Today we experienced Transient Killer Whales (Orca) in San Juan Channel just inside of Cattle Pass! Wow, just 35 minutes on the boat, we had whales! T40 (the large adult male thought to have been born about 1962) has a unique dorsal fin, the tip has a bend in it. He traveled with 2 other family members. The whales came close to the Odyssey, you could really hear the power in their exhalation. We stayed with them for about an hour! They were slowly making their way north in the channel. We continued on to find a Stellar Sea Lion foraging near Whale Rocks and 30+ Harbor Seals hauled out on the rocks there. We slipped over to Long Island, south of Lopez Island, and found 2 bald eagles near the nest there. You could really see how much larger the female eagle was compared to the male sitting on the tree limb across from her. We had a fabulous wildlife day and the weather cooperated, too!

Naturalist Debbi Fincher

This morning we received reports that there were whales in Rosario Strait.  It turned out to be J Pod and members of L Pod, along with some transients.  The residents apparently surprised the transients and scared them off.  No one saw the transients after that.  We were able to find the resident orcas right outside of Cattle Pass, on the south end of San Juan Island.  The wind was blowing unusually hard for this time of year, so the water was a little bit bouncy.  Our guests were great and handled the weather like old pros.  We had a couple of really nice passes on these orcas.  They were very excited, with lots of activity, including breaches, spy hops and tail lobs.  We even saw a couple of cartwheels!  We left the orcas after a nice time with them and went back in to calmer waters.  On the return trip we saw harbor seals, bald eagles and harbor porpoise.  We had a wonderful trip,  everyone was warm and comfortable aboard the “Odyssey”, despite the not so nice weather.

We were very excited this morning, as we had heard that J Pod, along with members of L Pod were coming back in from the Pacific Ocean.  As the morning went along, we got word that the whales were close to Vancouver and out of our range.  We thought that we may not be able to see whales today.  So, we set out to search for a different  group that just might be hanging around.  We weren’t 20 minutes off of the dock when we heard that there may be whales on the “West Side” of San Juan Island.  I got on the phone and called the Center for Whale Research and they confirmed the report.  How fortunate for us.  We caught up with these members of L Pod near False Bay, on the south end of San Juan Island.  They were doing alot of long dives, indicating that they were foraging.  After spending time with the orcas, we continued on our journey and ended up circumnavigating the entire island.  What a great day!

Here is the latest news from Friday Harbor.  We just received a report that many Southern Resident Orcas are heading our way!  What great news!!!

After a brief departure from the area, about 15-20 members of L Pod were back along the south side of San Juan Island.  The weather was a little dreary, but our friends from L Pod made us forget about that.  We watched a nice group of 6-7 orcas travelling south along the shoreline.  They weren’t too active today, mostly going on long dives.  There was a very cute calf travelling with this group.  We hope that the rest of the resident orcas come and join them soon.

As we left the dock today, we still had not heard news of any whales in the area.  We set out to look for transients that had been in the area earlier.  We were heading north when we got a call from a fellow captain that we should turn around.  There was a group of transient orcas in Rosario Strait!  We got on scene with the T2s, T120, and T123.  These animals were grouped up nicely and travelling in a tight pack.  We watched them for about 40 minutes before we had to start making our way back to port.  On our way back in Captain Pete thought that he spotted something off the port side of the “Odyssey”.  He slowed the boat and sure enough there was T40, “Captain Hook”  with 2 other whales.  T40 got his nickname because of his dorsal fin that has fell over to one side.  It is always such a good feeling to be the boat that finds the whales!  We watched this group for a little bit before heading back in to Friday Harbor.  Another great tour!

Today we had quite the suprise encounter aboard the “Odyssey”.  There were humpback whales in Haro Strait.  Humpbacks don’t come through this area very often, so we were very excited to get the chance to see these massive animals.  What a fun experience!

After getting to see the various members of L Pod the day before, we thought that we would see them again today.  We got a report that there were orcas on the “westside” of  San Juan Island and we assumed that it was L Pod.  It turned out to be Transient orcas, the meat eaters.  When we got on scene with the whales we were just south of Henry Island.  The whales were in a travel mode, cruising right along in a predictable path.  They stopped at the bottom of Henry Island and it looked like they made a kill.  They stayed there until we had to start heading back to Friday Harbor.  Along the way we went by Spieden Island and saw harbor seals, bald eagles and a bald eagle’s nest.   It was a great trip.

Another sunny Friday in the San Juan Islands!  We set out today to look for resident orcas that were reportedly coming south from Georgia Strait, up in Canada.  We hoped that they would come down quick enough for us to see them on our tour.  After leaving the dock, we got a report that they were swimming south through Active Pass!  We were going to get to see them.  It was not too long and we were with about 20 members of L Pod.  We had the L 12′s and others.  They were very active, with lots of breaching, tail slapping and even a few spyhops.  It was so nice to see our residents back, even it wasn’t all of them.

April 30th, 2010.

Today was a very exciting day in the Salish Sea.  It’s most famous residents, the orcas of J Pod returned from an almost 2 month hiatus.  This time of year is always abuzz with excitement, as to when the residents will return.  Typically seen in all of the months throughout the year, J Pod had not been seen since early March.  Last year they were gone all of April and returned the second week of May.  This year was looking much like last until yesterday.  J Pod returns to the waters of the Salish Sea!!  It is so nice to have our “friends” back.  The waters were rough yesterday, but that didn’t bother the orcas.  Welcome back J Pod!