With little rays of sunshine the M/V Sea Lion departed from Friday Harbor once again and headed north in search of whales. On our way, we caught some good glimpses of steller sea lions and harbor porpoise! The stellers always do a good job of impressing everyone on board with their large bodies and large teeth that they readily show off while growling! We also saw plenty of their distant relatives, the harbor seal, which is about 1,800 lbs lighter than the stellers!

When we didn't...

When the M/V Sea Lion departed from the docks today it was down-pouring rain. We all stayed inside the cabin, where the heat was on to keep us warm while we weathered the storm. That however, didn't last long as we soon came upon a group of playful harbor porpoise to look at! They were all around our boat and were foraging in the San Juan Channel. And, as we continued on, we were able to see about forty steller sea lions! It was great, these guys are about 2,000 pounds of sheer fat...

On  this unusually sunny afternoon (for fall at least), M/V Sea Lion left San Juan Island and prepared to go the distance. We were on our way to Victoria, BC where there were reports of some whales! On our way out we came across some dalls porpoise in the San Juan Channel. The dalls were playing in our wake then, as quickly as they surfaced, disappeared. It was a nice surprise, and we also got to spend some time with steller sea lions!

When we got on seen in the Straight of Juan de...

Today the M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor with good reports of black and whites on the west side of San Juan Island. As a naturalist, I always like it when there is a high probability of seeing not only whales, but more specifically, Orcas. It was also naturalist, Andrew', last time on the water for the season. So, with hopes set high by myself and the guests on board we headed out towards Salmon Bank where the whales were reported to be foraging. Our hopes would be met throughout...

M/V Kittiwake departed with positive reports of Resident Orcas! Our 13 guests and myself were very excited due to the fact they have been gone for a few days. Captain Mike headed straight to the Orcas that were heading north in Boundary Pass. Once we got on scene we could see all the blows and lots of splashing, right away I knew we had a playful group. We were right in the middle of Boundary Pass when the Orcas decided to split. At that moment we had a large adult male surface near...

With another beautiful day in the San Juans, Captain Mike, Caitlin, and I were thrilled to have great guests on board the boat and positive reports of resident orcas. Captain Mike steered us north toward the south end of Pender Island in Canada. We encountered a group of about 14 orcas consisting of member of L pod and K pod. These orcas were displaying resting patterns traveling slowing north. We were able to drop the hyrophone in and listen in on their conversations! After...

As the sun beat down on Captain Craig, the guests, and I we enjoyed a cool breeze as we left the harbor. With temperatures near 80 degrees today, everyone was thankful to be out on the water! We were lucky enough to have positive reports of transient orcas in Canadian waters. We arrived on scene near Gooch Island to find about 8 transient orcas milling in a kelp bed. After traveling past Mandarte Island the orcas appeared to find something to eat! While, it all happened under...

With dense fog rolling into Friday Harbor, Captain Mike, the guests, and I headed north toward reports of Resident Orcas in Boundry Pass. The fog made everything very quiet and it was interesting to see the Islands through the wisps. Luckily, once we motored into Boundry Pass, the fog cleared and we were left with blue patches of sky and glassy waters. Once on scene, we were pleased to find that there were a plethora of whales in the area! We first viewed the L-12 matriline, and...

Caitlin, myself, and captain Mike left our Friday Harbor location today to head to the West side of San Juan Island. There is usually only one reason why we head to the West side. Yep, you guessed it! The Southern Resident Killer Whales are back and we were all VERY excited to welcome them home!

A "superpod" is a phenomenon when all 82 Resident Orcas travel together, usually to get to one area- in our case come back into the Salish Sea! Superpod days are always my favorite, and even...

It was a feast today for the T-30's, a group of marine mammal-eating orcas known as the Transient Orcas. The M/V Sea Lion motored out of Friday Harbor with perfectly still seas to meet up with six transient orcas hanging out North near the south side of Saturna Island in Canadian waters. Upon first looks it seemed as if the whales were in their usual foraging patterns, coming up for quick breaths and then going on deeper dives foraging for marine mammals beneath the waters surface...