Alexandra Morton-Whales and Salmon

Wild Salmon are sacred, the Get Out Migration
Vancouver Island, April 23 - May 8
The Get Out Migration is a call to action to make government aware that we want wild salmon to take higher priority than farm salmon. Farms belong on land. We will start walking from Sointula, at the north end of Vancouver Island, on April 23 and arrive in Victoria May 8. Hundreds of people have pledged to walk portions of the trip, there are events under planning every night (itinerary).
There are simultaneous migrations springing up in BC and other places in the world (See here). People are making salmon flags, placcards and artwork to carry as they join us on the way. On May 8 we do the final stretch from the Vancouver ferry to the Victoria Parliament Buildings.
This is an opportunity for every single person who wants wild salmon to make themselves visible to government. Unless we all stand up our fish will continuing dying of politics that no longer serve the people, nor our living world.
People are also taking action by signing our global petition for wild salmon, joining 20,000 people in signing the letter to the Minister of Fisheries, sending a card to westcoast Fisheries critic MP Fin Donnelly. And send us pictures of your wild salmon art and you.
The tragedy of the commons is common but if we all stand up we do not have to be this tragedy.
I look forward to seeing you downstream,
Alexandra Morton


I you have not read her book "Listening to the Whales and What They Have Taught Us"
you are in for a treat!
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Orca Whales Seen No. Seattle So of San Juan Island

2 Orca Whales were seen yesterday No of Seattle. There are reports of gray whales near by also.
Bill and I just arrived back from 2 weeks on Kauaii.
We saw Humpback Whales daily from our lanai. What a treat!
The island was hurting for guests. There were almost no boats on the water as the wind kicked up nearly the entire 2 weeks of our stay. The weather could not have been better for me, mid-70's.
One day nearly 100 spinner dolphins came by while I and neighbors were out on the lanai pointing and gasping.

Friday Harbor, San Juan Island has had beautiful weather yesterday and today. Mid-50's, no wind, blue sky.

Our first trip is April 3rd. Coming right up. Book now!


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Canada and the Farmed Fish Issue

You are probably already aware of how harmful the fish farms are to the orca that pass near them in Canada. No? read this: http://www.orcanetwork.org/habitat/fishfarms.html

This message was just passed to me from The Whale Museum in Friday Harbor.
Today BC Supreme Court ruled in our favor once again. Justice Hinkson granted the federal government a suspension order until December 18, 2010 so that Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) can further prepare to assume control of regulating salmon farms. However, Justice Hinkson forbade any expansion of aquaculture during that period. Specifically, the province cannot issue any new fish farm licences and cannot expand the size of any tenure. He recognized the First Nation interest in this matter by granting the Musgamagw-Tsawataineuk Tribal Council intervenor status, which is essential as this case is based in their territory.

On the matter pursued by Marine Harvest at the Court of Appeal and sent back to Justice Hinkson to reconsider (that is whether the fish in the farms are privately owned by the companies and whether the Farm Practices Protection Act (FPPA) is still in force), Hinkson confirmed that the FPPA, will no longer apply to finfish aquaculture and thus no longer protect farms from nuisance claims.

On the question, does Marine Harvest own the fish in their pens? Justice Hinkson found that this was not the place for this decision. Marine Harvest will have to bring this before the courts themselves. For now, we know that the aquaculture fish are now part of the fisheries of Canada.

Today’s decision is met by the unrelated announcement by US box store chain “Target” that they have eliminated all farmed salmon from its fresh, frozen, and smoked seafood offerings in its stores across the United States, because of farm salmon environmental impact on native salmon.

There is an enormous amount of work ahead to translate any of this into better survival of our wild salmon, but the courts seem consistently interested in bringing reason, the constitution and the law to bear on the Norwegian fish farm industry in British Columbia.

While I am truly sorry that jobs will be lost in ocean fish farming, bear in mind the industry is in deep trouble with mother nature herself in the fish farming strongholds of Chile and Norway. Trying to hold this nomadic fish in pens is never going to work, because it causes epidemics, unnatural sea lice infestations and drug resistance. Salmon farming is not sustainable and ultimately we are better served by our wild fish.

Alexandra Morton
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

What is the forcast for the So. Res. Orca Whales

SEATTLE – A little over a year after researchers feared a drop in the Northwest’s endangered killer whale population meant disaster, the number of orcas has bounced back with six new babies and no whales lost.
Read more by clicking below:
http://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/worldnation/527515-227/scientists-say-us-killer-whale-population-making.html

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Storming the Sound-want clean water?

10TH ANNUAL “STORMING THE SOUND” EDUCATOR WORKSHOP
SET FOR JANUARY 29 IN LA CONNER

(La Conner, WA) Hundreds of north Puget Sound environmental educators will gather at Maple Hall in La Conner at 9 AM on Friday, January 29, for the 10th annual “Storming the Sound” educator workshop.

