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

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.