Whale Watching From Friday Harbor

Whale Watching From Friday Harbor

They arrive every May and stay through September, feasting on salmon, frolicking in the icy water, dancing along the bows of boats, and breaching regally with massive bodies glistening in the sun. The group, consisting of approximately 80 members, is the Southern Resident Community of orca killer whales, known as the J, K, and L pods. Each summer, they enthrall thousands of tourists visiting Friday Harbor (pop. 1,989), the nautical hub of San Juan Island, Wash.

Named back in the 1800s after island sheepherder Joseph Friday, the harbor is one of the few remaining 19th-century Puget Sound fishing villages and is well known to cruise ships and recreational boaters. The one-square mile hamlet 104 miles northwest of Seattle—a little over three hours by car, including a 20-mile ferryboat ride—is the only incorporated community in San Juan County.

Friday Harbor native and Port Commissioner Charlie Nash has boyhood memories of the old pea cannery and the mill that turned grain into flour. He still recalls freighters that brought the mail and a discernable lack of local island transportation.

“We had no cars,” he says. “If you wanted a car, you had to arrange to have it brought in on a scow (large flat-bottomed boat).”

Nash, 80, also remembers folks getting interested in Friday Harbor about the time San Francisco was developing in the early- to mid-1900s. “The island was important because lime was available and San Francisco needed lime to build its buildings,” he says.

Today, with the county seat located in the harbor, county government has replaced farming and fishing as the island’s biggest employer. Many small businesses call the island home, as well as University of Washington Friday Harbor Laboratories, a marine science education and research center. Small tidy shops dot the main street, including Friday Harbor Drug—a store Nash’s father co-owned in 1920.

But with tourism now the major industry, it’s the whales that folks remember.

Excitement heightens in the waters off the island when four black fins break the sea’s smooth surface. The whale-watch boat engine is silenced. Patient anticipation is rewarded as a quartet of orcas rises to the occasion, their commanding black and white bodies a synchronized chorus line sweeping out of the water.

In mid-July, when whale socializing and mating is at its peak, lucky spectators may be privy to the mammals’ greeting ceremony. A group of whales from the three pods will position themselves like two football scrimmage lines. Suddenly, 40 fins surface together. After a 15- to 20-second pause they descend, pass each other, then leap and tumble about.

Interest in whale watching greatly increased when the whales of the J pod were featured in the movie Free Willie. The sleek animals are a boon to tourism, and in return, Friday Harbor strives for a respectful balance between tourists and marine wildlife. It is home to the only museum in the country devoted to the study of whales in the wild.

“Our whale numbers are dwindling,” says Tracie Hornung, communications director for The Whale Museum. “My biggest concern is that they survive. They’re just too majestic and wonderful for this planet to be without them.”

Bob and Jean Van Leuven, owners of Western Prince Cruises—Friday Harbor’s oldest whale-watch business—are equally respectful.

“We always stay far enough away to give the whales space,” says Bob Van Leuven. “Each tour is unique in terms of whale sightings—and whale behavior, other wildlife seen, the passengers, even weather conditions all add color,” he says.

The Van Leuvens say passionate reactions from customers are one of their greatest joys. “Hopefully, this passion will be passed from generation to generation. Many of our steady customers first saw the orcas as children.”

Carole Marshall is a frequent contributor to American Profile.

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