Jordan | July 14, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00

Today was a spectacular day full of so many displays of the beauty of nature. Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel past Cattle Point and dropped by the Whale Rocks to check out some seals! They were super cute flopping around on the rocks.

Then we voyaged into the Salmon Bank. Here we boated around the shallow waters until we found a minke whale! Minke whales are the smallest baleen whale in the world! We like to...

Jordan | July 14, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00

It was such a fantastic day out on the water today! Captain Gabe and I heard reports of Southern Resident whales down near Discovery Island in Canada so we headed south down through the San Juan Channel.

BUT before we even reached Cattle Point, we found two humpback whales! It was incredible. These huge whales dove majestically together heading south. In fact, just as we were about to leave, they synchronously dove and both their tails...

Those aboard M/V Sea Lion today were treated to an incredible day!  This time of year we are lucky enough to frequently see orcas on our trips, but whenever we are out on the water and are treated to orcas it is truly an amazing trip!

When we headed out, Captain Pete was optimistic with reports that we had heard in the area, so we all headed out of Friday Harbor and south in San Juan Channel.  We were treated to some gorgeous views of Cattle Point Lighthouse on the southern tip of...

It was a beautiful morning on the San Juan’s, starting to finally feel like summer! Sun shining and not too breezy! We had an excited crew on board and Captain Gabe along with naturalist Jordan and I were headed south down the San Juan Channel to go look for some orcas we heard were hanging out on the west side of San Juan. Talk was that this was Jpod (one of the southern resident orca pods) I had not seen them since September of 2017 and I was giddy about getting to see my favorite...

Jordan | June 15, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 noon

Today the Sealion journeyed out of Friday Harbor for the 12:00 noon tour with Captain Pete, Naturalist Rachel and myself. Reports of the J pod were coming in from the southwest side of San Juan Island, the same region this group was found yesterday! Perhaps there is a great group of salmon in that area.

Our boat headed south towards Cattle Pass and we stopped at Whale Island, a tiny island off the tip of Cattle Point. Here we saw...

Jordan | June 14, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 sunset

The Sealion, along with Captain Pete and myself, voyaged out of Friday Harbor for the 5:30 sunset tour. Luckily, J Pod just recently returned to the San Juan islands causing excitement amongst the entire region! Today, this large group of Southern Resident whales decided that the southwest waters of San Juan Island was the best place to be. So, Captain Pete led us south past Cattle Point and up to Eagle Point where we saw our first...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 07/25/17, 1:30 pm & 5:30 pm Tours

There was lots of excitement this morning when we heard reports that J-pod, one of the Southern Resident Killer Whale pods in this area, was still hanging around in the Salish Sea. Earlier whale watching tours had spotted them cruising around out in Rosario Strait. We didn't know it at the start, but we would have the chance to see these amazing whales on both of our tours today! 

Naturalist Sarah and I made sure Sea Lion...

Lauren Fritz, 6/1/17, M/V Sea Lion, 12 pm and 5:30 pm

I was happy as a clam this morning when I woke to reports that our J-pod friends were still hanging around the islands! Every day starts out a mystery, as it should. These wild animals can swim 100 miles in a day, so just because we saw them yesterday doesn't necessarily mean we will see them the next day. In fact, that's no indicator at all! We are at the mercy of these creatures and their travel patterns.

M/V Sea Lion had two...

Orcas are so amazing - they have one of the most complex social structures of any mammal species out there. We get to see this in action on many days out here, and some days (like yesterday!) we get really lucky. We were able to see members of K and J-Pod spread out along the west side of San Juan Island, alternatively foraging, traveling, and playing with each other. The viewings of these beautiful animals kept getting more and more exciting from the moment we arrived on scene. One...

M/V Sea Lion and her passengers witnessed some pretty amazing Southern Resident Killer Whale activity today! We had only to travel a bit south to Cattle Pass to catch up with a large group of J's and L's that were headed west (unfortunately, it looked like they were heading out of the Salish Sea through the Strait of Juan de Fuca). At first sighting, they appeared to be traveling rather quickly, spread out and sporadically slowing down to forage for their main food source, Chinook...