The all-day workshop is co-organized by People For Puget Sound, Padilla Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve and the National Park Service, and brings together environmental educators in the K-12 schools, organizations with education resources, and students interested in pursuing a career in environmental education.

“Participants can attend a wide variety of planned sessions organized by leaders of our regional environmental education community,” said community education director Ann Butler of People For Puget Sound. “Past workshops topics have included climate change, working with interns, grant-writing and web-based environmental education.”

Storming the Sound attendees will also hear inspiring speakers and meet representatives from over 30 sponsoring organizations who bring with them environmental resources and valuable information to share.

For more information, contact Ann Butler, 360.754.9177, abutler@pugetsound.org <mailto:abutler@pugetsound.org> .

A short video clip of the January 2009 Storming the Sound gathering is found at http://www.youtube.com/user/people4pugetsound#p/u/9/14okmcWifIQ <http://www.youtube.com/user/people4pugetsound#p/u/9/14okmcWifIQ>

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Orca Sightings Thursday November 5, 2009

Orcas near Vancouver Island yesterday.

There were also some orca off Vashon island yesterday.

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Just Keep Swimming

All good things must come to an end and this is just about it. Today was our last weekday trip of the season. As of tomorrow, we will only be going out on Saturdays through the month of October and then we will be done for good. Do not despair though, the orcas will be back next season and so will we. In the meantime, here is the address of a blog that is both educational and entertaining and will satisfy your daily hunger for blog sustenance.

http://bitterendblog.com/

It is not the end just yet though, so as Dora from "Finding Nemo" sings, "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". And swim we did today. Okay, so we were not the ones swimming, because that would have meant breaking the first rule on the boat. No Swimming. But the whales were swimming and we motored right along with them.

Capt. Craig made my opening monologue quite difficult today by constantly coming to the back of the boat from the wheel house to give us updates about the orcas, to point out a seal, and to point out that I had not yet gotten the fenders up. Well of course I hadn't, he wouldn't let me finish my speech so that I could. Finally we were on our way and there surely were whales. Just south of Kellett Bluff we met up with ~9 orcas traveling north. They were well spread out and simply swimming north with no other apparent goal in mind. We followed along with them for about an hour before turning toward Spieden Island and home.

With the orcas popping up in ones and twos at various distances from the boat, I was not able to identify many of them. We did get a great look at L87 "Onyx" though, and he appeared to be on a date with L77 "Matia". Maybe there will be another new L baby. It was a special time spent with the orcas and we saw several eagles, as well as lots of animals on Spieden Island. But, the big highlight for me was when a peregrine falcon swooped past the M/V Sea Lion chasing after seagulls. The gulls were doing everything that they could to stay out of the peregrine's talons and while we were there none of them became dinner. It was a very climactic ending to our trip and helped to cap a most excellent summer spent on the water here in the San Juan Islands.

So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you excited by the wonders of nature, 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. ©

Great Whales and Great Weather - A note to the crew

Glenda and I would like to thank everyone at San Juan Safaris for great time we had Friday on the trip. The crew were very professional, the boat was in excellent shape and the weather like was special order. I would recommend you services to everyone.

Thank You

Gelnda and George Graves

Houston, Texas

The Graves went whale watching with us September 16, 2009




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. ©

A Plethora of Playmates

It would be easier for me to list the animals that we did not see today, rather than to list the ones that we did. I think that the only sightings that we did not log were of the Titanic and the Loch Ness Monster. Jaclyn and I could hardly contain our excitement, which is to say that we completely abandoned all trappings of professionalism to run around the boat screaming, every time we saw something new. Capt. Craig insured that we saw all that we could today by monitoring the "chatter" on the radio and doing a wonderful job of getting us to each new adventure.

So, our line-up for the day was as follows:

• Orcas
• Humpback whales (3)
• Minke whale
• Steller's sea lions
• Harbor seals
• Dall's porpoises
• Harbor porpoises
• Bald eagle
• Common murres
• Marbled murrelets
• Sooty shearwaters
• Phalaropes
• Seagulls (various species)

I love the San Juan Islands and the Pacific Northwest and we at San Juan Safaris know that you will too. So from all of us, to all of you, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!

~Tristen, Naturalist

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Surprising Arisings!

Well, I can't tell you what a treat it is to be headed off on a wildlife trip with no hope of seeing orcas and then you get "The Call". For the past two days we have motored up San Juan Channel, swung north around Flattop Island and then been alerted of another boat finding orcas. Yesterday it was transients in Canada, today it was residents at the south end of the island. Both days, we had already informed our guests of the bad news of no orcas, but of our intention to visit the haunts of other wildlife in the hopes of coming around a corner and seeing whales. Who knew that our luck would be so good.

