West Coast Whales

At noon we found Orcas near the entrance to Hood Canal. They were doing some foraging, lunging, and tail lobbing, Young ones were breaching as they continued up the coast of Marrowstone Island. Early evening multiple pods were seen passing Port Townsend heading south. Our clients were extremly excited by antics of the young Orcas.

Exciting News; It was confirmed by the Center for Whale Research that there is a new calf with L pod. L113 which brings the population of Southern Resident orcas up to 86. Thanks to a photo taken of L pod on Saturday by naturalist Jami Nagel.

This fall weather is fantastic. Out at Race Rocks a Humpback was seen, also making an appearance were Minke Whales. The Orcas representing two pods were found over on the south side of San Juan Island. Come see the excitement on the water for your self.

Today was a gorgeous day on the water in this sunny fall, ideal weather for whale watching and viewing nature. The orcas were playful today breaching giving our passangers a great deal of pleasure. Fun was had by all.

A beautiful day to be on the water.We decided to head west on a whim and just enjoy the weather.  Around Beechey Head we came across members of the L-pod.  We travelled with them along the coastline for some time before heading for home.  A pause at Race Rocks had us enjoying the antics of the harbour seals and sea lions hauled out to enjoy the sunshine. 

We didn’t have to go far today for a great show.
Just off the coast of Victoria we came across one of the resident ’fish-eating’ Orca pods.  They wowed us with some fantastic spy-hops and breaches.  We then followed a tip and headed a little furhter out to find two humpbacks.  They too were active and showed their great tail flukes superbly as they decended on a number of deep dives.  A wonderful day was topped off by a pass of Race Rocks to see the Sea Lions and Harbour Seals basking in the last of the days sun.

Today we headed over to San Juan Island again.  We have had great sightings inthis area over the ;ast few weeks and today was no exception.  Nearing False Bay we saw a pod of orca that turned ot to be one of the resident pods, L5.
The whales were curious and circled the boat a number of times, apparently as interested in us as we were in them.  They foraged along the shoreline for some time, seemingly happy for us to observe. 
We passed Trial Island on the way home, catching sight of some lovely sea birds and a few Harbour Seals lazing in the sun.

A great day!
We were able to catch up with a pod of Orca that included over 25 members today. 
The guests were treated to some fantastic displays of breaching and spyhopping.
We almost wore out the cameras.

We head out on our trip mid morning after waiting for the fog to lift.  We headed for San Juan Island, after hearing reports of orca sightings.  Our luck held and when we arrived we found members of the resident J-pod foraging along the coastline.  There were four whales in the small sub-pod including one of the pods newest calves.  There were some great breaches and other behaviors before they finally moved off.

After sightings were reported earlier in the week we decided to see if we could find a visisting grey whale.
We headed along the Washington coastline towards the last known location and were lucky enough to catch up with it, sifting for food in the shallows.  It was happy for us to stick around a watch so we stayed a while, then headed home taking a detour to visit Race Rocks for the Sealion spectacular currently in residence.  They were noisy and smelly but also hugely entertaining.