Wonderful Season

It has been an amazing season onboard the Island Whaler and the Island Explorer II!! We had many wonderful experiences on the water this season. The Southern Resident Orcas had 3 new calves, one born this summer!!! We also saw lots of Transient Orcas this summer also with a new calf. You can read more about our season at www.islandadventurecruises.com click on our whale report.
The Island Whaler has been stored for the winter but the Island Explorer II will be running guaranteed whale watching tours through December 2006!! The Island Whaler and Island Explorer II will start the 2007 season the first weekend in March!! The Salish Sea is the first feeding stop for our California Gray whales on their migration north to the Bering Sea!!
Photos taken by Naturalist Jami Nagel Copyright 2006

The Orcas are Town Again!

Well, after an interesting few weeks of Southern Resident Orcas out to sea and Transient Orcas, as well as Minke popping up, it is good to have Js, Ks and Ls back! There have been lots of Transients in lately, 15 in all! We got to see quite a bit of them and it seems there is even a new baby with one of the groups. Last night the Residents came back in and we got to see them near Victoria. It was an amazing show, and boy did we miss them! We had all kinds of multiple spyhops and breaches and cartwheels aboard the Island Explorer II. Today, we had lots of Ls offshore from San Juan. We got a good look at Wavewalker, who was playing the the waves. Guess he was aptly named. Mega, L Pod, seemed to like us today and gave us two really close passes where we could see him under water on our morning and evening trip. Nyssa, L Pod, it seems has been liking us lately too. He just can't leave us alone and keeps popping up around us. It always is so cool to see them up close and under water. Sure is good to have them back. Now let's just have them in for a good long time this time!
Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

West Side Orcas

Ah, good ole L pod still hanging out on the west side. We actually didn't see any members of the L12s or L5s todays, so perhaps there was more of L pod further up. Js were certainly up near Henry Island, headed south, so I suppose the rest of L pod must have further North. The Island Explorer 2 went as far north as False Bay. We saw Jelly Roll, without her baby, and Onyx- two whales not closely related, but stranger things have happened before. They passes us, but didn't come up again and then deja vu happened a few minutes later as the same two whales both passed us in the same way. Our grand finale came as a female, with two young whales and a sprouter male behind started making all sorts of noise, talking on the hydrophone and splashing around and rolling around and gave us quite a wonderful show. I always love so much being able to hear them vocalizing. It sure does add to the excitement.
Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

K's and L's heading West

The Island Explorer II's 10am trip found the orcas at Hein Bank heading west toward Victoria, BC. They were spread out foraging for Salmon!! We got some wonderful looks at Lea (K14) and her two offspring Lobo (K26) and 3 yr old Yoda (K36). Cappuccino (K21) gave us a great look as he cruised toward the boat!! We also had Mystery (L85) and Alexis (L12) right off the bow!! Our passengers got an awesome look at a harbor seal and her pup, that was piggybacking mom in the water.
Jami Nagel, Naturalist
Photos taken by Naturalist Jami Nagel

Dancing with Salmon

It has been an interesting few days. Ls have been gone, hope there's a super pod when they get back! Js have been making the circle and Ks have been doing the west side shuffle. There have been a couple minkes we've seen lately near Lopez and San Juan and on Sunday we saw a gray whale. It could have been a little one, traveling alone, or near its mother. We never quite saw the other gray but there were blows up ahead and they little gray whale we were watching was definitely traveling in that direction. K pod was very vocal the last two days. That's one thing I love about them. The new baby and Rainshadow were playing around near the boat for a while. And later, Sonata and little Opus were also playing, slowly rolling and popping there heads up. It almost looked like they were dancing. For a brief while Lea and little Yoda joined in too and at one point, one of the moms came up with a salmon and bounced it off her nose! Not sure if they were trying to teach the little ones to fish or what, but it was awesome to watch!
Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

J Pod and the Salmon Chase

J Pod was headed down Rosario once again. It sure is nice to have them so consistent these days. It will also be nice to see some more super pods too! But at any rate, we always love J Pod. As it proved again today. We watched many members foraging today and saw Blackberry and Mako horsing around for a while. Then we saw Samish and her clan doing the same a little while later. Jami spied 2 salmon under the water nearby and a little while later, there was a lone whale headed our way. Soon, a lone salmon popped up near the surface that we could see sitting there for a second and all of a sudden, the orca was down and the salmon was running for its life! It was so funny, but it was really cool too! That was a first for me to actually see the salmon BEFORE it was caught. Poor thing. Ah well, such is the food chain.
Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.

Js and Ls have been making the Great Circle

Well, Faith has been traveling with J Pod amongst the ladies for some time now. Other L pod whales I have identified over the last week or so with Js have been: Tanya, Saanich and Ino (all who would normally travel together) and an interesting one in the mix was Surprise and her little one. Faith has been spending a lot of time with Polaris and Princess Angeline. Perhaps the TWO of them will have little ones next year!! I do predict at least one of them will have a baby next year. I would bet money on it! We also saw an interesting spectacle near Stuart one evening. Faith, Polaris and a group of unidentified whales were traveling VERY slowly in a circle, rolling around. Mating perhaps? I spied a baby in the midst of it all after watching for a while. It didn't seem like a tiny new baby to me, but you never know what the whales are up to. And now, all three pods are in, I am anxious to see some new babies!
Ellen Newberry, Naturalist.