Our original trip was scheduled earlier in the summer, but an unexpected siege of kidney stones caused us to cancel. The staff at Outer Island was more than gracious in allowing us to reschedule. The day we went it was 90 degrees on land, but cool and comfortable on the water when we headed out in search of orcas at 5pm on July 19. Our vessel was small and fast, and Captain Matt found a pod of whales for us pretty quickly. In fact, eventually we were joined by 2 other pods!! 5pm is a nice time to visit in the summer; it doesn't get dark early, and you're not competing with lots of other boats. We saw orcas everywhere...in front, behind and even beside the boat! It was one of the highlights of my life. The captain also sought out a minkie whale, porpoise and even a little puffin in the water. Both the captain and crew (I apologize for forgetting her name) were extremely knowledgeable and shared interesting facts about whales in their habitat, they could even point out the individual orcas by name. We highly recommend Outer Island Expeditions if whale-watching is on your bucket list!