What a surprise for our guests to experience the vast array of wildlife here in the Salish Sea, starting right at the walk down the dock to the Odyssey, where we see sea anemones, shrimp, and nudibranchs right on the pilings! An opportunity for the naturalists to weave the story of all these animals, they are here in this unique inland sea for a reason and have made adaptations to survive. Today was just such a day, filled with sightings of marine birds, several bald eagles, harbor seals, and killer whales. By the time we rounded the north end of San Juan Island, our guests had learned about the connections between the nutrient rich waters, fish, marine mammals, and humans. There we saw J-1 & J-2, slowly leading several groups of J’s along with some L’s and K’s, north along the west side of San Juan Island. At Mosquito Pass many of the younger whales breached several times! The orcas showed our guests a bit of their culture and lifelong family ties.

Naturalist, Caroline Armon

We had a great group of passengers today! For most folks it was their first time out whale watching and for many their first trip to the San Juan Islands. We had reports of whales in the area as we were leaving Friday Harbor, but we had a huge flood tide coming in and the whales were scattered from the South to the North in Haro Strait. The flood tide can make a difference as to which way the captain may choose to go, since the whales are following the salmon being “pushed” in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and it can slow the boat down as you go against the tide. Well, our timing was just right on as we chose to go North and meet the whales around the West side of San Juan Island. We had very active and curious whales today. We had some L pod whales who came near the Odyssey and were quite playful. With photos taken by our guests we could ID L92, Crewser a male born 1995 and L82, Kasatka a female born 1990. We figured over 25 whales came and went by the Odyssey! The weather held out and we ended up with clearing skies, too! Oh, we even saw a belted kingfisher, what a treat for the birdwatchers, too.

Debbi, San Juan Excursions Naturalist

We left the dock this afternoon crossing our fingers that we would catch up with our Southern Residents, on a once again gorgeous sunny day in the San Juan Islands. It was a long trek to Canadian waters (against the tide no less!) but we had the beautiful scenery and talk of whales and tales to keep us entertained. We were lucky enough to see several harbor porpoises doing a bit of fishing, with some following uncharacteristically close in our wake! Our journey was rewarded when we met up with some residents hanging close to the shoreline of N. Pender. After a bit of observation we concurred that we were with J16 Slick, her youngest offspring J42 Echo, a three year old female, and her oldest, 19 year old J26 Mike. There was fourth whale among them, though we were unable to determine whether this was her daughter Alki or son Keet. It’s interesting to note that like many killer whale moms, there is a large age difference between her oldest and youngest, which stems from her ability to reproduce at about 14 years of age, and lasting into her 40’s or 50s. Since Mike was not born until she was 19, it’s possible that this was not Slicks first calf. Though she was never spotted with a baby prior to Mike, it’s quite common for a mother’s first calf to succumb to illness due to a life-long buildup of toxins in its mothers fat rich milk, which is passed on to the newborn. Fortunately with each new baby the mother is able to flush her body’s toxins out so that her next calf will have a lower dose to deal with. On our way back home we spotted a bald eagle and several Canadian geese! Thanks to our guests for making the exciting journey with us!
Naturalist, Heather Hill

WOW! The wonder of the wildlife in the Salish Sea is ever changing on any given day! Today transient killer whales hunted right outside Friday Harbor by Brown Island. So we didn’t have to go far to start seeing whales.The family of 32 year old T-100 with her 3 offspring; 13, 8, and 4 years old, showed behaviors such as lunging and direction changes
that indicated they had gotten prey. There is a large population of harbor seals and harbor porpoise that those mammal eating orcas may have dined on. We traveled with the whales as they headed north up San Juan Channel, they seemed to rest for a bit, then sprung into action toward the north end of San Juan Island. The first hunting strategy will be to drown their prey and although we didn’t see the actual kill, several gulls flew in for the the leftovers. We did see a harbor porpoise heading south with a few more harbor seals that escaped being lunch today! A bald eagle sitting regally on it’s nest rounded out some of the diversity of wildlife in the San Juan Islands, another steller day!

