Friday, May 18th

Although this morning tour started off a little cool on the water, it did not take long to warm up. We decided to head to the southern end of San Juan Island in hopes that we would make this day 4 with our resident orcas, J-pod. After 30 minutes looking up San Juan Channel and the Rosario Strait, without seeing any orcas, we made our way to Hein Bank in search of a Minke Whale. After only being on scene for 5 minutes, we were pleased to see a beautiful solo Minke. With the calm water the viewing of this amazing whale was breathtaking. Although we only got a glimpse of the back and dorsal fin of this 11 metre mammal, it was totally worth the effort.
We then headed back to Trail Island were we took some great pictures of Harbour Seals basking in the overcast sun.

In the afternoon we got word that J-pod had been spotted traveling south from Cherry Point Washington just as we were leaving the harbour. We knew in order to get to the whales we were in for a long ride and after we confirmed with all the passengers that we could extend the tour time, we were off.
After a long ride pass the southern tip of San Juan Island, up the west side of Lopez Island and north into the Rosario Strait, we were surround by J-pod. We got a great look as Slick (J16) and her new calf (J42) as they passed off our stern. Then, everyone had a smile on their face as Mike (J26) and Blackberry (J27), two sprouting males, surfaced side by side with wobbly dorsal fins. After a short by fantastic viewing, we were on our way home.

We had a great day on the water and all were pleased to view the amazing country side and the wildlife living within it.