Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 7/18/17, 6:00 pm Tour

Today's sunset trip was a real treat for those of us on M/V Sea Lion. As we pulled away from the dock in Friday Harbor, we were excited to venture out and meet up with some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales that had been sighted earlier near the southwestern side of San Juan Island. These whales were members of L-pod, one of the three Southern Resident Killer Whale pods that we see out here in the Salish Sea. J-pod and K-pod were...

[7/17/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 PM]

Another day out on the water here in the beautiful Salish Sea!  We left our dock in Friday Harbor and headed to the North West side of Orcas Island.  Once we got to that area we found a couple different families of transient killer whales, but we focused our attention on the T77’s. 

The T77’s have five individuals in their family, T77, who is the 36-year-old matriarch of the group, and all of her offspring.  Her youngest kiddo, T77E, is about a year...

(7/15/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 PM and 5:30 PM)

Another day on the water with whale calves!  We saw the same two families of whales on both our afternoon and sunset trip departing from Friday Harbor, the T34’s and part of the T37’s. 

These individual whales have been hanging out in near the San Juan Islands for the past few weeks, but today they were North of San Juan Island in Canadian waters.  On our first trip we watched the whales in the lower portion of the Strait of Georgia.  By...

[Sarah M. – 07/16/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 01:30pm]

The M/V Sea Lion set out on another magical day in the Salish Sea. We had calm waters, blue skies, and whale reports! As has became the norm this year, we had orcas reported in an unusual location and we ended up weaving through the inner islands towards Rosario Strait and the Pea Pod Islands.

We were lucky enough to encounter the T037Bs and T034s traveling with T037. We had a lovely time watching the whales as they hunted in...

Lauren Fritz, 07/16/17, M/V Sea Lion, 5:30 pm Tour

What an incredible evening trip! Sunset is one of the most scenic times to be out on the water - and today, the water was pure glass. The San Juan Islands have this magic about them that createst the most beautiful pastel colors at sunset and dusk, and watching orcas swim through these periwinkle waters is a memory our guests on board will most likely never forget!

This evening, we encountered a few different orca pods. The T46's were one of the...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 07/13/2017, 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm Tour

Today was an incredible day on the water. M/V Sea Lion ran two tours out of Friday Harbor today, each with some spectacular sea and weather conditions and some great sightings of killer whales, harbor seals, bald eagles galore, and an exploration of some unique aspects of our marine ecosystem out here in the Salish Sea - like our amazing bull kelp forests and nutrient-dense waters. I've compiled and editted some of my favorite...

[Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 7/12/17, 1:30PM] Yesterday, Captain Mike, Sarah, and I took a full boat of eager folks out ot search for some whales. Sometimes the whales are a little bit harder to find than other days. Even though whales are massive creatures, even Humpbacks the bigger ones around here pale in comparison to the immense amount of water that they swim in. We headed south through San Juan Channel, out through Cattle Pass, and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The strait is one...

7/9/17 – Sea Lion 1:30 PM Departure

Today on our afternoon sea lion trip we were lucky enough to watch some transient orcas.  Transient orcas have been the name of the game this whale watching season, which is giving our guests and naturalists a good opportunity to observe the differences in the transient and resident behavior and physiology.  One major difference is their pod make-up or social groupings.  Resident orca pods are made of an entire extended family...

7/10/17 – Sea Lion 1:30 & 5:30 PM Departure

We spent the day out in Rosario Strait watching one unidentified sub-adult humpback whale.  Guests commonly ask us how we find our whale sightings and if we go to specific areas each day.  San Juan Safaris is a part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, which is a prestigious company dedicated to ensuring the highest quality ecotourism out in the Salish Sea.  With that comes the variety of whale watching companies leaving from 19...

[7/11/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30PM]

Ohhhh what a day to be out on a whale watch! The reports were already great as we left Friday Harbor, but we almost didn’t even need them- whales were seen passing by Friday Harbor just as our trip was ready to depart!

After only about 15 or 20 minutes, we were on the scene with a group of transient killer whales. They were quickly dodging about and deciding which ways to travel. They were separated into 3 or 4 small groups with about 10 whales total...