Rocking & Rolling off the West Side of San Juan Island

Savoring the last day of Memorial Day weekend, Capt. Craig, Tristen, and I departed Friday Harbor aboard the MV Sea Lion with a boat full of guests, excited to see orcas. Yesterday was a new moon and today we had tide fluctuation of 12 feet (a -3.22 low) so we pushed on through choppy Cattle Pass, determined to catch up with J Pod. We reached J1, Ruffles, while parallel with the northen most portion of American Camp on the southern end of San Juan Island.

J Pod was busy foraging along the westside of San Juan Island. The guests caught some great glimpses at J Pod's oldest male (J1), as well as some fantastic views of J17 and her new calf J44. It was rough out in the Haro Strait today, but that didn't hinder the excitement of viewing J Pod fishing off of the south and west side of the island.

On our way back we saw some of the other wildlife that are around the islands, including bald eagles, harbor seals, and a California sea lion.

What a great day.
Ashley, Naturalist



Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Orcas seen today

J pod of orca whales was sighted and photographed in Puget Sound this morning.
Gray whales were spotted in Saratoga Passage.






Orca Whales Are Our Only Business. ©

Resident Orca reported off San Juan Island 11-21-08 Friday

Dave Elllifrit of the Center for Whale Research reported the ID's of the orcas heading south down San Juan Island. He observed J and K pod, as well as L87.
The whales were spread out across the strait, heading south at a good pace. Individual ID's he was able to obtain are: J2, 17, 27, 28, 33, 35, 31, 39; K12, 13, 20, 21, 25, 26, 34, 40; and L87.

Seeing Blue; Thinking Green

It's easy to take pride in your job when people come onto the boat as tourists and leave as activists. We had a wonderful group of guests today from all over the world and everyone was interested in learning as much as they could about the orcas and their plight.

We were pretty lucky today to have amazing encounters with J Pod, Dall's Porpoise, and a Steller Sea Lion. We began our trip seeing J Pod. They were all foraging between Smuggler's Cove and Lime Kiln. There were a few tightly packed family groups (the J2s were all foraging together inshore) and then other individuals who were a bit more spread out offshore. We had fabulous looks at the J11s (sans J11). J27 (Blackberry) and his younger siblings were all fishing together. It looked like Tsuchi and Mako (J31 and 39 respectively) took up the rear of the group while Blackberry steamed ahead. The animals were bucking the current as they headed down island. We got some great looks at the family groups as well as a few sightings of J1's flailing sea snake... for more information on this, ask your parents.

We decided to head down island to circumnavigate the island and search for porpoise as well as Steller Sea Lions. It seems however, as if the Dall's Porpoise found us. They came shooting into the bow of the boat as we were travelling along and gave us an incredible show as they swam in and out of the bow's pressure wave. They were doing the porpoise equivalent of surfing. They hung out with us for almost ten minutes, playing and rolling around each other while slicing through the water like knives through soft butter! These little buggers are sooooo fast! It was incredible to see their stocky little bodies moving at such speeds with their black and white tails pumping so effortlessly. Our guests were thrilled with the encounter and were chatting about the Dall's the rest of the trip.

As if that weren't enough, we had an awesome look at a Steller Sea Lion as he whoofed down a HUGE salmon just off Whale Rocks. He was thrashing about in a thrall of gulls, tearing the salmon apart before our wide eyes. He basically chugged the salmon down in a matter of minutes. (Pretty effective for not having hands to grab it with.) We also saw flocks of sea birds hanging out, including a group of my favs: Harlequin Ducks. Their pretty faces look like someone painted make-up on them, hence their name.

As said before, I can't get over the beauty of this area and the complexity of the wildlife here. Our guests had mounds of questions about the orcas, their status, aquatic parks, pollution, and fish farms. I don't think it's enough for people to come and enjoy this area without learning some of the problems this ecosystem is facing. Our orcas are suffering from contamination of lead, mercury, PCBs, DDTs, and even fire retardants. Their food is running low, they have a high infant mortality rate, and we are missing many key individuals. An entire generation of animals was removed from here for aquariums, leaving holes in their social hierarchy as well as less genetic diversity. Many, if not all, of the problems these guys are facing can be linked to humans. The orcas make a great poster child for concerns not simply because they're so charismatic, but also due to their position on the food chain. They are a top oceanic predator, and therefore suffer from greater contamination and lack of food. Humans, however, are basically the top of the global food chain. If these orcas are suffering now, what does this say for us in the future? Although the prognosis seems bleak, there is hope if we all pitch in to make a difference. Our guests today pledged to make a difference in their own lives and maybe this will save not only our Southern Resident Killer Whales, but also some less appreciated creatures in their own back yards. The world is becoming smaller by the minute and it's up to us to work together to save it.

