Trekking Transients

You never can tell how a day will turn out. Even ones that seem to have the least number of prospects can turn out to be the most exciting. As was the case yesterday. With Capt. Craig driving the M/V Sea Lion, Capt. Jeff motoring along in the M/V Kittiwake and Nancy, Lauren and me crewing we headed off on a northern wildlife tour. As we neared Spieden Island though our plans changed drastically with the receipt of a report of transient orcas outside of Victoria harbor. Away we flew towards Canada and some black-and-whites.

The day was calm and the slack tide made the trip across Haro Strait lovely. 30 miles later, and nearly to Race Rocks, we saw those beautiful orcas. As we cruised along I was able to identify the male as T103, which was then confirmed by one of the other boats. The female that was traveling with him remained a mystery, but they made a majestic pair. They slowly swam west seemingly without a care in the world, affording all of the guests a chance to make memories of a lifetime.

Finally it was time to head back and what a different trip that was. Gone were the nice calm waters of our trip over. The tide had changed and the flooding tide, along with some wind, turned the Strait of Juan de Fuca into a rodeo. With 3-4 foot seas, we were rocking and rolling all of the way through Cattle Pass. The guests were having a ball though laughing as they got blasted by waves and watched the M/V Kittiwake bounce along behind us. Through the skill of our captains we made it back with all on board and in time to catch the 4:15 p.m. ferry to Anacortes.

So, another successful whale watching trip was logged by San Juan Safaris. Thank you to all of our fearless guests, captains and crew, and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

And Away We Go...

Can you believe it? Winter is gone and we are back on the water again!

Hello all, it is me, your intrepid marine naturalist here to guide you, teach you, entertain you and celebrate with you all things orca and wildlife. It was a wet but mild winter and now we have graduated to a cool blustery spring. The skies are happy, the plants and wildlife are happy and we salty dogs are happy to be back at what we love. Traveling the waterways of the San Juan Islands.

Today we took our first trip of the season out for a wonderful wildlife tour. It was a little hectic to start as there was a torrential hail storm just before we boarded the guests. Once it stopped though and the boat was ice free we did not get another drop of rain or hail throughout the trip. The M/V Sea Lion was in good shape and ready to go and so were Capt. Craig, Lauren and I. Nothing could keep us back from the tour that we had all been anticipating, and of course the islands did not disappoint.

There were spotted harbor seals on every rock and eagles on every island. Sea gulls, cormorants, auklets and a flock of Bonaparte's gulls all whisked by us on the breezes. Spieden Island is green once again and the herds of mouflon sheep and fallow deer were spread along the prairie right down to the water. Our highlight by far though, was seeing an adult peregrine falcon perched on a cliff side on Stuart Island just below Turn Point Lighthouse. It seemed to be surveying Haro Strait from its seat keeping track of the comings and goings of boats.

It was a great first day back out on the water and I am excited for this season. New babies, old friends and the excitement of time spent on the Salish Sea. So, from all of us here at San Juan Safaris, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Hide and Seek

Luckily, we did not have to look too far today, although the orcas were being a bit cagey. Capt. Craig took us out of Friday Harbor at an exaggeratedly slow speed, because the Coast Guard had sent out a radio warning about a submerged house boat that was adrift in San Juan Channel. How something can be submerged and adrift I do not know, but we were on the lookout for it. That was just the distraction that we needed though. We were nearly to Turn Island and we had not gotten up to speed yet when the announcement was made that there were orcas on the west side of San Juan Island at Lime Kiln Point State Park. Wow, what a save; Jaclyn and I took it as an opportunity to run around the boat yelling for joy. Up until that point we were destined for the south end of the island to look for a whale of questionable lineage that was going down on 20 minute dives.

A quick u-turn got us headed in the right direction though, and away we went. As we looped over the top of San Juan Island and motored through the glass-like waters of Haro Strait past Henry Island, I noticed a disturbance in the water well off of our port side. I minute of looking with the binoculars and I spotted a lone orca quickly swimming in the opposite direction to us and unnoticed by any of the other whale watch boats. Capt. Craig once again initiated a slick u-turn and we played catch-up and watched as what turned out to be two orcas with a group of four more behind cruised between us and Henry Island.

With no other boats in our immediate vicinity, we had found the leaders in this orcas experience and we were perfectly situated to watch them all swim by, group after group. J1 "Ruffles", J2 "Granny", K42 "Kelp", K14 "Lea", K11 "Georgia", K26 "Lobo", J27 "Blackberry" and many more. There was baby breaching, adult breaching, tail and pectoral fin slapping and two huge cartwheels just as we left the area. The orcas were absolutely beautiful and our guests had a wonderful time on the water.

So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you who love the black-and-whites, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!

~Tristen, Naturalist

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Friendly Canada!

Once again we turned our bow towards Victoria and Canada today. The orcas, J pod to be exact, were at the Victoria Harbor heading east in a resting pattern. Capt. Craig tried to give them some time to swim to us by stopping to view other wildlife, but the orcas were swimming too slowly and we needed to be making better time. So he jumped on the throttle and away we flew along the south end of San Juan Island and across Haro Strait. There were a few minutes of indecision when an unknown boat reported orcas at the Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse, but another whale watch boat was able to determine that it was Dall's porpoises. Canada was still the way to go and luckily, we were still headed in that direction.

We arrived at Discovery and Obstruction Islands to find that all of J pod was tightly grouped together and traveling towards San Juan Island. They made several direction changes, as if they were unsure about which way they wanted to go around the two small islands. But that worked out well for us, because we had many excellent photo opportunities. Mt. Baker loomed large in the background and the whole pod surfaced together several times with breathtaking scenery in the distance. It was a stunning afternoon spent with the orcas and really confirmed that September is the best month to be in the islands.

As the orcas finally came around Obstruction Island, we were arrested by the sight of San Juan Island in the strait. The orcas made their way up and across Haro Strait, so we thanked Canada for its hospitality and bid the orcas adieu. It was a wonderful day to share with our guests and as always Lauren was a treat to crew with.

So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you world travelers out there, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Turning Points

It was an evening to behold and luckily we were there. Most, if not all, of L Pod passed by the MV Sea Lion tonight and with the number of animals that we saw there must have been some of K Pod as well. Capt. Nancy caught us up with the whale watch fleet just south of Turn Point on Stuart Island. We floated in the golden evening light as group after family group of orcas passed by us. There was Mega and Skana, all of their siblings and mothers and Gaia with his new dorsal fin scars, to name a few.

As the animals neared Turn Point they ran very close to the cliffs breaching and splashing. We saw feeding and high spirits and watched as the different groups glided through the kelp beds under the lighthouse. Our hydrophone picked up beautiful vocalizations that slowly faded as the whales moved away. The orcas blew and breached their way into the distance and we left them cruising northwest into Canadian waters.

On the way home to Friday Harbor we stopped by one of the Cactus Islands to look at 11 bald eagles feeding on a carcass. It was a mix of both juveniles and adults scattered all over the rocks and shoreline. As we watched a very large, all dark brown bird flew in and landed right on the carcass, startling all of the juveniles away. Capt. Nancy and I were hesitant to say what species of bird it was since sightings are so rare, but we think it was a golden eagle. They are occasionally seen here in the islands and it is a lucky person indeed that witnesses one of these striking birds.

What an incredible trip we had tonight and I am so glad that our guests had a chance to be with us. So, from all of us here at San Juan Safaris, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©