Whale Watching | San Juan Islands
San Juan Safaris has been having terrific luck with J-Pod sightings lately. Yesterday they counted about 20 individual whales, including a new calf and legendary Ruffles, one of the largest of our San Juan Island resident Orca males. There’s really no sight quite like seeing Ruffles’ six foot tall dorsal fin surfacing and submerging. Jeanette, the San Juan Safaris naturalist, explained today that Orcas are voluntary breathers, so they exhibit unihemispheric sleep. This sleep pattern allows half the brain to sleep while the other half stays awake. Fascinating stuff from the folks at San Juan Safaris, who have a trip going out of Friday Harbor today at 12:30.
May 19th, 2010 at 7:17 am
You may have heard that the Southern Resident Killer Whales had FIVE babies born to them in 2009. Three of those babies were in the “J” pod – the most viewed pod of the three pods.
Needless to say, having their population at 87 is good news for all. It is estimated that even at the height of their population it was around 110 animals – and that was when there were so many more salmon in our local waters.
Traditionally, J pod returns to the islands around mid-April.
In 2009 the resident orca hung around until mid October. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2010.
December 30th, 2009 at 11:04 am
You may have heard that the Southern Resident Killer Whales had FIVE babies born to them in 2009. Three of those babies were in the “J” pod – the most viewed pod of the three pods.
Needless to say, having their population at 87 is good news for all. It is estimated that even at the height of their population it was around 110 animals – and that was when there were so many more salmon in our local waters.
Traditionally, J pod returns to the islands around mid-April.
In 2009 the resident orca hung around until mid October. It will be interesting to see what happens in 2010.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:48 pm
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Oh How Many Minkes Whales?!
The reports of Orcas are starting to roll in, but they are still too far West for us to get to them today.
Our Gray Whale friend, whom I have dubbed Clyde the Glide, was possibly still in the waters near the naval air station, but our stalwart group clamored for something out of the ordinary. So South we headed, but for Hein Bank instead of Whidbey Island.
Our own parrot owning Capt. Craig toured us through breathtakingly calm waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca where there were seabirds and Harbor Seals by the swarms.
I saw the first loon of the season attempting to hide amongst all of the cormorants and I may have even seen a puffin, except that it dove under before I could get a good look at it. Two other wildlife watching boats were in the area of the bank and they were watching two Minke Whales dive and forage.
Luckily we found our own whale and got wonderful unobstructed views of its pointed rostrum, or nose area, as it surfaced as well as the rostral grooves along the top of its snout leading to the blow holes. What a magnificent sight, especially since it went about its business of foraging and didn’t seem to pay us any mind. Each time the whale broke the surface of the glassy waters we could hear its movements all was so still.
We finally had to leave the Minke, but there was more to see. Views of Victoria and Vancouver Island, Lime Kiln Point State Park with Lime Kiln Lighthouse, Harbor Porpoises playing in our wake and a surprising group of eagles. As we came around Spieden Island to see the Cactus Islands Capt. Craig spotted an eagle sitting on some rocks alone. All of a sudden we realized that we were surrounded by Bald Eagles. There were juveniles at all stages and adults; birds in the water, birds on the rocks and birds in the trees on both islands. You could not hardly take a picture for deciding which one was best.
I was astounded by the day. It was great to be out on the MV Sea Lion and I can now officially say that I have seen a Minke whale. And more eagles than I have ever seen in my life. Our enthusiastic group was a treasure as always and prompts me to say, from all of us at San Juan Safaris to all of you everywhere, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen Joy, Naturalist
September 21st, 2009 at 3:29 pm
From Sunday, September 20, 2009
Yesterday’s trip….I just have to blog about this one! It was a warm, sunny September Sunday. The Resident Killer Whales (or Orcas) were moving south from Rosario Strait around Lopez Island. We came through Cattle Pass and were ahead of the Orcas, so we positioned ourselves offshore of the whales so we could parallel them in Haro Strait off the south end of San Juan Island. A tight group in the lead, maybe 6 to 8 Orcas including J1 (Ruffles). Love that big guy! Then a single Orca K12 (Sequim) swimming; a few hundred yards behind her was K11 (Georgia) who was rolling on her side swimming just beneath the surface. Next in the parade was most of Skagit’s (K13) family.
Now I get really excited about baby Orcas…which anyone on the boat would know by my enthusiastic squeals! We had a great look at little 1-year-old K42 with older brother Lobo K26 (his dorsal fin is huge) and sibling K36, mom K14 and aunt K16…I’m assuming 7-year-old K35 (Sonata) was there as well. The family was changing direction a bit…a lot of Orcas seemed to be foraging off of South Beach. Then we were surprised by J26 (Mike) who was swimming near mom J16 (Slick) with 2 year-old J42! They caught us off guard with an underwater directional change and it was too late for us to move out of the way. (It is illegal to have your transmission engaged within 100 yards of an Orca in Washington State.) So remaining shutdown, so as not to create any excess noise or risk disturbing the Orcas, we waited until they were far enough away to start up. The water was so calm and clear we had the special treat to view Mike underwater as he swam by. It is not everyday that we see this. Very awe-inspiring to watch an Orca gracefully swim underwater, then surface to breathe. Wow.