Naturalist, Caroline Armon

What a beautiful day it was in the sunny San Juans! We’d gotten reports that our resident killer whales were spread out all along the W side of SJI, and so we went south to meet up with a group not far off Cattle Point. The sun’s glares made it difficult to ID many individuals, but it was helping us to stay warm and even get a bit of color so it was a fair trade! K21 Cappuccino was confirmed, and we believe there were a few L pod males among them as well. We were all enjoying watching them forage and play, when all of the sudden out of no where a juvenile minke whale surfaced not two feet away from our port side! We were shocked by this unexpected visitor, and watched in amazement as “he” rolled on his side, showing us his ventral grooves (throat pleats), a characteristic shared by all rorquals (a type of baleen whale). He slowly made his way under the Odyssey, and we spotted his white markings just a few feet below the surface along our starboard side. He slowly surfaced once again, providing an excellent opportunity for our guests to view a whale in such detail. Some guests commented on the fishy smell in the air – the reason behind the nickname “stinky minke!” Our minke friend circled around us a bit more, then we spotted him amongst the residents, surfacing within a few feet of the them. There must have been some great feeding going on! As our encounter came to an end, we watched a few calves playing together, with several small flukes popping out of the water. Word on the radio was that our minke had moved on to check out another boat, a curious whale indeed! What an incredibly unexpected encounter, and a great opportunity for our guests to get up close and personal with a wild whale!

Heather Hill, Naturalist San Juan Excursions

Hello this is Tim, naturalist and first mate aboard the “Odyssey”. Today is 06/15/2010 and we had a wonderful cruise. When I showed up this morning at the docks, the weather was gloomy and wet. As it often does here in Friday Harbor it cleared up nicely for us and we even got a little sun. Today we cruised south from the harbor through Cattle Pass, we arrived at the Eagle Pt./False Bay area. This is where we had our Orca encounter. We were able to positively identify two sub pods in the J-pod family and also a few members of the K-pod family. We were lucky to see some tail lobs and also some great breaching action. Captain Pete was even able to catch one breach on his camera, way to go captain thumbs up to you. After nearly an hour with the killer whales we turned back for home. On our way back home to port we were able to spot a bald eagle pair. We also had a great seal encounter, we saw several seals feeding, also logging at the surface. At one time I counted thirteen seal heads out of the water and looking at us, what a sight! We also had three cute little girls participate in our junior captain program. This is where Captain Pete will let the little ones come up to the wheel house and see the helm and even steer the boat for a while. All in all today we had a great trip and I look forward to Thursday when I get to do this again. Til then this is Tim – Tim

The San Juan Islands have been living up to their sunny reputation lately! Today we experienced some of the lowest tides of the year, along with strong currents, which we used to our advantage, like the Killer Whales do! We had a nice trip north and west around San Juan Island to find orcas from J-Pod near shore off of Lime Kiln Point State Park.
Amazing to watch four generations of an orca family; J-2 Granny, estimated to be 99 years old, along with her son J-1 Ruffles estimated at 59 years old, and constant traveling companion J-8 Spieden estimated 77 years old! However it looked like little 9 year old J-37 Hy’Shqa was ahead of the adults, spending some time with great grandma J-2! They seemed to be foraging, looking for salmon. The rest of J-Pod was spread out behind them in Haro Strait, and reports were that K-Pod had headed toward the south end.

