What a great day we had on the water today!  It was absolutely beautiful out on the water when we left the dock today!  As we were heading out of Friday Harbor we knew of reports up north off Saturna Island.  Captain Brian, myself and Piper all were excited because any day that we are able to start a trip off with a sighting report is a good day! 

As we were heading out we knew it would be a longer haul to make it up into Saturna Island, but we wanted to make sure that we allowed our...

[Sarah | 05/03/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

We had an incredible day on the water today from Friday Harbor. This time of year the we say that the chances of seeing orcas are 50-60%, but we have been having a spectacular early season seeing whales on over 80% of our trips. Though it doesn’t happen every day, before we even left the dock we had a report of some killer whales close by in San Juan Channel!

Captain Brian, Captain Erick, and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor...

M/V Sea Lion | Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

We had a nice small group of guests today onboard M/V Sea Lion!  As we were boarding for the trip it was pretty overcast but once we hit the water the clouds started to clear and the sun worked its way out!  It was a little breezy through parts of this trip so it was so nice to have the beautiful sunshine while we were out on the water!

Once we hit the water we had heard murmurs of Resident Orcas up north.  Unfortunately...

*I’d like to start this blog off by apologizing for my overzealous and excessive use of “amazing,” “incredible,” and “awesome” but after a day out on the water like today, no words can truly do it justice.

What an AMAZING day it was today!  We had such an incredible trip!!!  We started off the day with reports of orcas in Rosario Strait (on the East side of Orcas Island).  We headed through Thatcher Pass and continued over to Rosario Strait but were so excited when we met up with J-...

Erick | Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

What a beautiful day!! Captain Pete, Sarah, and I set out with a wonderful group of folks to look for fun wildlfie out in the Salish Sea! It was beautifully sunny and calm today as we headed north. We started by going through Spring Pass and President Channel in between Waldron and Orcas Islands. Just as we reached the eastern entrance to this channel we got to see quite a few Harbor Porpoises fishing around Point Doughty. These...

[Sarah | 04/29/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was yet another spectacular day out on the water in the San Juan Islands. We had amazing weather for a super long trip to find killer whales, and it was worth every moment on the water! Captain Pete and I decided to head south out of Friday harbor and, boy, did it pay off!

We travelled south through San Juan Channel and Griffin Bay popping out of Cattle Pass into the wide expanse of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The sky was a bright...

Piper | 04/28/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

I'm back for another season on San Juan Island and what a great day to kick off the summer aboard the M/V Sea Lion! Captain Pete and I were onboard with a great group of folks today, the sun was shining bright, and the wind had relaxed after a very breezy Saturday. We started off the day with a report of orcas near Sucia Island so when we left Friday Harbor we headed north through San Juan Channel. Just before entering President Channel we...

[Sarah | 04/25/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was the day! The day we have all been waiting for! Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I have been talking about the day we would finally see a humpback whale in the 2019 season and that day was today!

Captain Pete and I had no reports of cetaceans when we left the dock in Friday Harbor. Undiscouraged we decided to head east, interisland, to search some waterways that hadn’t been looked at by any whale watchers yet...

[Sarah | 04/24/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Springtime in the San Juans is absolutely magical. The Salish Sea is in flux and there is such an interesting mix of our overwintering wildlife still lingering and some of our summertime species just arriving to our nutrient-rich waters. These conditions make the spring one of my favorite times to be on the water as the ecosystem is so incredibly dynamic and you just never know what you’ll see or where you’ll end up.

We started our tour...

Stellar Sea Lions

Today was a great trip.  While we didn’t have any reports of any whales within our range we still had a great time on the water!  We all boarded M/V Sea Lion knowing that we didn’t have any firm reports of whales so we decided to hear north up San Juan Channel.  We continued up past Pender and Saturna Island- both on the northern side of Boundary Pass.  Boundary Pass is part of the border that separates the United States from Canada which meant that on this trip we...