We left all feeling a little humbled by the experience. It was time to move on to view other wildlife. At the south end of Lopez Island we were able to see a myriad of gulls….Heermann’s, Glaucous-winged, Ring-billed, and others I have yet to master identifying. Lots of sleek Cormorants & Common Murres. At Whale Rocks there were close to 2 dozen male Stellar Sea Lions hauled out and around the corner, dozens of Harbor Seals. A convenient look where we could compare differences between these species. What a day!
With the weather prediction to be warm and sunny this week, I’m sure our upcoming trips will be just as beautiful!
Don’t forget your sunscreen,
Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
September 2nd, 2009 at 10:05 am
We have had an amazing August with over 95% sightings on a per trip basis. Here is yesterdays Whale Report:
The cloudy day today was more reminiscent of autumn, reminding us that fall is indeed fast approaching – but that didn’t stop the whales or guests from enjoying the San Juan Islands in all their glory. But not to fear, I read a weather forecast calling for sunshine (at least during the day) tomorrow, meaning that summer doesn’t seem to have left us just yet. What a fantastic summer it’s been for whale watching this year and today was not exception!
Captain Craig, Naturalist Jaclyn and I cruised northward, with a boat full of jolly inquisitive guests, towards Saturna Island’s (a Canadian Gulf Island – so we made an international trip today) East Point. The mighty MV Sea Lion caught up with the orcas in Boundary Pass – they were spread out all throughout the area – in the middle of the pass and relatively close to the shorelines of both Saturna and Waldron Islands.
When we first arrived the first whales were moving fast, porpoising close to the shore of Saturna Island. Then they slowed down quite a bit and some whales continued travelling southwest, while others stopped for a bit and milled around off of East Point. The orcas were very spread out, travelling mostly in tight-groups of four to seven whales. Blackberry, J27 (an 18 year old male) and his younger brother Mako, J39 cruised through the middle of the pass. Other members of J Pod we spotted included J1, Ruffles and probably J42, Echo. In another group of whales we saw K40, Raggedy and the youngster, K42. We saw a wide array of behavior, including spyhops, tailslaps, breaches, and porpoising – but for the most part the animals just travelled along headed in a generally southwesterly direction.
As usual, it was a great day out on the water.
Until next time,
Ashley, Naturalist
August 6th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Days like today reaffirm why I love my job – as if working out on the water, viewing amazing wildlife, and talking to all sorts of interesting people is a job that needs any reaffirmation – but anyway … Captain Craig, Naturalist Kathy, a boat full of enthusiastic guests, and I left Friday Harbor aboard the MV Sea Lion and headed back in the direction many people had just come from – travelling, that is, the same route the ferry takes to get to us here on San Juan Island. The southern end of the island was reporting socked in in fog, making for less than ideal viewing conditions. Captain Craig had heard there were whales headed in that direction, but that there was also some orcas out in the Rosario Strait. We decided to head to the reportedly larger group of whales in a less foggy area (seems logical, eh?). As we passed through Thatcher’s Pass, a pass between Blakely and Decatur Islands, we started to see whales thrashing and splashing in the distance.
When we arrived on scene, we travelled alongside a large group of animals travelling in a tight group. Whales in this group included Alexis (L12), and some, if not all of her children, including Mega (L41), a 32 year old male. This group turned out to be the whales that earlier had been headed south, but had turned around, apparently to meet up with a large group of orcas slightly to our north. We had some fantastic views of this group as they shifted their travel direction to head over to the other orcas!
After some wonderful views of the L-12 family, we didn’t expect our trip could get any better! But, lo and behold the orcas decided to meet up and we witnessed something unique to the resident orca communities, but more common amongst the Southern Resident community – what appeared to be a greeting ceremony! This is where the two groups that are meeting up gather facing one another, then dive, mill, and appear to be greeting one another after some time of being apart. As the whales then began moving southward, they travelled close to shore breaching, tail-slapping, and also doing more cartwheels than I have likely ever seen in one day before.
To make a great day superb, the entire trip was filled with sunshine & smiles.
Ah, life in the islands!
Ashley, Naturalist
June 17th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Minke Whales, Seals, & Eagles!
It was a perfect day to spot and see marine mammals: no wind, calm seas, and overcast skies, so there was little glare on the water.
We left Friday Harbor with a report of Minke Whales to the south at Hein Bank. Hein Bank is a place where it gets shallow due to an underwater sea mount or bank…there’s kelp growing here and plenty of places for smaller fish and animals to hide around. For this reason it tends to be a great place for marine birds, seals, and Minke whales to feed! There were plenty of Glaucous winged Gulls and Rhinoceros Auklets sitting on the surface of the water when we arrived. In fact the seas were so smooth and glassy that you could see seabirds all around! We had a couple of great views of at least 2 Minke whales, sporadically surfacing in different directions.
