AMAZING views of transient orcas today! Captain Mike, myself, and the passengers aboard our sunset tour were rewarded with a multitude of spectacular sightings right outside Friday Harbor. It didn't take us long to meet up with the same transients we left during our 1:30 trip since they had moved further north in our absence.

With the sun setting at our backs, we were able to coast alongside the transients as they went about their foraging behavior. Transient orcas are marine mammal...

Working on a tip from other whale watching boats, Captain Mike, Naturalists Andrew and Heather, and a hopeful crew, departed the Friday Harbor docks and set course for the northeast tip of Orcas Island. I made it known to our guests that we were embarking on a unique cruise. The majority of the time, the M/V “Sea Lion” explores the west side of the San Juan Islands, as the southern resident killer whale pods are known to focus their activity there. But two days ago, the resident...

Captain Mike, Andrew and myself left our Friday Harbor location today and headed south through the San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass where we hoped to encounter some great whale activity. Along the way we stopped to say "hello" to my favorite small critters that are known to inhabit the Salish Sea: Harbor Seals. The harbor seals thrive on our large tidal difference here which create the upwellings they navigate through to hunt. Their whiskers on the front of their face are...

The day started off great! As we headed out into the San Juan Channel, Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin and myself along with our eager guest came across our local Harbor Seals feeding in the amazing tidal rips that develop in the Cattle Pass area. We saw close to a hundred Harbor Seals!

From there, we heading out through Cattle Pass were we encountered at least a half dozen Minke whales. Minke whales are approximately 25-30 feet long and feed in the shallower waters off the south end...

We left our Friday Harbor location today, hoping for a great day with the whales in the Salish Sea. We headed south towards Cattle Pass where we saw dozens of harbor seals having a great time foraging. From there, we headed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Haro Strait off the south end of San Juan Island where we encountered the L-12's, a smaller sub-group of the larger L-Pod (our resident killer whales). It didn't take long before we recognized L-41 otherwise known as Mega who...

Seals basking on rock outcrops. A Minke whale in Griffin Bay. A Stellar sea lion wrestling with an OCTOPUS? Yes at Cattle Pass.  Harbor porpoise on the port side! The sea lion won. Then off to Hein Bank to view a Humpback whale. One single humpback lazily coming up for air, then a 5 minute dive - going to Victoria.

What a day.

Another busy day on the water with all the familiar faces of the Salish Sea. In addition to watching Transient Killer Whales south of D’arcy Island, British Columbia (48°30.86N, 123°16.48W), we also came across a lone California Sea Lion (a rarity in the Salish Sea). He was floating with just his head, hind flippers, and one pectoral flipper out of the water, a strategy sea lions use to regulate their body temperature in these frigid 48°F waters. On our way home we picked up a...

Although the beautiful, sunny skies were replaced by clouds and grey skies today, our spirits were not dampened; we were all equipped with a sense of adventure and eager to spend the afternoon exploring the Salish Sea.  And, we were not disappointed.  Within minutes of departing Friday Harbor and entering the San Juan Channel we were rewarded with a large, male Steller Sea Lion enjoying his lunch.  The Sea Lion would emerge with a fish in his mouth, aggressively thrash the fish about...

Today’s tour was a bit different than usual, yet so refreshing! With no whale reports since the night before, we took our tour to the inner islands.

Sure the San Juan Islands are home to one of the most charismatic animals in the world, the Killer Whale, but that is not the only thing that makes them beautiful. Often times the inner beauties of these islands are overlooked, but today we allowed our guests to discover these beauties. We toured along Flattop Island, the Cactus Islands...

We had reports of Transient Killer Whales near Victoria, B.C. today.  When the animals are reported this far away we do have to do a bit of traveling but fortunately the Killer Whales were traveling east and headed our direction. 

As we were motoring through the Strait of Juan de Fuca to reach the whales we saw 5 Dall’s Porpoise.  The Dall’s Porpoise were actively foraging in the highly productive region.  After a few minutes of viewing these animals we continued on our way...