Tuesday, June 5, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 Noon

When we left the dock today there were no reports for orcas in the Salish Sea, so our plan was to head north toward Boundary Pass to see what we could find, but just as we rounded Point Caution to the north of our little town, the radio sounded off with great news! A group of Bigg’s killer whales had been sighted south of Lopez Island! Captain Gabe, naturalists Rachel, Mariana, and myself turned the boat around and headed south...

Saturday, June 2, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 Noon

 When Captain Gabe, lead naturalist Captain Sarah, new naturalist Jordan, and I pushed off the docks this afternoon, we never could have imagined the incredible sight we were about to witness. There were reports of orcas to the north, so, leaving the marina we turned left up San Juan Channel. Just as we rounded Point Caution we spotted a bald eagle perched atop a conifer overlooking the sea and stopped to get a closer look.

We then...

Today guests aboard M/V Sea Lion were treated to an awesome day out on the water with a humpback whale!

The trip started out gorgeous, it was a sunny day and the islands were looking photogenic as ever!  Guests boarded M/V Sea Lion and headed north beginning our search for whales.  Captain Mike received reports of humpbacks on the east side of Orcas Island, so we headed over to Rosario Straight to see what we could find!  Sure enough once we got on scene our first views were of a...

[Thursday, 5/31/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Noon - Naturalist Erick]

On Thursday, the grey morning broke into a sunny afternoon. Captain Mike and I took a wonderful group of folks out to search for wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north once again through San Juan Channel and Spieden Channel and eventually ended up in Haro Strait. Here, we saw several blows in the distance and as we approached we could see the black fins rising and going down into the water. It was a fairly large group...

[Wednesday, 5/23/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

This Wednesday, Captain Pete and I headed north on another bright sunny day to the north. We made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island. Here, is a normal haul-out spot for Steller Sea Lions. Today, there was still around 8 left. They were all males of different ages lounging on the sunbaked rocks of the point. Soon though, all of these massive Steller Sea Lions will be gone as they migrate northward to their...

[Sunday, 5/20/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

On this sunny day in May, Captain Mike and I took a lovely group of folks out to look for some great wildlife. We headed north through Boundary Pass, up Plumper Sound, and through the windy cliff-bordered waterways of Georgensen Pass into the Strait of Georgia. Out in the the middle of the Strait there were three adult Humpback Whales gathered round each other! They were super close to each other and were gently swimming...

This past evening we all boarded M/V Sea Lion for the first official Sunset Whale Watching Trip of the season!  Myself and Captain Mike were both excited, as this is such a beautiful time to be on the water. 

When we initially headed out, there were no firm reports about what was happening on the water, but Captain Mike had an awesome game plan, and it certainly paid off!  We headed east towards Rosario Strait, and within minutes of being in search mode, we spotted two humpback...

Saturday, May 19th | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

On this sunny May day Captain Mike, naturalist Rachel and I headed north with a great group of folks, up through San Juan Channel and Boundary Pass, searching the Canadian waters under South Pender and Saturna Islands. We got all the way over to the east side of Tumbo Island, part of the Southern Gulf Islands, where we spotted a humpback whale traveling northwest along the coast.

When we saw this behemoth’s flukes we could tell it was a BCX...

Thursday, May 17th | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

Pushing off the docks in Friday Harbor this afternoon, Captain Mike took the Sea Lion to the north, toward Spieden Island, where we found a few remaining Steller’s sea lions lounging on Green Point, savoring the last seconds of laziness before making the trek to Alaska for their breeding season.

Moving through New Channel and up John’s Pass we spotted quite a few bald eagles perched on trees and soaring overhead! We continued up through...