I will get off my soapbox now and enjoy the memories of the day with such incredible creatures.

For more information on what you can do to help make a difference for our orcas please visit the Whale Museum's page at: http://www.whalemuseum.org/education/library/helporcas.html

Megan Young, Naturalist

Block Party

Below: Another photo from our guest Christophe Paulbert, taken from the Sea Lion this July.

It seems like every time we see orcas we have a uniquely memorable encounter. We met up with members of J and L pods and possible members from K. In fact, a guest spotted J1 in an area we were not expecting to see orcas, just outside Cattle Pass. We decided to stop and hang out with J1 and J2 as they foraged just up-island of Salmon Bank, roughly 3/4 miles off shore.

We decided to move on from J1 and J2 in favor of a larger group further up-island from them. We encountered animals we believe to be from K pod here. I think we saw K20 and her calf K38... K20 is usually quite obvious, but she was slicing straight through the water and I couldn't see her saddle. However, I did wonder who "that guy" was, and when I saw the calf I instantly guessed K20. K20 aka Spock was believed to be a male until she showed up with a calf due to her larger and straighter dorsal fin. We also saw a large group of roughly 25 animals from J and L pods. Although it appeared there were more animals there than we identified, we for sure saw most members of the J17s, J11s, J19s, J22s, J16s, J8 (basically all of J Pod), and the L43s. They were swimming tightly together, but not all surfacing in sequence, which made it easier to see who was there. They appeared to be heading in the direction of Hein Bank when we left them around 3:30PM.

Megan Young, Naturalist

J Pod Returns... again... and with friends

Below: Photo by Christophe Paulbert from the Sea Lion this July.

J Pod reappeared off Victoria today after a short stint (one day) out west... only this time they came with friends.

We took off from Friday Harbor to make it to all three resident pods who were swimming towards on a flood tide from west of Race Rocks. We planned our course directly to the residents, just in case they slowed down, which they did once they got outside the city of Victoria. All together they were just about 17 miles away from us, one way. Our guests were happy to make it to them and learned about our residents, transients, general orca facts, the geology of the area, and sea birds along the way. (The long trip gave us plenty of time to answer questions and explore conversations we normally don't have time for.)

We believe we saw J14 and J30 when we came on scene, but they were a bit far away to confirm an ID. We also saw K11 plowing through the water on her way into the Haro Strait with the rest of the resident pods. K11 can be tricky to ID because she doesn't arch her back very often to expose her full saddle patch, but after looking at some guests' photos, her presence became obvious. We spent the beginning of the trip at a distance, watching the animals travel past the city, and were surprised when L85 (Mystery) and his cousin L22 (Spirit) showed up right near our boat! It appeared that some salmon were hiding near our boat and these two took advantage of that. We shut down, watching them herding and feeding on the salmon... they were either doing that or enjoying the lovely naked orca Captain Nancy painted on the bottom of our boat. LOL. We also had another close pass from L57 (Faith) as he travelled relatively alone in the group. The animals were very spread out and difficult to keep track of, but we had some really awesome looks at L Pod animals on their way back into our area. Hopefully they stick around a while.

On our way back to Friday Harbor, we stopped for a Harbour Porpoise calf who seemed to be disoriented as it leaped repeatedly out of the water. Longer observation did not reveal a predator or a larger porpoise. As far as we could tell, this animal was very small and all alone. There were reports of Ts near Constance Bank earlier in the day, but this animal was seen behaving strangely near Salmon Bank. Hopefully the little one is alright... as a guest put it, "It's probably just happy and wanting to jump around." Let's hope that's the case.

Megan Young, Naturalist

Gender Roles

Below: Orca Cartwheel taken aboard the Sea Lion by our guest Christophe Paulbert in July of 2008.

Today was yet another amazing day with all three pods!