The Minke whale is one of the smallest baleen whales, no longer than 30 feet in length. It has no teeth, instead it uses baleen to filter the water for smaller fish and planktonic creatures. It will fill its mouth cavity with water (and hopefully dinner), then push the water through the baleen, which acts as a filter or sieve, leaving behind the smaller fish to swallow.
We were lucky enough to see these whales surface multiple times, although we never quite knew where to look next! They can be a little elusive since they have a random feeding pattern, zig-zagging in one direction and then another. We left Hein Bank with the beautiful snow capped Olympic Mountains behind us and made our way towards Lopez Island and San Juan Island to check on a few Bald Eagles and napping Harbor Seals before returning to Friday Harbor.
-Jaclyn, naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
posted by Whale Watching Naturalist at 5:24 PM
June 9th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
On our Saturday trip we were delighted to finally see a couple members of the Southern Resident Community back around the San Juan Islands!
Strangely, however, it was just K20, Spock, and her offspring, K38, Comet.K Pod members are rarely seen traveling for so long without the rest of their pod.
So, today when we yet again saw K20 & K38 traveling as a duo, people are left scratching their heads as to the whereabouts of the rest of K Pod. Luckily, though, seeing orcas is always awesome and we had a boat load of excited and enthusiastic guests!
Captain Craig motored on through a flooding tide all the way down to the Olympic Peninsula (near Sequim) to catch up with the two K pod member, who were headed east.
As the flooding tide helped us homeward, we cruised past Long Island to check out a bald eagle’s nest, then shut down the motor to stare in awe at the water rushing through Cattle Pass, creating white caps, and upwelling zones, and back eddies, etc.
The weather got better and better throughout the trip and we pulled into Friday Harbor more than satisfied after a fantastic day on the water.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Oh How Many Minkes Whales?!
The reports of Orcas are starting to roll in, but they are still too far West for us to get to them today.
Our Gray Whale friend, whom I have dubbed Clyde the Glide, was possibly still in the waters near the naval air station, but our stalwart group clamored for something out of the ordinary. So South we headed, but for Hein Bank instead of Whidbey Island.
Our own parrot owning Capt. Craig toured us through breathtakingly calm waters in the Strait of Juan de Fuca where there were seabirds and Harbor Seals by the swarms.
I saw the first loon of the season attempting to hide amongst all of the cormorants and I may have even seen a puffin, except that it dove under before I could get a good look at it. Two other wildlife watching boats were in the area of the bank and they were watching two Minke Whales dive and forage.
Luckily we found our own whale and got wonderful unobstructed views of its pointed rostrum, or nose area, as it surfaced as well as the rostral grooves along the top of its snout leading to the blow holes. What a magnificent sight, especially since it went about its business of foraging and didn’t seem to pay us any mind. Each time the whale broke the surface of the glassy waters we could hear its movements all was so still.
We finally had to leave the Minke, but there was more to see. Views of Victoria and Vancouver Island, Lime Kiln Point State Park with Lime Kiln Lighthouse, Harbor Porpoises playing in our wake and a surprising group of eagles. As we came around Spieden Island to see the Cactus Islands Capt. Craig spotted an eagle sitting on some rocks alone. All of a sudden we realized that we were surrounded by Bald Eagles. There were juveniles at all stages and adults; birds in the water, birds on the rocks and birds in the trees on both islands. You could not hardly take a picture for deciding which one was best.
I was astounded by the day. It was great to be out on the MV Sea Lion and I can now officially say that I have seen a Minke whale. And more eagles than I have ever seen in my life. Our enthusiastic group was a treasure as always and prompts me to say, from all of us at San Juan Safaris to all of you everywhere, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen Joy, Naturalist
May 20th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
A bit of sun, a bit of rain, and a whole bunch of orca viewing!
The MV Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor washed with sunlight, ready to chug on up to Canada to try to catch up with J Pod. Our first report was that J Pod was up by Point Roberts headed south. The boat caught up with J Pod members north of East Point on Saturna Island. It was off of East Point that the first whale to be placed successfully into capitivity was captured. In 1964, Samuel Burich, a sculptor, was hired to kill a killer whale to use as a model for a life size killer whale sculpture for the Vancouver Aquarium. Burich harpooned his target, which didn’t die, even after it was shot. A decision was made to tow the live whale back to Vancouver, were he survived in captivity for 87 days. This whale was named Moby Doll (he was actually a male), and sparked the whale captures for marine parks during the rest of the sixties and into the early 70’s.
We travelled with various members of J Pod, who were spread out for miles between East Point and Patos Island. J1, Ruffles, and likely J2, Granny, made a nice appearance, passing in front of our bow after we had shut down the engine to allow them to pass. We saw breaches and spy hops from the distance and closer whales travelled on by. As we viewed the whales we passed in an out of sunshine and rain, hitting just a few rain clouds here and there.
The boat pulled into Friday Harbor to a cleared sky and are pleased guests gazed kindly at Friday Harbor after a great day of whale watch viewing.
Over and out.
Ashley, Naturalist