Aly Liu | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, August 9, 2026 | 5:30 pm 

Cruising through the San Juans during golden hour during the summer isn’t exactly a terrible experience. Especially when there are killer whales. The opportunity to spend time with these animals in the evening is a special experience, as the Salish Sea is quieting down and the evergreen trees blanketing the islands are a glimmering golden orange. 

We usually say that our first looks are never our best looks as approaching a wildlife scene...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | August 8th, 2026 | 5:30pm 

This tour left from Friday Harbor and decided to head East through the inner islands. We quickly were surrounded by many bird species including Rhinoceros Auklets, Common Murres, and Cormorants. We turned South and began moving down Lopez Sound towards a whale report. We exited the bottom of Lopez Sound and cruised to the bottom of Rosario Strait. The whales were just beginning to wrap around the bottom of Lopez Island and move North up...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | July 26th, 2026 | 5:30pm 

This tour left Roche Harbor in slightly foggy conditions, as some rainfall had just lightened up before we left the dock. I personally am a huge fan of viewing whales in conditions like these, so I was super excited to get out there! We left the harbor and turned East. We almost immediately were surprised by two Steller Sea Lions swimming past us! I do not often see this species in this part of the Salish Sea, so this was a treat. From...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | July 17th, 2026 | 5:30pm

This tour turned right out of Roche Harbor, and within minutes had sights of Killer Whales! The T65B family was swimming West through Spieden Channel. This is one of my personal favorite families, so I was super excited! They are a family of four whales, and are led by their mother/matriarch "Chunk". She travels with her three sons, "Birdsall", "Nettle", and "Rook". I was especially interested to get some looks at T65B2 "Nettle", as he has...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | July 12th, 2026 | 5:30pm

This tour broke a personal record for me, which was the quickest transit to see whales all season. We quite literally left the dock, and within one minute saw Bigg's Killer Whales passing by Friday Harbor! The group was made up of two families, the T100s and T101s. Each family consists of three whales, a mother with two of her children. The T100s are led by mother/matriarch "Hutchins", and the T101s are led by mother/matriarch "Reef"...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | June 28th, 2026 | 5:30pm

This tour left the dock a few minutes early, which worked out perfectly because two Killer Whales had just passed by Friday Harbor! We left the dock with the sun shining and had a short ten minutes transit down San Juan Channel. We entered Griffin Bay which resides on the East shore of San Juan Island and were met with a lovely sight, two huge black dorsal fins! These fins belonged to a pair of presumed brothers; T128 "Flotsam" and T125A...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | June 27th, 2026 | 5:30 pm 

Tonight was a magical evening in glassy waters watching killer whales, what a dream! We departed Friday Harbor and went north to follow up on a few reports near Spieden and the surrounding boundary waters, and were not disappointed in what we found! We cruised past Spieden and continued towards Flattop where we soon saw some black dorsal fins along the rocky shoreline. I was excited to find the T49A family traveling here, a group I haven’t...

Lauren Tschirhart | June 21st, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 pm

Our Roche Harbor departure aboard the M/V Sea Lion began with us departing the dock and heading northwest over the top of Henry Island. We cruised across the Haro Strait, eventually making our way into British Columbia. After crossing the Canadian border, we started to see several dorsal fins in the distance. These dorsal fins belonged to members of the Bigg’s Killer Whale family the T100’s. Although there are other whales in this...

Kelly Klein | M/V Sea lion | June 13th, 2026 | 12:30pm

The heat is here! We left Roche harbor as the sun was blazing, all of us on board appreciating the gentle breeze as the boat motored out of the harbor. We set our sights for Canadian water and made our way to Moresby Island. We soon spotted blows in the distance! 6 orcas identified as both the T124a’s and T86A’s including:

T086A/Eider — female, born in 1988

• T086A4/Akia — female, born in 2016

• T086A5/Siku — male, born in 2024

  T124A/Kittiwake —...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | June 6th, 2026 | 5:30 pm

We went the distance this evening for my first sunset tour of the season! When we departed Roche Harbor, we did not have any specific sightings we were heading in the direction of. Based on water conditions and where boats had previously searched, we decided to head north and scan the outer San Juans and boundary waters. We hoped that some of the whales that had been north the night before were still sneaking around somewhere that way, and I...