We met up with members of J, K, and L pods just east of East Point on Saturna Island. They were spread out between Saturna Island and the middle of Boundary Pass. The interesting thing about the groups, was that they were initially divided into male groups and female groups. We got a spectacular look at a group of calf-bearing females and young females all traveling together inshore. This group had around thirteen members and included mother-calf pairs of J19 (Sachi) and J41 (Eclipse), J16 (Slick) and her two youngest calves J42 and J36 (Alki), L72 (Racer) and her son L105 (Fluke), K14 (Lea) with her two youngest K36 (Yoda) and K42. This group also included J31 (Tsuchi) and J28 (Polaris). The group was mostly comprised of females and I was happy to see J28 in the mix... could she be being groomed for motherhood by the other females? I sure hope so. She's fifteen years old and at the age of having her first calf. Perhaps her presence in this group sugests something about her reproductive condition... or maybe it's just me being hopeful.


We also saw some of the boys hanging out together: J30 (Riptide), K26 (Lobo), J1 (Ruffles) and L57 (Faith). Towards the end of our encounter (around 3:30 pm) they seemed to join up in more mixed groups. We left them in the middle of Boundary Pass toward the east end of South Pender Island.


Our guests really enjoyed getting looks at all three pods and seeing so many "mammas and babies" together. We have another trip going out tomorrow at 1:00 pm and it's filling fast! Call for reservations: 800-450-6858. Happy Adventures!

Megan Young, Naturalist

Living to Learn, Learning to Live

Below: Photo taken June 3, 2008 by our guest Adam U. There are three identifiable whales in this photo. The third fin from the left belongs to DoubleStuf (J34). In front of DoubleStuf is his younger sibling Cookie (J38) and behind the two of them is their mother, Oreo (J22). DoubleStuf has a very skinny young-sprouter fin, Cookie is only five and so much smaller than the others, and Oreo has two little black spots on her eye patch on the left side, which you can see if you click on the photo.

Today was an incredible day, not just because we saw Js and some Ls... which is always incredible, but also because we had guests who were very excited to learn. They wanted to hear about our animals and environmental issues on the whole... which makes our staff very happy.

We first encountered the whales just off South Beach and they travelled back and forth from False Bay to Salmon Bank for about an hour. The animals were split up into small groups, with some inshore and others about two miles offshore. We specifically encountered multiple small groups and were surprised to see that some of the matrilines were split up so that animals of similar ages were foraging together. We saw fifteen year old J28 (Polaris), who is my personal favorite, travelling with her ten year old little sister Tahlequah (J35) and thirteen year old Tsuchi (J31). These teenage and preteen girls seemed to enjoy our company and we paralleled them for a while before seeing the J14s (Samish, Riptide, Hy'shqa, and Suttles) who were the only full matriline we saw today. We also got brief looks at J22 (Oreo) with her five year old calf Cookie (J38), however her sprouter son DoubleStuf (J34) was not in sight. We also caught some surfaces from J26 (Mike) as he travelled with L57 (Faith) and L53 (Lulu). We left the animals at about 3:15 pm as they headed down island toward Iceberg Point, but given their afternoon behavior, that is subject to change.

We encountered a nice group of animals, but we had an even nicer group of people. Our guests were extremely interested in the orcas and their plight, as well as in discussing environmental issues as a whole. I personally believe that we owe it to this population of animals to not simply enjoy them, but to learn about them as well. Regardless of personal opinions of conservation and environmental issues, I think we can all agree that if we don't change our destructive habits these orcas won't be the only ones suffering. Orcas are the apex predators in this ecosystem and are key indicators to the health of the environment. If they are having problems now, what are we as the dominant predators on the planet in for? Mothers on the boat voiced that they were concerned for the future their children would have to deal with if we don't make changes. "We do not inherit the environment from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." ~ Native American Proverb.

Megan Young, Naturalist

Calm Water

Today was a fabulous day! The sun was shining, the water was calm, and Js and Ls were on the move. We visited the two pods on the west side of San Juan Island. Our first trip took us to False Bay. Our subsequent trips found us at the entrance to Mosquito Pass and then north of Stuart Island. The animals seemed to be moving quite fast all day and with purpose. We got positive IDs on L57, J1, J2, J22, J34, J17, the J11s and L53. The animals seemed to become a bit playful as the day progressed and we even saw a J1 BREACH!!!! (A first for me.) We also saw multiple cartwheels and spy hops. The conditions today were perfect for whale and wildlife watching and we look forward to our trips tomorrow.

