Erick | Tuesday, September 10, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

Today, Captain Pete and I took a fantastic group of passengers out on a noon trip to search the Salish Sea for some fun critters. It was another beautiful day that was the perfect fall temperature. It started out very foggy and dripping and by the afternoon was warm and sunny. Capt. Pete and I went north and immediately saw a how bunch of Harbor Porpoises hunting in the strong currents around Point Caution! As we journeyed...

Olivia | September 8th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What a fun day Captain Sarah and I had with all our passengers on M/V Sea Lion! We started off the trip by heading north where we immediately began seeing Harbor Porpoises rounding San Juan Island through Spieden Channel. After taking a quick stop at Spieden Island to see Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, and heaps of Mouflon Sheep, we continued towards Stuart Island where we ran into our solo Bigg’s Killer Whale, T49A3! This goofy...

M/V Kestrel | Sunday, September 8, 2019 | Naturalist Erick | 11:00AM

Sunday morning started out feeling super fall with a slight breeze out of the south. Captain Gabe and I headed out a long with a few other boats to go search for fun wildlife in the crisp and sometimes foggy morning. I personally love mornings like this. Most folks visit the islands in the summer when it is always summer with days that feel like they last forever but never get too hot. As we move into fall, we get...

M/V Sea Lion | Naturalist Alexandria | Saturday, September 6, 2019 | 1:30PM

We had a great day today out on the water!  We started out our trip heading south through San Juan Channel.  Within minutes we were on scene with Biggs Killer whales that had been spotted in San Juan Channel.  We watched them as they swam back and forth off of Lopez Island trending south west. 

After spending some time with these orcas we headed out of San Juan Channel towards some of the banks in Strait of...

M/V Sea Lion | September 5th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

What a great day we had today!  We were so excited when we got on board M/V Sea Lion and knew that we had reports of orcas within our range.  To make matters even more awesome, these sightings were of Resident Orcas- an Ecotype that we have seen only a handful of times this season.  This day promised to be quit the treat!  We headed out into San Juan Channel and began the trek south to where these incredible animals were...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM | Sunday, September 1, 2019

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Sea Lion today! We travelled north out of Friday Harbor in pursuit of some killer whale reports in Canada! As we made our way toward Sidney Island, we went through some upwelling zones, which create whitewater and smooth patches. We also saw some harbor porpoises pop up in San Juan Channel. We crossed the border between the U.S. and Canada and went to a place called Hugh's Passage. After...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 9/1/2019 | 11:00am 

We had a lovely day aboard M/V Kestrel exploring the diverse wildlife found in the Salish Sea!  The radio was booming with reports of whale sightings so Captain Gabe was excited to tell passengers of the great news!  As our vessel left Friday Harbor, I was talking to passengers about the unique wildlife we were hoping to see just as a harbor seal came into view!  The harbor seal was basking on the rocks right near the harbor and was...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Saturday, August 31, 2019

It was such a beautiful afternoon in the Salish Sea! We headed south out of Friday Harbor and travelled through some very active upwelling zones. Upwelling is caused when water runs into structures that are above and below the surface. We especially see upwelling when the tide is either ebbing or flowing. The tide was flowing, so there were some areas of whitewater that were pretty intense! It is magnificent to be able to see...

M/V Sea Lion | Naturalist Alexandria | Monday, September 9th, 2019 | 12PM

We had a gorgeous day out on the water today aboard M/V Sea Lion.  We all boarded onto M/V Sea Lion and headed north up through San Juan Channel.  We had a report of a Humpback whale off of Green Point on Spieden Island.   As we worked our way out we got some fantastic looks at Harbor porpoise sprinkled throughout the channel.

It took about thirty minutes to get up to this report, and as we were getting on...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Saturday, August 31, 2019

Today was an absolutely phenomenal day full of breaching and surface-active behaviors! We headed south out of Friday Harbor with the sun shining and the water calm. We made our way down to Cattle Point. At Cattle Point, we saw some upwelling happening around us. It was incredible! We then went over to Whale Rocks, which had Steller sea lions hauled out on them and swimming around them! They are massive animals, weighing up to...