For both Jaclyn and I, yesterday marked a special first. We have seen many transient orcas, which look very much like our residents, but neither one of us has seen a transient eat something. Yesterday though, a little harbor seal was the target and he put up a very valiant fight to escape. With four well trained hunters around though, it did not stand a chance. The whole encounter was fraught with tension, but not the horror that most people would expect and the orcas were just doing what was necessary to survive.

Today was just as thrilling. We had finished looking at Flattop Island and were admiring all of the exotic animals on Spieden when suddenly, Capt. Nancy turned the M/V Sea Lion around and raced off into the channel. "Contact" had been made and what we originally thought were going to be more transients, were then reported as a family from L pod and turned out to be nearly every member of L pod with some of K pod as well! What a shock that was, especially since all of the reports had been of the three resident pods northeast of Active Pass in Canada going farther north!

Luck and good whale fortune have been with us this week and it continues to allow us to show our guests the beauty and majesty of the Pacific Northwest. These were trips of great memories for both the crews and the visitors and we were happy to have hosted you all.

So, from all of us here at San Juan Safaris, to all of you bold adventurers out there, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Lots of Orca Whales at Point Roberts

What a trip today on the MV Kittiwake. We headed north in the San Juan Channel where we found some harbor porpoises off East Point. We then continued north.

The orcas were near Point Roberts Point Roberts is a part of the United States, but you must travel through Canada or Boundary Bay to get there. There once was talk of Point Roberts seceding from United States and joining Canada, but luckily that never happened.

I was really excited; we were seeing our resident orcas. (Resident orcas are the fish eating killer whales). There were around 40 animals, but it was hard to tell since they were spread out over a few miles.

We had some great visuals. They seemed to be fishing and then playing. Some guests snapped some amazing pictures of tail slapping and spy hopping. We just watched and listened for about 30 minutes. On the way back home, it almost seemed as if the whales were following us. They trailed behind us a good portion of the way back.

What a beautiful day it was on the water in the San Juan Islands.

Naturalist Jeannette Miller

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

ORCAS IN FRIDAY HARBOR???!?!!!

Wow! Yesterday (Saturday) was unreal! We were out on a morning tour in Canadian Waters viewing Orcas from J & K pods! It was a stunning morning on the water...a little fog to the south, otherwise clear skies & calm seas all around the islands. Both J & K pods were heading south from the Gulf Islands on their routine swim following salmon through these waters. We had great views as groups of whale would surface to breathe...and we could hear the blows (hot moist air) being expelled through the blowhole! A few breaches...tail slaps! After a great time with the whales, we were able to find a few bald eagles perched on trees and harbor seals lounging on the rocks. It was a perfect day!

Were we in for a surprise!! We were heading home when Captain Denny and I overheard our other vessel the Sea Lion talking to another captain about the whales. We looked at each other and wondered how can they already be there? They just left Friday Harbor not more than 20 minutes ago...we phoned the boat and to our disbelief L pod was in San Juan Channel!! More Orcas!! Right outside our home port of Friday Harbor. This happens on occasion (once a year?), but it is really unusual and such a treat!! Our guests were delighted! We were somewhat trapped from even getting into the harbor actually....the ferry even had to shutdown and wait for the whales to pass! There were a lot of boats out to also view the Orcas....it's important that we all remember during this excitement to disengage a vessel's transmission when within 100 yards of the Orcas, and whenever possible to be respectful and give them the 100 yards of space as required by law! Despite the boats, they sure seemed to be enjoying themselves...breach after breach and tail slaps as they continued south through the channel! Wow.

An unbelievable day with the whales!
-Jaclyn, naturalist



Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Whale and Wildlife Photos from Guest: Cheryl Hartley

Orca Breaching

Orca Breaching

Two Harbor Seals

Orca Spy Hop
From a whale watching trip on July 2009 from Cheryl Hartley
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Killer Whales near Victoria

We love days that start off with great sighting reports. The first sighting of the day- killer whales at Race Rocks, near Victoria, heading northeast. This was good news.

We loaded the boat, motored out of Friday Harbor and headed south toward Cattle Pass.
We had some fun sea conditions- small waves and some wind, just enough wind to get some of the more adventurous people a little wet.

As we headed to Race Rocks we got word that some orcas were just off Victoria. We headed to Victoria. What a beautiful city! We watched the orcas for over an hour. The orcas are just so amazing. We saw a couple very tall dorsal fins - some mature males.

On the way back most of the weather conditions had improved and we cruised across the Haro Strait. We viewed few Harbor seals and their pups. Harbor seals starting having their pups in the beginning of July, and they are so adorable. We also saw a few marine birds.

It’s always a great adventure in the San Juans with San Juan Safaris!!!

Naturalist Jeannette Miller

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

L-POD Orca Whale with Calf

L-Pod Orca Whales with Calf near False Bay

Today we traveled east out of Friday Harbor, then South and then up the west side… We got word that there were some resident orcas near False Bay on the west side of the island.

