Another great day on the water for the M/V Sea Lion's passengers and crew! It started off a little daunting when the fog bank had yet to clear before our afternoon trip, but Captain Craig timed it perfectly! Once we passed the southern tip of San Juan Island the fog bank cleared and it was smooth sailing till we arrived on scene with a few members of L Pod.
Our afternoon trip got to witness excellent foraging displays by the L-12's, who were constantly corraling their prey below the...

The M/V Kittiwake departed from our Friday Harbor location today with spirits set high with an awesome whale report early on. We confirmed the report later when we got on scene with our L-Pod Orcas! It was going to be a great day!

After going through the renowned Cattle Pass and a little bit of fog, the Kittiwake made her way to the Southwest side of San Juan Island off Pyle Point. It's always a great sight to see your first dorsal fin and our guests were amazed at their grace and...

Captain Craig, Naturalist Andrew, and myself were all very excited to share with our guests that a group of resident orcas are back! As some of our readers know we haven't been seeing our resident orcas recently so this news definitely had all of our staff very excited!
We caught up with part of L-pod just north of False Bay on the west side of San Juan Island. The whales were close to shore when we first arrived but then a male surfaced closer to our boat. Andrew and I were able...

B-E-A-U-TIFUL weather around the San Juan's today! That lingering fog bank hanging along the westside of San Juan Island was not going to stop us from having a great whale watching and wildlife tour. Captain Brent, the passengers aboard M/V Kittiwake, and myself took this as an excellent opportunity to head North away from the heavy fog bank. This turned out to be an excellent choice, because we were able to meet up a Minke Whale feeding by its lonesome along the west side of Waldron...

With plenty of sun shining, M/V Kittiwake departed Friday Harbor with a family, Captain Jim, and myself. There was one little boy who really wanted to see whales and we were able to head north to see a Minke whale. We spotted the Minke in Boundary Pass just west of Waldron Island. This Minke was very friendly and everyone was very excited it. M/V Kittiwake was very fortunate to have some great viewings of lunge feeding occurring. I was lucky enough to show the little boy the...

As I drove down to our Friday Harbor location today to go into work, the weather didn't look super. However, right before we went to un-dock the sun decided to make an appearance! It ended up being a gorgeous day on the water today- little to no wind, sunny, clear skies, and beautiful wildlife.

As we headed out the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass, we encountered a small Minke whale feeding on small schools of Sand Lance, Krill, and Herring. Minke whales aren't normally found...

Heading south out of Friday Harbor, we didn't have to go far to encounter our first Minke whale. There was a lone minke hanging out right outside of Griffin Bay. How great is that! Not even 5 minutes in the trip and we are already spotting wildlife! After we rounded Cattle Pass lighthouse we headed south towards Hein Bank. Sitting over Hein Bank we watched bird balls forming as they dove beneath the surface to feed on the fish just below the surface. The birds weren't the only ones...

Captain Brian, guests and myself departed Friday Harbor just after the rain stopped and headed south. We made it down to Griffin bay to check out a group of curious Harbor Porpoise. Usually Harbor Porpoise are shy and dive deep when hearing boat motors, but today they were friendly and stayed around. Afterwards we continued south and watched two large Steller Sea Lions swim in the water. After seeing the Stellers poke their heads up and looking at us we decided to head to Salmon...

Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, the guests, and I were lucky enough to have the rain let up as soon as our engines started! With clouds that were only threatening, we headed out to Whale Rocks were we spotted 4 Steller Sea Lions! They were all big boys and were enjoying themselves on the rocks as well as playing in the current. After a time with the Stellers, we headed towards Hein Bank where we spotted several Minke Whales! We got some great views of the Minke surfacing! On our...

The fog bank to the west and north of San Juan Island has been challenging the whale watching fleet recently. Shortly after departing the Friday Harbor dock, Captain Craig learned of a minke whale sighting north of Waldron Island. When we caught up with the cetacean it was executing long dives, 5-6 minutes in duration, followed by 3-5 short dives. We finished the trip off by cruising by a national wildlife refuge and the Cactus Islands, where we observed bald eagles and harbor...