Caroline, San Juan Excursions Naturalist

The tide was a -3.2 as we left the harbor today. It’s always amazing to see the exposed pilings as you walk down to the Odyssey on these low tides. You could see the white plumose anemones, decorator crabs, barnacles and so much more that are normally under the water, hanging on for the tide to flood in. Today, it was about 12 feet difference between high and low tide! We were asking everyone for positive whale thoughts today as we headed out, it had been a few days since the whales were in our area and word came quickly as we left the dock that Orcas were spotted way north in Canada. We headed in that direction, with the hope that the whales would continue south as we went north. Thankfully, we did meet up in Boundary Pass! We had some of J Pod and 2 members of L pod that travel with J Pod from time to time. One breach that really made our day and lots of traveling behaviors, like speed swimming were enjoyed by all. The sun came out as we cruised along making this a day to remember for so many reasons!
It was especially sweet for the family that came back out on a “rain- check” from yesterday when we had not whales, they made the effort to come back today and it paid off for them!

Debbi, San Juan Excursions Naturalist

When faced with the prospect of orcas in multiple places, how do you decide which group to go and see? For those of us at San Juan Excursions it can sometimes be a difficult decision to make. Do you head towards the closest group or the one that seems like it is being the most active? How about Residents versus Transients? Today delivered that conundrum to us, as there were multiple groups of Resident orcas scattered along the southern and western sides of San Juan Island. Ultimately, we headed south and were afforded the opportunity to spend the day with the L12 family which has a new calf this year. Along with them there were sea lions, harbor seals and bald eagles for our guests to marvel at.

So, from all of us out on the water, to all of you looking to watch wildlife, thank you and we will…

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist

Everyone has that “The One That Got Away” or the big enough to stuff and mount on the wall, but we decided to let it go instead story. Today was the perfect set up for one of those stories, but in this instance they will all be true. Our guests out on the M/V Odyssey had the opportunity to not only see the oldest male in the Southern Resident community, but also the oldest known female in the world and the largest male in the population. Along with “Ruffles”, “Granny” and “Mega” were many of their relatives and at least two of the new calves for this season. All of them were plying the waters along the Canadian Gulf Islands coastline, with us following along in awe.

So, from all of us at San Juan Excursions, to all of you “big fishermen” out there, thank you and we will…

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist

The mist gave way to partially clear skies and calm seas as we headed around San Juan Island to find family groups of J-Pod and reports of K-Pod by Kellet Bluff! The whales had been swimming at a fast pace with the flooding- incoming tide, and the Odyssey made good time as well. J-16 and family slowed down and we were awed by a variety of behaviors; breaches, cartwheels, headstands, and tail lobs! Nineteen year old J-26 (Mike) and fifteen year old J-30 (Ridptide) were showing off their male parts! We also got a glimpse of one of the new calves of either J-28 or sister J-35. The calves white parts will look yellow or orange for the first year or more, it’s thought it’s like jaundice in human babies. As the whales headed north they picked up speed again, porpoising- leaving a wake. We continued around circumnavigating San Juan Island, enjoying views of marine birds, harbor seals, and a nesting pair of eagles tending to this years’ young. A delightful and memorable trip!

Naturalist, Caroline Armon

Before leaving the dock this morning we had reports of both residents and transients, and made the decision to go south to meet our beloved Southern Residents. Shortly after leaving the harbor we met up with some members of J pod between Cattle Point and False Bay. They were spread out and appeared to be foraging. The weather was dry, the seas were calm, and for most of our encounter we were the only boat on scene. This made for a very peaceful trip, as we were able to shut our engine off and get lost in the sounds of the their exhalations. J34 (Doublestuf) passed right along side our vessel, though the excitement of the moment was tinged with a bit of grief because we were able to see an obvious depression behind his blowhole known as a “peanut head.” This depression is often a sign of emaciation in killer whales. Hopefully they’ll find lots of Chinook here in the Salish Sea in the upcoming weeks and months! We also saw J32 Rhapsody, J28 Polaris with her six-month-old calf, and J27 Blackberry traveling along side two youngsters. On our way back in we spotted two bald eagles sitting on the south end of Goose Island, and on the north end were lots of harbor seals hauled out, including at least one new pup. Another beautiful day with San Juan Excursions.

Naturalist Heather Hill