Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion Captain Gabe, naturalist Eric and myself were excited to get out on the water and see some orcas! We had been hanging around a humpback earlier that day and there were now reports of transient orcas up north. Although pretty far out, we were hopeful we’d be able to catch up to them and get a chance to see them on this afternoon trip! The orcas were far out by Point Roberts well into the Strait of Georgia, but Captain Gabe decided to go for it...

Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Mike, Alexandria and myself were excited to get out on the water and see what orcas were hanging around the San Juan Channel! It’s really a treat and a weight off our shoulders when the whales are right outside the harbor since sometimes we must travel two hours to even catch up to them! With high spirits, we headed North up the channel hugging the east side of San Juan island. About two miles up the coast, we saw some faint spouts coming...

Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Gabe and I were looking forward to see what Southern Residents were out on the water today. With a full boat and excited guests to get out on the water we took off South to see what we could find. There had been reports of Resident orca pods coming up the Southern tip of Lopez Island and very spread out. We headed down the San Juan Channel in hopes of encountering these animals somewhere on the south end.

 

As we crossed Cattle Pass, we...

Aboard Kestrel, Captain Gabe, myself and a full boat of excited guests, headed out for our second trip of the day! We had reports of Transients orcas down south and were curious to see what group of whales were present. We had been with a group of Southern Resident Orca earlier that morning and now were hoping to encounter some other killer whales! It’s crazy to think that in just one day, we can see two different ecotypes of killer whales in the inland waters!!

 

We headed down the...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the Captain Gabe, naturalist Alexandria and myself had the most rewarding encounter today! Heading out for our second trip of the day, we were so excited to have seen the Southern Resident Orcas and were hoping they were still around and within our reach. Reports we were getting were not very encouraging and we were hesitant to go their way because it seemed that they were barely in our reach and moving quite fast north (opposite way of us)...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the crew had quite a day today!  Heading out Naturalists Piper, Captain Gabe, and I were so excited that the Southern Resident Orcas had not yet left our waters. There were reports received earlier that morning about a group of them spread out on the West side of the island so we were excited to go look at what pod this was. We boarded M/V Sea Lion with the biggest smiles on our face and genuine excitement to see the Residents!

After boarding...

Jordan | July 10, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip

What a great trip we had today! We received reports of whales traveling off of Active Pass up in Canadian waters. So, Captain Pete and I voyaged up through the San Juan Channel, past Boundary Pass, around the west side of Saturna Island and all the way up to Trincomali Channel. It was a long journey but it was definitely worth it when we found the whales!

We found two pods of transient whales, T124As and T36As, traveling together up...

On a sunny and perfect summer day on San Juan Island like today, everyone was eager to get out on the water. As we headed up the San Juan Channel, the wind started to pick up and we were already getting a break from the summer heat on land. We had heard the same group of orcas we had seen yesterday was hanging out around the same area- North West tip of Stuart Island and around the Canadian Gulf Islands. This has been interesting to observe lately because these animals can travel and...

Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to work together on this rare rainy day in July on the San Juan Islands. During the summer, the islands stay dry and we usually don’t see rain until mid-September again! Without any whale reports in the area yet this morning, we decided to head North up the San Juan Channel and see what we could find. On the way up, we came close to the West side of Orcas and cut through the inside of Yellow island scanning the waters in that...

Captain Gabe and I headed down to the docks on the busiest day of the year in Friday Harbor- 4th of July! Unfortunately, we had not heard of any whales in our area yet this morning. With smiles on our faces and high hopes, we gathered our guests and headed up the San Juan Channel to see what whales we would be able to find this busy day on the water! At least hoping to spot some majestic bald eagles on this United States Independence Day. As we approached Flat Top Island, we stopped...