Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Gabe and I were excited to get on the water with two great reports already within our reach. Headed out the harbor, we decided to go south towards Victoria, where a report of transients, not yet ID’ed, had been picked up. Taking the challenge and curious to see who these animals were, we quickly went down San Juan Channel. 

As we exited the channel through Cattle Pass, we made a pit stop at Whale rocks to greet our Steller Sea lions and even got...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with naturalist Jordan, Captain Gabe and I were ready to get out on the water on this beautiful September day! After a smokey August, September was starting out pleasantly- sunny and warm days. After around three weeks of not seeing the southern residents in our waters, they had finally came back in. Gosh! We missed them! 

There were reports of a subgroup of L-pod around- the L12s not too far away from the harbor. The rest of the residents were...

Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Mike and I were excited to get on the water with a report of transient orcas already moving East from us. About an hour travel time for us to get on scene with these whales, Mike and I were eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed. 

As of earlier, the day had been calm and sunny but now the wind was starting to pick up and the clouds were starting to show up. On our way over to these whales, we crossed San Juan Channel to take...

[Sarah | 08/22/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 01:30 Classic Tour]

On Wednesday Captain Pete, naturalist Mariana, and I ventured out on the Salish Sea under smoky conditions. Though we have had record smoke from the surrounding area’s wildfires and light wind conditions making the smoke hang over the islands, our wildlife sightings have been unaffected.

We left Friday Harbor and headed south through San Juan Channel, catching glimpses of harbor porpoise and seals as we cruised through the flat...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with Cpt. Pete, naturalist Erick and I were excited to get on the water on this beautiful day with a report of orcas almost within our reach. Eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed we took off hopeful to get to see these animals.

As of earlier, only one whale sighting from way up north had been reported. With no other reports in our area, we quickly headed up the San Juan Channel with plans to take Boundary Pass into the Strait...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the crew had quite a day today! Heading out Naturalists Eric, Captain Gabe, and I were struggling to decide what group of orcas to go watch! There being a couple of reports of whales nearby from other boats, we decided to go through Upright Channel to the north side of Lopez to encounter a group. There were two young transient orca in this group traveling apart from their pod, which was further southwest. This was not typical behavior of two...

Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion with Captain Pete and naturalist Eric, I️ was excited to be on the water on such a sunny August day after a couple of foggy ones. There was a report of a humpback not too far away from us, so we decided to head that direction. 

Headed up north towards Waldron Island, we took a left out of the harbor into San Juan Channel. The guests were enthusiastic and many seemed very interested to learn about the conservation efforts being carried out...

It was a beautiful day to be out on the water and even better, Jpod had just came in yesterday after a few days of being gone. Captain Pete, naturalist Rachel and I️ were really excited to get out on the water although a very chilly day for August and a bit rainy. As we left Friday harbor, there were reports of the orca on the west side moving up the San Juan coast, so we decided to round the northern tip of the island and head south to encounter them. 

Headed up the San Juan...

Jordan | August 14, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip

Today was another hazy day which made the surrounding islands seem almost dream-like! As Captain Pete, Alexandria and I set out of Friday Harbor, we headed south down through the San Juan Channel, past Cattle Point and west towards the Canadian islands. As we reached Beaumont Shoal off the coast of Discovery Island, we found our whales!

Here we found a small pod of transient (Bigg’s) whales! The T2Cs were moving incredibly slowly at...

Leaving the harbor aboard M/V sea lion with captain Pete and naturalist Piper, we were headed East today to check out some transient orcas! Although a bit smokey out, the visibility was good and the sun was still shining. On the bright side, the sunlight through the smoke gives the water a beautiful orange tint making whale sightings even more epic. Headed inter island towards the north side of Cone islands, we were excited to see our summer transient orca residents- the T65As whom...