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. ©

San Juan Island, where the whales are...

Today we headed north in the San Juan Channel. We had a few sightings of orcas earlier at False Bay on the west side ofSan Juan Island. We were originally considering going south. But as we motored out of Friday Harbor, we heard that the orcas were moving up on the west side of San Juan Island - fast.

So we went north and cruised past the south side of Spieden Island, which is just north of San Juan Island. As we looked for big black dorsal fins or a big blow from the bow of our vessel the Sea Lion, we saw a small, triangular fin. A Harbor Porpoise!

We then saw the big dorsal fins. Our first sights of orca were right off the west side of Henry Island. Henry Island is just to the west of Roche Harbor on San Juan Island. The orcas were fishing right off shore. They are intriguing to watch as they fish - going back and forth and back and forth. We identified some individuals by their saddle patch (just behind their dorsal fin). We were seeing K pod and a few of the L pod.

The Southern Resident community consists of 85 killer whales, making up three pods: J, K and L. K pod is actually the smallest pod consisting of 19 individuals. L pod is the largest with 39 killer whales. We watched the orcas for about an hour. They began moving off shore and heading south, down San Juan Island. They probably traveled right past Lime Kiln State Park.

We then headed to the Cactus Islands and saw what I believe to be a nesting pair of Bald eagles perched side by side in the top of a tree. We also got a great view of their rather enormous eaglet flapping its wings in the nest. I am always surprised with how fast eagles grow. We also saw a few Harbor seals and their pups swimming around.

Another great trip with San Juan Safaris.
Naturalist Jeannette Miller
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

It's A Humpy!

This is a week of firsts, I am telling you. Today we were treated to another rare sighting and that was a Humpback Whale. Even the captain said she has not seen one of these in the waters directly around San Juan Island in two years. The whale did not seem to realize the frenzy that it was causing with the wildlife watching companies. Clearly it was just there to eat and not be a media star. Capt. Nancy, Jeanette and I fell under the whale's spell just like all of our guests on the MV Sea Lion. We anxiously awaited every blow and exclaimed as excitedly as anyone when we finally saw the tail fluke. The seemingly young animal was travelling, or possibly feeding, shallowly so there was only one deep dive and that is when we saw it's large beautiful tail. It was a great experience for my first humpy sighting.

When we finally tore ourselves away from the Humpback as it swam off into the sparkling waves we decided to go in search of seals and baby eagles. We cruised along the coast of Henry Island as it guarded the entrance to Roche Harbor and then over to Sentinel Rock. There we relaxed with the Harbor Seals as they indulged in an afternoon nap in the sun. A couple of Oystercatchers kept watch for yummy tidbits of food up in the rocks.

Spieden Island was quite today with it's golden grasses along the southern exposure. As we came up to the large eagle's nest a guest spotted an adult Bald Eagle cruising along the face of the island and then up into the nest. Slowly the front of the nest became visible and as the adult hopped out of the nest and onto a branch, up popped an eaglet. It is no longer grey and fluffy, but has started to get it's adult feathers. At one point it stood up tall and looked right at us with the parent sitting nearby.

What a cool day with our majestic wildlife and this week has been one wonder after another. The puffin and the Humpback and then a baby eagle. What magic abounds in this beautiful place. So, thank you from all of us to all of you and we at San Juan Safaris will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©