidalgo Island. By the time we reached Rosario Straits the fog was thick. We drove trough the fog for about an hour working our way southwest. We did stop Briefly at Colville Island to check out a bunch of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. By the time we hit salmon Bank, off San Juan Island, the fog was starting to clear. We found the orcas just northeast of Discovery Island in Canada. It was J-pod and K-pod heading east. They were in a sleeping pattern with K-pod orcas and J-pod orcas gathered in two separate groups. We started out watching K-pod up close. Cappuccino, K21, and Raggedy, K4o were two orcas we saw a lot of up close. We could see J-pod orcas swimming 250 yards away as we were watching K-pod up close. As they got closer to San Juan Island it was obvious that they were starting to wake up and spread out. Lobo, K26, did several upside down tail slaps, and we saw four spy hops within 15 minutes. Just as we had our last viewing of orcas for the day we spotted Mega, L-41 heading south. So we were able to see orcas from all three resident pods today. On the way back home captain Carl spotted a minke whale near Iceberg Point. We only had about 15 minutes to watch the minke whale but it was worth it because it came shooting out of the water twice lunge feeding! Other species seen today included pelagic cormorants, brandt's cormorants, rhinoceros auklets, glaucous-winged gulls, harbor porpoises, one common murre, and the first Heermann's gull arrival of the year! Naturalist - Bart Rulon

"Our day started like a scene from a pirates movie. A slight marine haze blanketed the islands creating quite the ambiance for searching for whales! We didn't have to go far to find the tall dorsal fins of J pod cutting through the glassy waters. As they made their way across the southern end of Rosario Strait they angled towards Lopez Island. A couple of the young whales seemed excited as they breached and taillobed! We spent some great time with the Orcas while they took their time around Lopez Island. We watched as a few fished in the riptides near Colville Island. In the midst of the Orcas a Minke Whale appeared for a special visit! Our guests enjoyed this doubleheader and seeing the physical difference between toothed whales & baleen whales!! What a great surprise! Other wildlife seen during the morning trip included: Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murre, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, an Eagle's nest, Common Sea Stars, Black Oystercatchers, Peregrine Falcons, Harbor Porpoise, Pigeon Guillemots, Glaucous-winged Gulls, & Cormorants! By the afternoon the marine haze had lifted leaving us with blue skies as far as the eye could see! We found J pod not far from where we had left them in the morning, just off Salmon Bank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! We were welcomed with a breach by a young whale as J pod made its way in a southward direction. After spending some time with a small subpod we spotted Ruffles (J1) and decided to spend time with our local celebrity! It wasn't long before some of the rest of J pod joined Ruffles. Slick (J16) and little J42 gave our guests some great looks as little J42 stole are hearts as she porpoised just behind her mom!! We ended our amazing evening with J pod with one last visit with Ruffles. Then headed towards Smith & Minor Islands. There we saw 9 Bald Eagles, at least 30 Harbor Seals, hundreds of Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black Oystercatchers, Rhinoceros Auklets, and a pair of Bald Eagles at their nest (on the sandy beaches of Minor Island)! We watched as the two eagles called to one another and bent over deep in the nest to feed their small eaglets! A beautiful way to end yet another spectacular day on the water!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

Our guests on board the Island Explorer 3 are with the whales! Stay tuned for updates from Naturalist Kate Janes and click on this link to see the Island Explorer 3 from space!

Georgia on My Mind (Georgia K11)

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

Stages of Surfacing (Oreo's Subpod)

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

"Our day started as we headed south down Rosario Strait towards the southern end of Lopez Island. We didn't have to venture too far to find the Orca whales of J & K pod!! The whales were spread out just between Cattle Pass & False Bay and they seemed to be just miling about in a southward direction which was great for us! One of the fit whales we visited with was Raggedy (K40). She is unmistakable since she has a series of notches on her trailing edge of her dorsal fin! Then who would appear following shortly behind her, but her younger brother Cappuccino (K21)!! This 22 year old male sure has grown since last season and soon will be accepted by the females of J & L pod as a potential mate! We watched as they swam by heading south and off the shores of San Juan Island where the rest of K pod & the whales of J pod were! In the afternoon we found ourselves going through some small rollers in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in order to get to J & K pod in the calm waters of Haro Strait!! Just before Lime Kiln Lighthouse, Georgia (K11) appeared!! The calm conditions made it possible for us to watch as her "footprints" formed as she reentered the water creating a trail of slick patches in the water of where she had been! Traveling not far from Georgia was Blackberry (J27)! We parted after a great visit with those two and ventured over to Oreo's (J22) subpod! We watched as Oreo, Doublestuff (J34), Cookie (J38), & Rhapsody (J32) swam by only to shortly turn back and one gave us a HUGE spyhop!! Moments later Blackberry breached!! We enjoyed the Orcas up until Henry Island, then we had to head home. We took the scenic cruise back through the inner islands! Other wildlife that we saw throughout the day included: Glaucous-winged Gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Double-crested Cormorants, Pelagic Cormorants, & Black Oystercatchers!" - Naturalist Kate Janes