Megan, Naturalist

Orca Whales-Always on the move

Before we began our whale watching adventure today, Captain Craig had been informed that there were four to five foot swells out in the waters on the south western side of the San Juan Island. So, we decided to avoid a rocking-roaring adventure we left Friday Harbor heading north. But, as we began our journey up the San Juan Channel, we heard from other whale watch operators discussing the conditions, which (to our luck) had become calm. With a quick U-turn we were on our way south! This decision meant we would have more likelihood of catching up with the whales, which we had heard were travelling southwest off the south western side of San Juan Island.
After cruising along (over mirror calm water - whoa, did the conditions change fast) past the west side of San Juan Island, and offshore of Lopez Island, we found orcas! We watched members of J Pod and L Pod travel around us on all sides. It was hard to know which direction to look! We saw breaches in the distance, tail slaps galore, closer looks of some dorsal fins passing to both our starboard and port sides, and even got to watch L57 travel past our bow after we had shut down our engines to let him pass. We headed back eastward, and watched more orcas swimming in the distance from us. Right before we left the scene to head home, J42 (the youngest member of J Pod, who will be a year old this summer!) breach three times! It was the perfect way to end the whale watching portion of the trip. As we drove home we had the opportunity to view other Salish Sea creatures, including Harbor Seals, Cormorants, Bald Eagles (and a Bald Eagle Nest) and all sorts of seabirds!

What a great day!

Ashley Chapman, Naturalist

To the Frazer River and Beyond!

A group of orcas photographed by guest Adam U from the Sea Lion on June 3, 2008. Yesterday we encountered members of J and K pods waaaaaaay north of the US/Canadian Border just outside of Vancouver, BC and slightly south of the Frazer River. The trip totaled over 60 miles round trip! (But it was well worth it because we got to see the animals foraging for salmon just outside the Frazer River.)

We got some great looks at J17 (Princess Angeline) and her fifteen year old daughter, J28 (Polaris). Polaris is my favorite animal, so of course that made the trip even better. Our guests were excited to see the orcas, and the long haul up there built the anticipation even more. They were able to ask many questions about the animals and before we knew it, we travelled north of the coal docks and Point Roberts and could literally look into the city of Vancouver. This is the farthest we've been on a whale watch and our guests couldn't have been happier.

We caught a few breaches from a distance, but most of their time appeared to be spent foraging and travelling north. We left the animals just south of the Frazer and just in time to get back for our 5:30 trip. We have two trips going out again today and look forward to seeing where the orcas pop up. (They can travel up to 100 miles a day, so even though they were far yesterday, they could end up right in our back yard today.)


Megan Young, Naturalist

People Watching

Photo Below: Photo of L7 (Canuck) taken by Adam U from our boat the Sea Lion during our season's first super pod.

Yesterday was probably the most amazing encounter I've ever had with orcas! We found J-Pod on the west side of San Juan Island near the Salmon Bank Buoy. The animals appeared to be swimming lazily about in their matrilineal groups. We began the encounter watching J19 (Sachi) and her calf (Eclipse) and J11 (Blossom) with her youngest son J39 (Mako). They were staying in a small area, logging and circling about in tactile groups (seemed to be reinforcing mother/calf bonds). We enjoyed watching this group for a while and then began to move up island where we encountered the J14s (Samish and her son Riptide, J30; with her daughters Hy'shqa, J37; and Suttles, J40). An older female, J8 (Speiden) was also a part of this group. They appeared to be coming right in to our stern and since we didn't know where the other animals were, we shut down to avoid disturbing them. We thought the orcas would just pass by, as they usually do, but Samish and her family had other plans. They came right up to our bow and logged (rested at the surface) about ten feet away! Our guests were thrilled and began hooting and hollering with excitement. The orcas actually appeared to enjoy the commotion made over them and J8 poked her head out of the water multiple times to get a better look at us crazy humans. I had a hard time maintaining professional composure because the orcas shocked me just as much as our guests. J14 and her son J30 were the closest and checked us out while her daughters J37 and J40 played alongside them. They observed us for about ten minutes before diving under the boat and popping up on the other side. The excitement didn't end there, however, J14 appeared with a salmon in her mouth. She paraded along the side of our boat, fish on rostrum! I couldn't believe how amazing this rare encounter was. They actually appeared to be people watching!!!!

As we left the scene, multiple animals breached in the distance. Our guests truly got one of the greatest shows of all time... and nobody was asking these animals to do it. They were just teaching us how amazing they are. I hope this encounter taught our guests some things are worth protecting... and these guys are definitely worth protecting.

Megan Young, Naturalist