Wednesday, July 8, 2009, Spending Time With "The Big Boys"

Wednesday, July 8, 2009, Spending Time With "The Big Boys"

This afternoon we got out onto calm waters and we able to see two of the largest Orcas in L-pod: These two big males, L-41 and L-79, made several passes as we sat with our engines off near Hein Bank. You can feel their power, intelligence and calm as they surge by, confident of their place as the Alpha predator in the Ocean.

TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2009, NEITHER RAIN, NOR FOG NOR DARK OF NIGHT SHALL KEEP US FROM OUR APPOINTED ROUNDS

TUESDAY, JULY 7, 2009, NEITHER RAIN, NOR FOG NOR DARK OF NIGHT SHALL KEEP US FROM OUR APPOINTED ROUNDS

Near Winter-like temperatures, intermittent showers and a gloam of dark clouds could not dampen our enthusiasm and excitement. Heading out this morning, we had no reports and no real hunches as to where the 80+ Killer Whales that we saw yesterday had gone overnight. In fact, we had reports that those whales that had come in from the Pacific had not made it as far East as the West Side of San Juan Island: This was quite unusual.

And then, almost as if our patience and faith was being rewarded, we found first a few and then many whales foraging offshore. As you can see from these pictures, it turned into a wonderful, if albeit soggy, day!

Super Pod!! July 6th, 2009.

Here are some wonderful pictures by Ron Bates, MMRG, from todays encounter with the Southern Resident Orcas! This afternoon our vessel headed out to near Sheringham to watch a SuperPod (J, K, & L Pod). Earlier in the day J & K Pod had been sighted near Jordan River milling around and then L Pod came in from the West to join them to form a SuperPod:)

More pictures from todays encounters with Orcas and Minke Whales! July 5th, 2009.

Here are some more images from todays encounters with members of Lpod, Minke Whales and Jpod. I will be posting more information and images shortly.

July 4th evening trip with Lpod!

Harbor Seals at Chain Islets.

Stunning sunset!

This evening we traveled over to the West side of San Juan Island where we encountered several members of Lpod:) We observed a number of the Orcas foraging including L89 "Solstice" (male born in 1993)who found a Salmon feeding on a bait ball and soon became L89's next meal!

Other members of Lpod we identified during our excursion included L12 "Alexis" (female born in 1933), L79 "Skana" (male born in 1989), who is the older brother of L89 and L67 "Splash" (female born in 1985) who is the mother of L79 & L89.

On our way home we witnessed a stunning sunset!

SUNDAY, July 5, 2009, L-pod, Minkes & J-pod!!!

SUNDAY, July 5, 2009, L-pod, Minkes & J-pod!!!

What a calm day out on the water, with plenty of sunshine and the company of whales. We are truly blessed to have the opportunity to take passenger out and rekindle their connection with Nature.

SATURDAY, JULY 4th, 2009, Resident (Fish-Eating) Killer Whales & Minkes!

SATURDAY, JULY 4th, 2009, Resident (Fish-Eating) Killer Whales & Minkes!

Happy 4th of July!

Five Star Whale Watching would like to wish everyone a safe and happy American Independence Day!

FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2009 L-pod & Minke Whales!!!

FRIDAY, JULY 3, 2009 L-pod & Minke Whales!!! Flat calm seas, warm air and sightings of two different species of Cetacea...awesome.

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009 Afternoon Trip Photos Courtesy of Kyla Graham

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009 Afternoon Trip Photos Courtesy of Kyla Graham, Marine Naturalist, Researcgher and self-confessed "Whale Nerd". See Kyla's BLOG at http://www.maiacetus.blogspot.com

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009 Morning Trip Photos Courtesy of Kyla Graham

THURSDAY, JULY 2, 2009 Photos Courtesy of Kyla Graham, Marine Naturalist, Researcher and self-confessed "Whale Nerd".
See Kyla's BLOG at http://www.maiacetus.blogspot.com

WEDSNESDAY, JULY 1, 2009, LONG AFTERNOON JOURNEY TO SEE J-POD @ SATURNA ISLAND

MT. BAKER, 10,400 feet tall or 3,300m
Killer Whale in the foreground, Harbour Seals aka "Rock Sausages", "Orca d'Ouevres" or "Beach Maggots" in the background.

CLICK on the picture above and you will see the dorsal fin of another large male Killer Whale in the background on the righ-hand side.


WEDSNESDAY, JULY 1, 2009, LONG AFTERNOON JOURNEY TO SEE J-POD OF RESIDENT KILLER WHALES @ SATURNA ISLAND

We travelled through very calm water North through Haro Strait and into Boundary Passage, between Waldron Island of Washington State's San Juan Islands and Saturna Island of British Columbia's Gulf Islands. As we heading up Haro Strait we got a fantastic view of Mt. Baker, in Washington State 60 miles or 100kms to the East of us.
Once into Boundary Passage there was a strong offshore flow of wind that whipped up the surface, making J-pod's steady progress even more impressive.

J1 and JPod celebrate Canada Day:) July 1, 2009.

This mornings we had a breathtaking encounter with Jpod near Lime Kiln! Ron Bates, MMRG, had first received reports had been sighted North of Lime Kiln heading south around 7am. Then he heard that the Orcas were near Eagle Point at 9am but as we headed over to the west side of San Juan Island during our 9am tour we heard that the Jpod had switched direction yet again and were near Lime Kiln Lighthouse and we encountered Jpod just north of the park.

We had only been observing Jpod for a short while and could see that the pod was very close together, when suddenly we saw several breaches even multiple breaches! It was amazing to see so many members of Jpod breaching like this and the most spectacular sight was when the old guy J1 "Ruffles" breached, proving the old guy can still move:) We also saw a number of tailslaps, spyhops and cartwheels, and it was as if Jpod was celebrating Canada Day;)

On our way back to Victoria we stopped at the Chain Islets and there we saw a number of Harbor Seals, Cormorants, Black Oyster Catchers and even a Bald Eagle.

What a way to start Canada's 142 birthday!

Happy Canada Day! July 1st 2009.

Five Star Whale Watching would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Canada Day!