Whale Watching Report

Orca Whales have been sighted just north of Anacortes heading south! The Island Explorer 3 will be leaving the dock shortly for the 9:30AM tour - stay tuned to the Whale Report for updates from Naturalist Bart Rulon!

We started out our day with several great sightings of purple sea stars on the pilings and rocks as we worked our way out of Cap Sante Marina. Then within a few minutes we spotted a bald eagle perched in a tree on Fidalgo Island. By the time we reached Rosario Straits the fog was thick. We drove trough the fog for about an hour working our way southwest. We did stop Briefly at Colville Island to check out a bunch of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. By the time we hit salmon Bank, off San Juan Island, the fog was starting to clear. We found the orcas just northeast of Discovery Island in Canada. It was J-pod and K-pod heading east. They were in a sleeping pattern with K-pod orcas and J-pod orcas gathered in two separate groups. We started out watching K-pod up close. Cappuccino, K21, and Raggedy, K4o were two orcas we saw a lot of up close. We could see J-pod orcas swimming 250 yards away as we were watching K-pod up close. As they got closer to San Juan Island it was obvious that they were starting to wake up and spread out. Lobo, K26, did several upside down tail slaps, and we saw four spy hops within 15 minutes. Just as we had our last viewing of orcas for the day we spotted Mega, L-41 heading south. So we were able to see orcas from all three resident pods today. On the way back home captain Carl spotted a minke whale near Iceberg Point. We only had about 15 minutes to watch the minke whale but it was worth it because it came shooting out of the water twice lunge feeding! Other species seen today included pelagic cormorants, brandt's cormorants, rhinoceros auklets, glaucous-winged gulls, harbor porpoises, one common murre, and the first Heermann's gull arrival of the year! Naturalist - Bart Rulon

"Our day started like a scene from a pirates movie. A slight marine haze blanketed the islands creating quite the ambiance for searching for whales! We didn't have to go far to find the tall dorsal fins of J pod cutting through the glassy waters. As they made their way across the southern end of Rosario Strait they angled towards Lopez Island. A couple of the young whales seemed excited as they breached and taillobed! We spent some great time with the Orcas while they took their time around Lopez Island. We watched as a few fished in the riptides near Colville Island. In the midst of the Orcas a Minke Whale appeared for a special visit! Our guests enjoyed this doubleheader and seeing the physical difference between toothed whales & baleen whales!! What a great surprise! Other wildlife seen during the morning trip included: Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murre, Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, an Eagle's nest, Common Sea Stars, Black Oystercatchers, Peregrine Falcons, Harbor Porpoise, Pigeon Guillemots, Glaucous-winged Gulls, & Cormorants! By the afternoon the marine haze had lifted leaving us with blue skies as far as the eye could see! We found J pod not far from where we had left them in the morning, just off Salmon Bank in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! We were welcomed with a breach by a young whale as J pod made its way in a southward direction. After spending some time with a small subpod we spotted Ruffles (J1) and decided to spend time with our local celebrity! It wasn't long before some of the rest of J pod joined Ruffles. Slick (J16) and little J42 gave our guests some great looks as little J42 stole are hearts as she porpoised just behind her mom!! We ended our amazing evening with J pod with one last visit with Ruffles. Then headed towards Smith & Minor Islands. There we saw 9 Bald Eagles, at least 30 Harbor Seals, hundreds of Glaucous-winged Gulls, Black Oystercatchers, Rhinoceros Auklets, and a pair of Bald Eagles at their nest (on the sandy beaches of Minor Island)! We watched as the two eagles called to one another and bent over deep in the nest to feed their small eaglets! A beautiful way to end yet another spectacular day on the water!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

Our guests on board the Island Explorer 3 are with the whales! Stay tuned for updates from Naturalist Kate Janes and click on this link to see the Island Explorer 3 from space!

Georgia on My Mind (Georgia K11)

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

Stages of Surfacing (Oreo's Subpod)

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

"Our day started as we headed south down Rosario Strait towards the southern end of Lopez Island. We didn't have to venture too far to find the Orca whales of J & K pod!! The whales were spread out just between Cattle Pass & False Bay and they seemed to be just miling about in a southward direction which was great for us! One of the fit whales we visited with was Raggedy (K40). She is unmistakable since she has a series of notches on her trailing edge of her dorsal fin! Then who would appear following shortly behind her, but her younger brother Cappuccino (K21)!! This 22 year old male sure has grown since last season and soon will be accepted by the females of J & L pod as a potential mate! We watched as they swam by heading south and off the shores of San Juan Island where the rest of K pod & the whales of J pod were! In the afternoon we found ourselves going through some small rollers in the Straits of Juan de Fuca in order to get to J & K pod in the calm waters of Haro Strait!! Just before Lime Kiln Lighthouse, Georgia (K11) appeared!! The calm conditions made it possible for us to watch as her "footprints" formed as she reentered the water creating a trail of slick patches in the water of where she had been! Traveling not far from Georgia was Blackberry (J27)! We parted after a great visit with those two and ventured over to Oreo's (J22) subpod! We watched as Oreo, Doublestuff (J34), Cookie (J38), & Rhapsody (J32) swam by only to shortly turn back and one gave us a HUGE spyhop!! Moments later Blackberry breached!! We enjoyed the Orcas up until Henry Island, then we had to head home. We took the scenic cruise back through the inner islands! Other wildlife that we saw throughout the day included: Glaucous-winged Gulls, Rhinoceros Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, Bald Eagles, Turkey Vultures, Double-crested Cormorants, Pelagic Cormorants, & Black Oystercatchers!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

