Tag Archives: Minke whales

2018 Season Off To A Great Start, With Lots Of Orca And Humpback Whale Sightings

Our whale watching tours have been very successful, with sightings of transient orcas, humpback whales, minke whales, and a few gray whales so far. The resident orcas are back as well, and with the weather becoming more and more summerlike each day, now’s a great time to join us on one of our tours! (The chart above shows the locations of our sightings so far this season)

Whales & Wildlife Report – Season Summary: One Of Our Best Whale Watching Seasons Ever

This season turned out to be one of our best ever, with sightings on nearly 95% of our whale watching cruises. We had three different whale watching tours, all of which were popular, with folks enjoying frequent sightings of Orca, Humpback and/or Minke whales. If you came out with us this summer, thank you! We are already getting ready for another great summer in 2018!

Included here are photos taken by Jim Bachman on the last day of the season – what a way to close things out, with a group of Orcas, as well as harbor porpoises, a Stellar sea lion, and a variety of sea birds, including marbled Murrelets.

Whales & Wildlife Report – Great Sightings Every Day For The Last Two Weeks

We are definitely in the midst of prime whale watching season, with great sightings over the past two weeks. We’ve primarily spotted Transient / Bigg’s Orca whales, as well as Humpback and Minke whales. Combined with beautiful, sunny weather it’s been quite a summer, but it’s not over yet. We’re running for a few more weeks, through September 24th, so now is a great time to avoid the crowds and come aboard for a memorable whale watching experience.

The photos here are courtesy of Jim Bachman, who joined us on our Deluxe Whale Watching tour on Sunday, September 3rd – in addition to great viewing of Transient Orcas, we also saw seals and a wide variety of sea birds.

Whales & Wildlife Report – Orcas, Humpbacks & Minkes! 7-24-16

It’s been a great week of whale watching, with lots of whales seen, and we finally have great summer weather, with sun and temperatures in the low 80’s. A perfect time to be out in the San Juans! This week we’ve seen a great variety of whales, resident and transient Orcas, playful Minke whales, and today a group of very active Humpbacks. While we didn’t see them ourselves, there were even reports of a Fin whale and some Gray whales in the area recently. The photo below was taken by out of our passengers this week (Mary Lou – Nooksack, WA) – thank you for sharing this great photo!

orca

End Of Season Report – Lots Of Whales & Sunshine All Summer Long!

What an amazing season this was – the weather was close to perfect with lots of warm sunshine, but this was topped by the number of whale sightings. With the season over we saw whales on just over 95% of our cruises, and there was a great variety of whales to be seen as well. In addition to the three resident pods of Orca whales (J, K and L pods), we saw lots of transient Orcas, Minke whales, Humpback whales (especially in May and September), Gray whales and towards the end of the season we even saw a Fin whale a few times.

This season also saw the resident group grow by 5 – 4 of these babies just received names (Scarlet, Nova, Sonic and Windsong) and a fifth (L-122) was just born a few weeks ago and will be given a name soon.

Thanks to everyone who joined us on a tour this season – we’re already at work getting ready for next summer!

Whales & Wildlife Report: June 19-21 Beautiful Days In The San Juans

We have really enjoyed all of the sunshine we’ve received this spring – it’s been absolutely gorgeous just about every day we’ve been out this season. It’s now summer, and this weather is set to continue for the next 7-10 days or so. We’ve seen lots of wildlife on recent tours – Minke whales have been plentiful, and yesterday we saw a group of Orca whales on the west side of San Juan Island. Saturday was the best though – transient Orcas (T-69’s) on the outbound trip to Friday Harbor, and a different group of transient Orcas (T-65’s) on the way back to Bellingham. If you want to join us on a whale watch this summer, more information can be found here: http://www.whales.com/Cruises/San-Juan-Adventure-Full-Day-Cruise.aspx

Whales & Wildlife Report: June 6-8 – Sunshine & Whales

There have been all sorts of whales active in the San Juan Islands over the last few days! Our boats have seen the local Orca pods, transient Orcas, Humpback whales and Minke whales as well. The combination of great wildlife viewing and spectacular sunny days has shown that summer is already here! Passengers have also had some great views of Bald Eagles, otters, seals and sea lions with Mt. Baker in the background. Join us out on the water and see for yourself! We are operating our Deluxe Whale Watching Tour that includes a northwest salmon lunch and a 2-hour port call in Friday Harbor every day.

Whale & Wildlife Report – July 25-27th – Orca and Minke Whales

It’s been absolutely amazing out in the San Juans the past few days, lots of sunshine and temperatures in the 70’s. Orca whales were a bit elusive the last couple of days, but we were fortunate to find Minke Whales. Our luck changed today though – we found Orca whales up to the northwest of Roche Harbor. There is lots of sun in the forecast all week long – hope to have you out there with us!

Whales & Wildlife Report – August 12th, 2013

Orca whales are back in abundance now! This past weekend we had sightings of all 3 pods of resident Orca whales – so great to have them all in the area once again. Today we spent time with K-Pod just south of Lopez Island, then found a Minke whale a little later. Overall a great day of sightings.

Whales & Wildlife Report – June 30, 2013

Under bright blue skies, sailing through calm waters, we toured through the islands before finding a group of Minke whales near Hein Bank, SW of San Juan Island. Passengers enjoyed non-stop sunshine throughout the day, and with temps in low 80’s (cooler on the water though). Looks like this beautiful weather is supposed to last throughout the week!