Wednesday, May 16 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 Noon

The M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor today and headed south into the glorious San Juan sunshine towards a report of two humpback whales near Salmon Bank, just off Cattle Point. Captain Pete, naturalist Rachel, myself, and our guests arrived on scene to find a giant humpback whale pectoral fin waving in the air! Humpback pectoral fins are up to 15 feet in length and we watched as this animal showed us its left pec, then its right pec, then...

[Thursday, 5/3/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

May is here and things are beginning to feel more and more like summer. More staff are arriving back and even Captain Pete has returned from his journeys around the world. Captain Pete tagged along with us on this trip as Captain Mike and I took folks out on another sunny day in the islands. We started by heading north and looking in the places where there is food for the whale species and types that we usually see during springtime...

[Friday, 5/4/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

May the Fourth Be with you!

Today, Captain Pete and I headed north to ply the waters of the Salish Sea and look for incredible wildlife. Yesterday, we heard of some Humpback Whales hanging out in Birch Bay so we headed in that direction. On the way there just as we exited Presidents Channel we saw a fairly large group of Harbor Porpoises hunting in a prominent current line. These little ones are the area’s smallest...

[Sarah – 04/25/2018 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

Yesterday’s noon whale watch was perfection: full of tons of wildlife, b-e-a-utiful blue skies with sunshine, and of course, whales! Captain Brian, Erick, and I were excited to explore the Salish Sea with our group of intrepid guests.

Heading north around San Juan Island we decided to cut straight to the chase, and ducked into Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan to follow up on an early report of killer whales traveling north. We met...

[Sunday, 4/22/18 – Sunday – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday, we were again blessed with another high-pressure system bringing cool, blue skies, and a sunny day. There was only on teeny cloud that traveled its way across the islands. Captain Mike, myself, and great group of humans hopped onboard the M/V Sea Lion and headed out to do what we do every day…to find some amazing things! We headed north towards the outer islands and the Canadian border. Since it was a nice...

[Saturday, 4/21/18 – M/V Kestrel – 1:00PM – Naturalist Erick]

The past few weeks we have started running trips on our adventure vessel, M/V Kestrel. This craft is a RIB, a Rigid-Hulled Inflatable Boat, and can go pretty fast, around 30 – 40 knots. We suit up in these dope red and black exposure suits and head off. Captain Brian and I took a full group of folks northward to go search for somefun and exciting wildlife. This Saturday was sunny with a little breeze. We made our first...

(Naturalist Rachel- Friday, April 30- M/V Sea lion)

Today we were lucky to have reports of Orcas just north of San Juan Island.  We headed out of the harbor and came across a few bald eagles in flight, a majestic sight to be seen!  Not too long after that we found a group of transient, or Bigg’s Killer Whales, just off of Yellow Island.  The group of whales were the T2C’s, a family of whales that have been seen quite a bit during the spring season.  This particular family is...

[Sunday – 3/25/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

      On Sunday here in the islands Mike, Sarah, and I took a great group of folks out to see what we could find in the cool waters of the Salish Sea. We started north through San Juan Channel and towards the outer islands of this little archipelago. We squeezed in between Jones and Orcas Island and took a quick stop to take a peek at some Harbor Porpoises. These are the most common and also the smallest cetaceans (whales...

Saturday, March 24th | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Under today’s blue skies the M/V Sea Lion took to the Salish Sea with Captain Mike, naturalist Erick, myself, and a boat full of enthusiastic visitors! We pointed our sights north in search of whales and wildlife and soon found ourselves at Green Point on Spieden Island watching a raft of Steller’s sea lions frolic in the currents. These giants must have thought the M/V Sea Lion was one of them because as we floated there we were treated...

[Monday, 3/19/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

            Again, today, it was beautiful and sunny, and the green waters of the Salish Sea greeted us placidly. Sometimes this great weather is too much. Captain Mike, myself, and a newbie, Alexandria headed out with a great group of folks to find some fun creatures out in the wilds of the sea. We headed north to the place where we had spotted some orcas earlier that morning in San Juan Channel. We soon found them again...