Plenty of Sun Shine Headin' Our Way

Below: J-1, Ruffles, taken by Traci Walters (a past naturalist) on one of our trips

The past few days have been wonderful on San Juan Island... the season is well under way and J-Pod appears to have returned for the summer. Yesterday we got a great tip from a friend that the J-Pod was travelling near Cattle Pass (The southern end of San Juan Island) and we headed south the meet up with them. They were spread out over a few miles and appeared to be foraging around. Of course, the first animal in our sights was J-1 and he gave us a nice show off the port side of the boat. We stayed with J-1 for a while, giving the guests a perfect opportunity for pictures since it's much easier to time a shot when the animal has a 6ft dorsal fin that gives away its position. We left J-1 to take a look at J-26 and what appeared to be J-16 and her calf J-42. We could positively ID J-1 and J-26, but the female and calf were a guess based off them travelling with J-26. J-16, Slick, is J-26, Mike's, mom and J-42 is his little sister (who will receive a name later this summer). Our passengers were thrilled to see the orca as well as the animals on Speiden, a cormorant rookery on Henry, and some Bald Eagles soaring above us.

The trip was sheer perfection and the weather couldn't have been better. We are heading out today at 1pm. The sun is shining and there's a rumor that J-Pod is nearby. It won't be long until K and L Pods return and the season reaches its high. Make your reservation today!

Megan, Naturalist