[Sarah |11/11/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

We had an amazing day to go exploring for wildlife under clear November skies on a picture perfect day here in the San Juan Islands. Leaving Friday Harbor we decided to head south toward Cattle Pass and Haro Strait on the search for wildlife.

As we made our way through the narrow channel between San Juan Island and Lopez Islands we approached Whale Rocks, and out of nowhere the exhales of a group of orcas rose above the surface! We watched...

Sarah | 10/30/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Today we welcomed a small group of great guests on board the M/V Sea Lion for an exploration of the Salish Sea in search of wildlife. Autumn forecasts are so fickle here in the San Juan Islands, we had no idea what to expect until we left the dock. The water was glassy and we had peek-a-boo blue skies with low hanging clouds over the islands.

We headed north through San Juan Channel towards Canadian waters in Boundary Pass. As we worked our...

Sarah | 10/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

We had a great trip on M/V Sea Lion, enjoying the sweeping scenery of the Salish Sea as well as great encounters with wildlife. Heading north out of Friday Harbor, we decided to point the boat towards the Outer Islands of the San Juans, and into Canadian waters. After some rain in the morning we were treated to a high clog ceiling and even some blue skies over smooth water.

With no reports of whales or other wildlife as we left the dock we...

Sarah | 10/28/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

We had an amazing fall day on the water on Sunday’s trip. With a varied weather forecast we weren’t sure what we’d get out on the water, but for the most part we were treated to sun and beautiful cloudscapes. Captain Mike and I decided to head north out of Friday Harbor on the search for wildlife, as other boats in the whale watching fleet left their docks as well. This is an incredibly valuable network of communication that allows us to...

Sarah | 10/27/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

This time of year you just have no idea what you’ll see out on the water here in the Salish Sea, and Saturday’s trip was a great example of the amazing array of wildlife you can see in a single trip!

After leaving Friday Harbor we started encountering wildlife. Almost immediately we encountered a pair of bald eagles and a Steller’s sea lion. After some great looks with the wildlife we continued north towards Canada. On the way we stopped to...

Sarah | 10/24/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

Captain Mike and I left Friday Harbor on a beautiful autumn day here in the Pacific Northwest. We elected to head south out of the harbor. At this point in the year there are fewer boats on the water, usually running one trip a day departing at around noon. This means that we rarely have any wildlife reports before leaving the dock, and reports start rolling in as boats spread out throughout the Salish Sea.

Mike steered down San Juan...

[Saturday, 10/6/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Erick]

This Saturday, Captain Mike, Rachel, and I took a full crew of passengers out on M/V Sea Lion on a beautiful fall day! We headed out on this sunny afternoon and started going south. We made our first stop at Turn Rocks just on the other side of Turn Island. Here we saw our first marine mammals, some Harbor Seals! There was a bunch of them sunning themselves on the rocks. These little rock sausages are so adorable and sleepily looked back...

Sarah | 09/27/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am Charter

We had a marvelous morning out on the water with a private charter. We love getting private groups out on the boats because we can tailor the trip to exactly what the group wants! On Thursday that meant whales!

Captain Gabe and I loaded up our guests and headed left out of Friday Harbor, pointing north for Canadian waters. M/V Kestrel is an amazing tool for whale watching, because no matter where we have reports of whales, we can...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with Cpt. Gabe, naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to get on the water on this rainy September day with a report of transient and southern resident orcas in our area. Eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed we took off to go find these animals ourselves. 

As of earlier, the transient orca report had been spotted by kayakers and no one else, so we went to the general area to try and find them again. With no luck or dorsals in...