April 4, 2024 We set out on a blustery day everyone was excited to see what the day would bring. Our first encounter was with a young Humpback that was identified as “Sakura.” From the spotting records we know they were born in 2022. When we first got there it happened to be hanging out in rough spot of water and it was a being a shy whale. Eventually they worked their way into calmer waters and did a beautiful fluke up dive not too far from our boat. Sakura then got on a more regular surfacing pattern as they travelled along the Stuart Island shoreline.   After leaving Sakura we went to ..read more

We’ve been enjoying a classic spring in the Pacific Northwest here in the San Juan Islands. As we head into April, our daylight hours are stretching into the evening . We’re nestled in the rain shadow of the Olympic Peninsula so we don’t get the same amount of rain as our neighbors in Seattle and Olympia. We’ve been enjoying. sun filled spring and are excited for more sun-filled afternoons right around the corner! We’ve had whales on the vast majority of our trips so far. It’s nice to see some of our most familiar Bigg’s Killer Whale families return to see how they’ve grown. This is also a gr ..read more

March 26, 2024 – Another beautiful day in the Salish Sea and an amazing encounter with some of our favorite whales! We got to hang out with two families of Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T18s and T49As. They spent the day hunting and socializing together. We had some incredible views of the three huge males, T19B “Galiano, his younger brother T19C “Spouter” and their buddy T49A1 “Noah”. Lots of rough-housing, tail-lobbing, spyhops and big dorsal fins! Plus some looks at the rest of the family members, including T18 “Esperanza” who turned 69 this year, and T49A6 “Charlie” who is only two and ..read more

Our first trip of the 2024 season and what a way to start it off! We had a beautiful trip full of amazing wildlife encounters. Our first stop was to check out the Steller Sea Lions on Whale Rocks and as a bonus, there were 9 bald eagles, all ranging from fully mature to juveniles and sub-adults! Then we continued south into the Straits of Juan De Fuca where we encountered a small group of Dall’s Porpoises! One became curious and surprised us by passing close to the boat to check us out! Finally, we had an amazing encounter with a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T46Bs. This family of ..read more

October 4, 2023 – We headed north to see what we could find.  We knew that we had a much better chance of finding whales in that direction as the mornings fog was determined to hang around to the south.  As we broke through the clouds to a beautiful sunny day we started checking our some of the local wildlife.  First stop was Spieden Island.  There we found a few Steller Sea Lions in the water and a Mouflon Ram that was making eyes at a particular ewe on shore.  Next it was on to the Cactus island where we found several Harbor Seals and Bald Eagles.  From there we ..read more

September 28, 2023 – We headed north with a report of 2 Humpbacks at the very edge of our range. We choose a route to cover yet to be searched areas hoping to find something along the way. We ended up making the long run all the way up to the Apex. This is the western end of the 49th parallel as the US / Canadian border. There we encountered 2 Humpback whales. They were identified as Raptor and Divot. These are regulars in the Salish Sea. They were traveling closely together and did a few beautiful fluke up dives. It was time to leave for the long run back, but we never give up searching for m ..read more

September 27, 2023 – We had a spectacular afternoon with 2 different family groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales. We encountered the first group NE of the Patos Island Lighthouse. They ended up cruising along the edge of Boiling Reef. It was great to see T49A6 – Smoosh Face (a cute underbite), traveling in the slip stream of its mom, T49A – Nan, with 3 other siblings near by. While we were watching them, Captain JB was communicating with a large tanker that was traveling through the area. While watching the Tanker we noticed a couple dozen circling gulls. Low and behold there was another group of Or ..read more

September 17, 2023 – When we left our dock in Friday Harbor, fortunately, we had a report of some killer whales not too far away! We stopped to check out some harbor seals and eagles before heading over to the sighting. It turned out to be a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T123s. This family of four consists of Mom T123 “Sydney” and her three kids. The oldest and largest, T123A “Stanley” is a big male and had an interesting new scrape on his right side that extended back from his eye patch. We have not seen this family in several months so it was interesting to see the new scar. Aft ..read more

September 24, 2023 – We headed out to the eastern part of the San Juans Islands to Rosario Strait where we had a report of a large group of Bigg’s Killer Whales. It ended up being a group of 10 whales traveling together, the T35As, the T38As and a mixture of the T137s and T37As. When we first got on scene, we got some beautiful looks as the whales were surfacing with their backlit blows. It was incredible to see all the fins coming up together! Just as we were about to leave, the whales suddenly switched directions and we got an amazing, close, fly-by from the whales. We continued over th ..read more

September 15, 2023 – We headed west of the San Juan Islands out towards Canada. We ended up over 25 miles away from our dock in Friday Harbor but it was so worth it! We got to encounter two separate humpback whales feeding out on Constance Bank. The first was BCY0983 “Aerie” and the second was BCZ0492 “Meqe’” which means snow in the Halkomelem Language. We had some gorgeous flukes from both whales before heading back home. Photographer and Naturalist: Bethany Shimasaki – Instagram @Adventures.with.Bethany – Website: www.bethshim.com Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Wester ..read more