[8/15/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 5:30PM]

Some days, whales are juuuust out of reach from us, and that is okay! We understand that the animals we are searching for are wild, and orcas can actually swim 35 mph and travel up to 100 miles in a day! We always want to see whales, but we also have a great deal of other amazing wildlife that fills these islands in the Salish Sea that we want to share with travelers. We actually have 4 species of baleen whale, 2 species of dolphin...

[Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 08/15/17, 1:30 pm Tour]

We saw some rare visitors from Alaska today - the T10's! These animals are most frequently seen up north, but they decided to make a surprise appearance in the Salish Sea this week. There was a female with a large nick near the base of her dorsal fin and one of her large sons, spotted cruising along the Salt Spring shoreline today. They even surprised some campers near the shoreline of one of the provincial parks on the island -...

[8/12/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 1:30PM & 5:30PM]

Some days are just so perfect it doesn’t seem real. And when not one, but TWO trips turn out to be beautifully perfect, it’s a pretty surreal day!

Both trips saw some transient killer whales (or mammal-eating orcas), but there were two separate groups on the same path of travel! In the afternoon, we went south from Friday Harbor to Cattle Point, and there by Whale Rocks were some orcas! We viewed them briefly, and then we...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 8/8/17, 5:30PM]

            Yesterday, Captain Pete and I embarked on a beautiful sunset cruise. It was a beautiful evening. The water as we left Friday Harbor was flat calm and almost looked unreal underneath the orange sunlight of late afternoon. We’ve been having some amazing sunsets with the smoky haze that has covered the islands for a week now. The sun sets as an orange orb each night creating an extraordinary fiery sky.

This is the sky...

[Sarah C. 8/6/17 5:30 Sea Lion]

Smoky skies continue to haunt the San Juans this week, giving us an eerie backdrop to our whale watches. Paired with the setting sun, the persistent smoke makes for an overwhelmingly orange-pink atmosphere that permeates the sea, sky, and wildlife. And while we hope for a prompt resolution to the forest fires in British Columbia, we can't help but observe in awe their effects on our daily sunset whale watches from Friday Harbor.

We left the dock today with hopes of...

[8/7/17- Kelsey, Naturalist]

There is a vast expansion of seabird varieties here in the San Juan Islands that we can see on any given trip. We’ve got Common murres, Rhinoceros auklets, Pacific loons, Pelagic Cormorants, Glaucous-winged gulls… just to name a few! Some of the more rare birds are Marbled murrelets, Arctic terns, and on occasion- TUFTED PUFFINS.

There have been very few trips this season where puffins are spotted, but whenever we have had the rare chance to see one, we...

[Sarah M – 08/03/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 01:30pm & 05:30pm]

Yesterday the M/V Sea Lion had another pair of great trips in the Salish Sea. Even though we are still experiencing smoky conditions, the wildlife sightings have been off the charts amazing and unaffected by the atmospheric conditions.

01:30pm Afternoon Classic Whale Watch

Wildlife

On our afternoon trip we left Friday Harbor and headed south towards Cattle Pass, encountering harbor porpoise and harbor seals as we cruised...

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[8/1/17 5:30 Sea Lion]

Yesterday morning a family group of transient killer whales was spotted on the east side of Cypress Island heading south towards Anacortes. Identified as the T37's, this group was tracked as they hunted and milled slowly...

[8/1/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 1:30PM]

Ya know what days are the best? Days with orca whales and their babies breaching and feeding amongst calm seas with sunlight and warm weather and perfection… yes, it almost seems too good to be true. But, today was one of those days!

Coming up into Canadian waters, M/V Sea Lion and guests came up on the T37A family group of transient killer whales! A group of strong, independent sisters and mothers and a grandmother, this group of 8...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 7/30/17, 5:30PM]

On Sunday, our sunset cruise was one of the most beautiful sunsets all summer. Captain Mike and I took our group of guests south in San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass and the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We first stopped and saw some adorable Harbor Seals hauled out on rocks along the shoreline of San Juan Island. These Pacific Harbor Seals are the most common marine mammals in these waters and stay here year-round. Even so, I still...