[Saturday 02/10/2018, M/V Sea Lion 12:00, Naturalist Erick]

     And…we’re back! Saturday was San Juan Safaris’ first public trip of 2018! A high pressure system has moved into the San Juan Islands so this weekend has been sunny, calm, and a little brisk. Most folks come to see whales in the summer months for many reasons. The weather is nice, kids are off from school, and that is when we usually see the Southern Resident Killer Whales – the famous J, K, and L pods. Unbeknownst to...

[Naturalist Erick, Friday 10/27/17, M/V Sea Lion, 12:00]

All of western Washington’s coastline has jumped headlong into fall this week. We have been basking in the warm autumn sunshine and cool fall breezes that mark some of the best days for wildlife watching in San Juan Islands.

Migration Station

On Friday, we started our adventure by traveling north. Autumn means southward migration for both birds and some whale species. The past few weeks we have been seeing Humpback Whales...

10/3/17- M/V Sea lion- 12PM

We left Friday Harbor and headed towards Haro Strait, towards reports of Bigg’s killer whales in the area.  We had barely made it out of the harbor when a humpback surprised us near the shoreline of San Juan Island.  We quickly turned around to follow the animal as it traveled South East.  We watched as the humpback whale did a few diving sequences, showing us its beautiful 15ft wide tail.  We decided to keep going and head towards the orca reports. 

On...

[Alexandria – 10/02/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

This gorgeous afternoon Captain Mike, Naturalist Rachel and Naturalist Alexandria all took to the water to see what Wildlife we could find!  We circumnavigated the island which was a very unique experience, and an exciting opportunity to see the entire shoreline of the island!

A Hungry Harbor Seal

One of the most entertaining highlights from the trip was while on the West Side of the island, where a Harbor Seal put on quite the...

A Beautiful Day on the Water with the T 10s

[Naturalist Alexandria – 09/26/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

What an awesome day on the water we had!  Naturalist Courtney and myself were so excited to begin our trip today, as we knew our Captain had received reports of Transient, or Biggs Orcas, being in the area!  We eagerly greeted our new friends that would be joining us on our trip for the next few hours, boarded everyone onto M/V Sea Lion, and were off! 

It wasn’t long before we...

09/14/17 – M/V Sea Lion – 12 PM

M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor today with a group of bright-eyed guests and reports of two humpback whales just beyond San Juan Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Heading south down San Juan Channel, several shy harbor porpoises quickly surfaced just beyond our wake. These cute little cetaceans get 5 to 6 feet long and only weigh up to 200 pounds. So tiny!

As we made our way past Cattle Point, the southern-most point of San Juan Island, and into...

09/10/17- M/V Sea Lion- 12PM

Today our guests were lucky enough to spend some time with our southern resident killer whales.  These animals were not in the area for 29 days prior to their recent arrival, so our guests were exceptionally fortunate to get to hang out with them. 

The orcas were on the south side of San Juan Island, near false bay, so we headed around San Juan channel and stopped at whale rocks to see some harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions.  We are finally seeing our...

09/01/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Today some of our best known transient orcas were on the North side of Orcas Island, not a far boat ride from Friday Harbor. 

We headed up president’s channel where we looked at some beautiful seaside homes and saw some wildlife including some harbor seals and harbor porpoises.  We then headed around the North side of Orcas Island where we got a beautiful view of Mt. Baker.  Mt. Baker is about 10,500ft in elevation and is part of the Northern Cascade...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 8/31/17, 1:30PM]

            On Thursday, Captain Pete, Rachel, and I took a great group of folks out on a wildlife watching adventure! We started out by heading west towards Vancouver Island to search for large baleen whales to the south of the Canadian city of Victoria. After crossing Haro Strait we saw a blow off in the distance! As we got closer we saw a small Humpback Whale swimming near Constance Bank. This one was a young one, but that...

[Naturalist Sarah C. 9/3/17 M/V Sea Lion 1:30pm departure]

Transient orcas have been spotted in the dozens around the San Juans this week. It's not always the case that we get to choose which whale sighting we pursue on our daily departures from Friday Harbor. With multiple families spotted within our range, we chose a company favorite for today's adventure - the T65A's.

Orcas, as a species, are matriarchal, meaning that the oldest female in a family group is in charge. For...