"This morning we found ourselves off the southwest side of San Juan Island in an area called Salmon Bank! It was at this underwater shelf that we found a very shy Minke Whale that gave our guests a couple of quick looks before giving us the slip! Two other boats even joined us shortly after finding the Minke and they weren't able to find this elusive whale!! We decided to venture out to Hein Bank and then head towards Smith & Minor Islands. There we found 3 more Bald Eagles bringing our total up to 9!! Our guests also enjoyed looks at 9 Black Oystercatchers, a few hauled-out Harbor Seals, one giant eagle nest on the beach, and a Tufted Puffin!!! Smith Island is only one of two islands in the area where Tufted Puffins nest. The afternoon lead us back into the Strait of Juan de Fuca but rather west towards Vancouver Island and the city of Victoria. There we found Pender, T14, a Transient Orca whale!! We watched in the low light of the sinking sun as he made his way slowly through the water. His over six foot tall dorsal fin cut through the water allowing our guests some great photo opportunities! After a great visit we turned for home and along the way we met back up with a Minke Whale at Salmon Bank! Could this have been the same Minke that gave us the slip earlier in the day? Maybe. Other wildlife highlights of the day included a Harbor Seal hauled-out in a balencing act on a floating log, Surf Scoters, Rhinoceros Auklets, Pigeon Guillemots, hundreds of Harbor Porpoise feeding in the tide rips, a Caspian Tern, Glaucous-winged Gulls, Pelagic & Double-crested Cormorants, and a couple of Common Murres. Throughout the day we enjoyed glass calm water conditions and views of Mount Baker & Mount Rainier against a backdrop of blue skies!!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

An Easy Rising (Minke Whale)

Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes

"We weren't even off the dock and our guests witnessed a mature Bald Eagle being chased by a couple of Glaucous-winged Gulls!! Then just as we were departing the marina a Harbor Seal appeared!! Our journey today lead us south down Rosario Strait towards the southern shores of Lopez Island. As we neared Castle Rock we saw three more Bald Eagles (bringing our total to 6 just in the first hour)! We visited with some Pigeon Guillemots near their nesting grounds on Castle Rock and moments later gazed upon over twenty Harbor Seals hauled-out on Swirl Rocks! We made our way towards Salmon Bank and suddenly a Minke Whale appeared out of the depths!! All of our guests worked along side the crew to keep tabs of this very shy whale and we got some great looks!! It zigged and zagged feeding along the shelf at Salmon Bank undoubtedly feeding on the baitfish that congregate in its waters! We enjoyed a beautiful day in the Strait of Juan de Fuca as we spent the day in the presence of Mount Baker, the Olympic Mountains & Mount Rainier! We also visited with Common Murres, Rhinoceros Auklets, Bald Eagles, Pigeon Guillemots, Harbor Seals, & Harbor Porpoise!" - Naturalist Kate Janes

The guests on board the Island Explorer 3 are watching K and J Pod Orca Whales! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for an update from Naturalist Bart Rulon and click on this link to see the

We started off with fog this morning.  As we left the dock we had our first wildlife sighting with a bald eagle flying close by.  We slowed down at Colville Island to look at a few harbor seals in the fog.  Luckily the fog started to open up as we approached the south end of San Juan Island.  We found J-pod swimming from San Juan Island toward Hein Bank.  The first sub-pod we watched was Slick, J16, Mike, J26, Keet, J-33, Alki, J-36, and J-42.  They were swimming at a steady pace for a long time then decided to turn around and swim back from where they came.  Soon Blossom, J-11, Blackberry, J-27, Tsuchi, J-31, and Mako, J-39 came swimming in to join our first group.  We saw a salmon jump clear out of the water, and the orcas were in hot pursuit.  Within a few seconds one of the orcas did two spyhops.  We said goodbye to J-pod in order to look for more whales.  As we headed northeast we found a minke whale and Captain Carl lined him up perfectly with Mount Baker.  It wasn't long before we found K-pod swimming quickly toward us and J-pod.  We saw Cappuccino, K-21, first and he passed by closely for us to parallel view for a while.  Next Sequim, K-12, and Rainshadow, K-37 swam by for a nice look.  They all were moving pretty fast, and some were porpoising, probably to catch up with J-pod.  What a great morning trip!!  Naturalist Bart Rulon