Isn't the little one cute?!

We spent the afternoon in close proximity to where we were yesterday, just off of San Juan Island. Members of L pod was coming down island at full speed when we got out there! Porpoising as if they had someplace to be......we had a few nice looks at a young Orca calf...possibly L-109 (just over a year old) or L-106 (a 3 year old male) swimming near it's relative L-27? .

We were later caught offguard by a calf coming at our stern, and as required by law, we just shut down waiting for the little one to pass by. Interestingly, he or she was swimming in various directions staying within close proximity to the boat. Perhaps a little curious about the world around him or her? There was a spyhop or two and then the calf swam off. We and another boat were very surprised by a loud splash and then another as the calf did 2 full breaches, entirely clearing the water!! It was awesome! Unfortunately nobody onboard got a photo since we were all so surprised! Everyone, myself included was reminded by how much larger these animals are (even the young ones) when you see the entire body; they look so much smaller when you just see them surface to breathe.

On our way back in we were also excited to see a male Stellar Sea Lion just on Whale Rocks, hauled out holding his head back. This was no California Sea Lion, the Stellar was huge!! The males way up to 2000 lbs!! He made the Harbor Seals look like nothing.

-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist

The Kitty, the Captain, and the Naturalist went to sea

Today on the Kittywake Captain Craig and I took customers out to the southern part of the island past Cattle point. The water was smoother than it has been, and it wasn't raining! Two days of gray skies, followed by overcast.

We saw a seagull gang surrounding a harbor seal. They were squawking and hoovering. Up popped the seal with a salmon! Before the gulls could try to steal some, it ducked back down under the water. After a few times of repeating this it was easy to see the seal was teasing the gulls! We watched for several minutes, and noticed another seal keeping watch a little farther away; maybe it was to keep the game from getting boring!

The sun broke through the clouds, and lo: there were orcas. Some jumped out of the water, while others slapped their tails against the surface. We saw J-pod family members J-8 Spieden, J-19 Sachi, and a lot of other females! Everyone became very quiet to hear them breathing. Everyone was really excited!

Until tomorrow,

-Sarah, Naturalist

Orca Whale Watching August 15, 2007

Sorry to send this so late, but these are some great pictures of the orcas we saw on the 1:30 August 15th trip. Brian I really appreciated how far you took us to make sure we got the orca experience, these amazing pictures came out of it!

Katie Acheff

Venus Maher June 19, 2007 Whale Watching Tour

Dear Debbie, here is the promised photo of the J pod breaching whale. thank you for your enthusiasm and information. Enjoy! LOVE, Venus Maher.

This note was sent to Debbie Sharp, whale watching naturalist on the boat that day.