The M/V Kittywake left Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of an elusive Minke out in Griffin Bay! We soon caught up with the small whale feeding on sand lance, krill, and small schools of herring right off of San Juan Island. The Minke gave us lots of great views surfacing many times, giving our guests some great photography moments. It's always a great day when we start off seeing whales ten minuets into our trip!

After we left the Minke Whale to continue foraging, we saw some...

Today M/V Sea Lion chartered a wedding group early on leaving from our Friday Harbor location. It was a little foggy as we headed out the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass, but that soon lifted just in time for our party to see some dorsal fins in the distance! It was soon to be one of the best wedding presents for the bride and groom to be!

Or Orcas were foraging along Eagle Point, off the West side of San Juan Island. Captain Brian and I quickly identified the whales as our...

Another great day on the water for the M/V Sea Lion's passengers and crew! It started off a little daunting when the fog bank had yet to clear before our afternoon trip, but Captain Craig timed it perfectly! Once we passed the southern tip of San Juan Island the fog bank cleared and it was smooth sailing till we arrived on scene with a few members of L Pod.
Our afternoon trip got to witness excellent foraging displays by the L-12's, who were constantly corraling their prey below the...

The M/V Kittiwake departed from our Friday Harbor location today with spirits set high with an awesome whale report early on. We confirmed the report later when we got on scene with our L-Pod Orcas! It was going to be a great day!

After going through the renowned Cattle Pass and a little bit of fog, the Kittiwake made her way to the Southwest side of San Juan Island off Pyle Point. It's always a great sight to see your first dorsal fin and our guests were amazed at their grace and...

Captain Craig, Naturalist Andrew, and myself were all very excited to share with our guests that a group of resident orcas are back! As some of our readers know we haven't been seeing our resident orcas recently so this news definitely had all of our staff very excited!
We caught up with part of L-pod just north of False Bay on the west side of San Juan Island. The whales were close to shore when we first arrived but then a male surfaced closer to our boat. Andrew and I were able...

As I drove down to our Friday Harbor location today to go into work, the weather didn't look super. However, right before we went to un-dock the sun decided to make an appearance! It ended up being a gorgeous day on the water today- little to no wind, sunny, clear skies, and beautiful wildlife.

As we headed out the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass, we encountered a small Minke whale feeding on small schools of Sand Lance, Krill, and Herring. Minke whales aren't normally found...

Heading south out of Friday Harbor, we didn't have to go far to encounter our first Minke whale. There was a lone minke hanging out right outside of Griffin Bay. How great is that! Not even 5 minutes in the trip and we are already spotting wildlife! After we rounded Cattle Pass lighthouse we headed south towards Hein Bank. Sitting over Hein Bank we watched bird balls forming as they dove beneath the surface to feed on the fish just below the surface. The birds weren't the only ones...

Heading out of Friday Harbor on this gloriously sunny day, passengers and crew aboard the M/V Kittiwake didn't have to go far to meet up with some Minke Whales! Sitting over Salmon Bank we were able to kill the engine and enjoy the silence while waiting for the minkes to surface. Generally a good way to spot Minke Whales is to scan the horizon for birds feeding on bait fish below the surface. Both the Minke whales and the birds are feeding on the same type of fish. Lucky for us, our...

Another great day on the water! M/V Sea Lion didn't have to motor very far in search of whales today since they were coasting along the inside passage of San Juan Island. From Friday Harbor to the whales it only took us 8.4 minutes! Not a bad day for whale watching. Once we met up with the 2 transients, we quickly realized the individual transients were T-21 and T-20, a mother and son pair. T-20 is a mature male who has a very distinctive notch in his dorsal fin. In addition to this...

Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin and myself were lucky enough to show our 1:30 guests and our 5:30 guests a playful K-pod! We departed from Friday Harbor and headed south for both trips to meet with the orcas on the west side of San Juan Island.
Our 1:30 guests were able to see our K-pod members just off of Lime Kiln State Park. We saw several of them breaching and porpoising throughout the water. We had one large male, Lobo, follow us and guests got a great view of the 20 year old...