We encountered some of L-pod, the largest pod of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We had some great views of L-pods new calf, L-112 and L-86, the mother. The calf is super cute.

We also had some great viewing time of other individuals from L-pod. After about an hour we headed to Long Island, just south of Lopez Island and saw four different Bald Eagles. We saw an immature Bald Eagle.Immature bald eagles do not have a white head and tail. They don’t actually get the white head and tail till their about four or five years old.

There was another adult eagle very close. We then saw two adult Bald Eagles right next to each other in a tree; these eagles were most likely a nesting pair. Bald eagles are monogamous birds and come back to their same nest every year.

We also saw some harbor seals swimming. On the way back to Friday Harbor we took a quick peek at Goose Island (on the south end of San Juan Island) and saw the elaborate nests of the double crested cormorants. A great warm day in the islands.

Naturalist Jeannette

Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

Whales Gone Wild!

Thought I'd take a moment to share with you all a little about our trip last night (Thursday 7/2). It was one of those perfect evenings that we in the whale watching world dream about!

It was unbelievably calm...glassy seas, extremely clear skies and lots of whales! The Southern Residents (killer whales) had met up earlier in the day to form a superpod, and while I was not out on the 1pm trip I was happy to discover that all three pods (J, K, L) were all still together when we encountered them on the west side of San Juan Island last evening! They were still traveling northbound at a slow pace....milling about....rolling over, tail slaps....a spyhop or breach from time to time.

It was so quiet out that you could hear the vocalizations of the Orcas from hydrophones' on nearby boats! We dropped ours in a few times and heard some great squeals and squeaks and whistles!

One of my favorite sounds is hearing the whales surface and just breath. The exhale of hot air through the blow hole, heard from one Orca and then another and another is indescribable.

A little later we had some nice looks at K21 (Cappuccino) and K40 (Raggedy) and another male Orca....then some very flirtatious activity between Raggedy and this other male. A little date? ...and then, as one guest described the mating behavior..."Whales Gone Wild!" I won't go into details hear, but we all got a good laugh out of that comment!

And so with that grand finale to our Orca viewing we motored on back towards Friday Harbor. The evening glow of the sun was perfect as we took a scenic tour through Mosquito Pass and past the busy port of Roche Harbor and back down through San Juan Channel.

Truly, another beautiful evening enjoying the serenity of the San Juan Islands!

Thanks-
-Jaclyn, naturalist

Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
Photo added later by colleen of Captain Nancy and Marine Naturalist Jaclyn

Canada Here We Come!

The whales were proving that they are the dominant marine species today. While we were rocking and rolling through the waves and being whipped by the wind, the orcas were effortlessly swimming along through the Canadian Gulf Islands. After we took the MV Sea Lion out of the dock today we headed for Turn Point on Stuart Island. The last orca report that we had had said that they were already past Lime Kiln and were headed North. At Haro Strait we gave way to a huge ocean-going liner from China and then motored across the strait into Canadian waters where we met up with other whale and wildlife watching boats.

The sun was quite warm and helped to take the chill off when the salt spray from the waves would catch us unawares. As striking as the orcas are though, it was rare that we noticed anything other than their antics. Spyhops were abundant when we first saw the whales off of the coast of South Pender Island. While swimming across the opening of Plumper Sound the tail slaps and cartwheels started. It definitely seems as if J pod has an abundance of energy these days, as we have seen them several times this week and they have been very active each visit.

While Jeanette talked with guests on the front of the boat and I entertained at the back, Capt. Craig maneuvered us through the day and at Saturna Island turned us around and drove us back towards San Juan Island. We made a quick run past the Cactus Islands so that our guests could see bald eagles and harbor seals, and then over to Spieden Island to see some exotic deer and sheep. Finally, all of our sleepy kids (and adults) were ready to see Friday Harbor again and our day was wrapped up a relaxing cruise down San Juan Channel to home.

Our day was lovely, as were our guests. So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris to all of you island trippers, thank you and we will...

See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist


Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©

5:30 sunset whale watch tour Tuesday July 16, 2009

Captain Craig just gave me the lowdown about last evenings whale watching tour.

The Resident Killer whale "L" pod (or part of the pod) were viewed last evening on our 5:30 sunset whale watching tour. The boat took off about 5:30. At that point the orca whales were about 3 miles east of Sooke in Canada heading east - our way. When we caught up to them they were near Discovery Island.

Captain Craig said the water by Discovery Island was a bit choppy, but and hour or so into the tour the water had layed down.


The guests had very good looks at 4 of the orcas. More orca were seen from a distance. The whales kept coming east - so that by the end of the tour the boat was near San Juan Island again. Even though we had to travel a good distance, we were still back at the dock around 8:30 pm.




Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©