It was one of those wild, west coast days on the water, where a game of hide and seek seemed to prevail. The Ocean Magic took us on an exciting trip to find thoseillusive Orca. And magically there they were, tucked in among those picturesque islands of the San Juans. K 40, Raggedy, affectionately named due to her ragged dorsal fin, headed past us to catch up with other orca that were on a mission. Another satisfying trip to see those magical orca.

Mark taking photos

Raggedy!

K-40 Raggedy!

With Captain Kurt in the wheele house of the Ocean Magic, we were bound to find Orca. It wasn't too long before we did find J Pod. They were travelling in small groups south bound past San Juan. We did see J19 and her calf J 41. One whale was rather excited and breached a number of times in succession. The weather remained mostly sunny despite the high cloud and wind.

Orca Breaching!

Best of 2007 by Clint

Orca Surfing!


Double Humpback breach

Humpbacks breaching

Playful Orca!

Such a great day on the water, sunshine, beautiful scenery and J-pod. The members of J-pod had a successful afternoon feeding on salmon off San Juan Island. When the feeding was over they started to play, many breaches one after another. A day to remember.

June 2 Transient Killer Whales

The Ocean Magic skipper Shamus aka "Shamu" located two large male killer whales in the Strait of Juan deFuca mid day. It is believed that these two mammal eating whales are part of a group that are regularily seen off the coast of California. One of the later trips even saw a rather gruesome kill of a harbour seal. There was a large amount of harbour porpoise around Race Rocks as well as several California Sea Lions , Elephant Seals and bald eagles.

Photos by Brian Glennon (beemer) www.killerwhale.ca

We headed out across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to look for whales. Weather was pretty grey to start off but improved as the morning progressed. We found J Pod close to Lime Kiln Park in the San Juans. They were really spreadout and heading north. J 1 (Ruffles) came fairly close to investigate the boat! Meandered through Chatham and Discovery Islands and found the Harbour seals.

Ruffles
Breach!

Harbour Seals suntanning

Ruffles

Ruffles

May 25: Marie travelled all the way to Lopez Island and beyond to catch up with the fast moving J Pod Orca. It was a fun ride with wind, tide and lumpy seas. Great to see J 1 and the sprouter J 27 . The big boys!

A stunning shot taken by Clint of one of the members of J Pod near San Juan island on Saturday!

Marie got some great pictures on May 22nd on the Ocean Magic. They ended up over by Henry Island where they saw most of J Pod which was hugging the shoreline. J1, however, was out on his own so Marie and the rest of the passengers got a good look this celebrity. Later on they saw J19 and her calf J41 swim by (first picture).

A great afternoon in the sunshine at the San Juans!

Marie got some great pictures on May 22nd on the Ocean Magic. They ended up over by Henry Island where they saw most of J Pod which was hugging the shoreline. J1, however, was out on his own so Marie and the rest of the passengers got a good look this celebrity. Later on they saw J19 and her calf J41 swim by (first picture).

A great afternoon in the sunshine at the San Juans!

Clint has been snapping some great pictures over the past couple weeks! I bet the crew is very happy to have him on board.

Marie's photos from her last Ocean Magic trip!

Photos taken by Marie.

One of our newest additions to the P.O.W. staff, Rachel!!!