I just came across a great Orca whale blog site called Whale Of A ‘Purpose’ written by a local whale enthusiast that is packed with great photos and lots of tips on identifying whales. With the sun out today, looking at this blog makes me wish we were still running tours….spring is just around the corner though!

The resident Orca pods have become a little more difficult to find this past week, however, we’ve been luck to find transient Orcas just outside of Victoria. The weather has been beautiful too, making this possibly the best time of the season to see the San Juan Islands and Victoria. The forecast is good through the upcoming weekend, with lots of sun and temperatures into the lower 70’s.

Yesterday was the last day of the season for our Friday Harbor / Whale Watching tours aboard the Island Commuter 2. The season ended on a big high note, with several Superpod sightings through the week, as well as a few transient Orca sightings.

We are still running our trips to Victoria daily through September 28th. On this tour we pick routes in both directions with the best chance of seeing Orca whales along the way - this season we have seen them about 75% of the time. We offer a low season discount of $25 off the regular adult round-trip cruise fare between September 8 - September 28, so now is a great time to book a trip to Victoria before the season ends!

The week started off great, with "superpod" sightings and great weather. The Orca sightings tapered off the last few days, but there was still plenty of wildlife to be seen out in the islands, including a tiny new baby porpoise. It looks like the weather should improve later this week. Our Friday Harbor/Whale Watching tours end in 11 days, on September 1st, so if have been putting off a trip to the San Juan Islands, or a whale watching tour, now is the time to go!

We had a great week of whale watching, starting off with a Superpod (all three resident pods of Orca whales clustered together) on July 9th. K pod then disappeared for the rest of the week, but we had frequent sightings of the other two pods (J & L) nearly every day. Throw in some sun and temperatures in the mid-70’s, and you couldn’t ask for a more perfect week of cruising through the San Juan Islands!

It’s been another great week for whale watching . We had another rare "Superpod" sighting on Sunday, June 21st, where all three pods of resident Orca whales were together in one huge group. Other days we’ve spotted J and K pods on their own. We have also had a young Sea Lion (perhaps a Stellar Sea Lion) hang out near our dock in Bellingham - it’s fun to see interesting wildlife just seconds after departure!

The past week has been a great week for whale watching. We’ve seen a variety of resident Orca whales (including a "Superpod", where all three local pods of whales were spotted together - over 60 whales at one time!), transient Orca whales and Minke whales. We’re in the middle of peak whale watching season and the good weather is finally here, so now is the perfect time to take a cruise to the San Juan Islands or Victoria.

After a brief appearance of K and L Orca pods earlier this week we have been looking at J pod the last few days. On Wednesday we saw them just off Lummi Island, just a few minutes away from Bellingham. Then, for the rest of the week, we saw them off the west and south sides of San Juan Island. The weather looks to be a bit better this week, so we are looking forward to some great whale watching tours!

Yesterday we saw all three resident Orca pods for the first time this season. J, K and L pods were seen by our whale watching passengers aboard the Island Commuter 2 yesterday. They were seen just north of Stuart Island - the first appearance of K and L pods this season in the San Juan Islands.