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

Today was a fantastic day spent in the Salish Sea. The sun was shining, the water was calm, and we had wildlife to find! Leaving the dock in Friday Harbor we had no reports of whales in the area, but we didn’t let that dampen our spirits. Reports can change and come in at any time, so we elected to head north on a search pattern.

Just after we left the dock Captains Erick and Brian got a report of a whale to our east, we quickly ducked...

Erick | Monday, March 25, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

It felt a little bit more like normal springtime weather today. There was a heavy grey cloud cover that diffused all the sun light, but the good news is that the clouds were quite high up so you could still see far into the distance where Mt. Baker loomed on one side and the Olympic Mountains stretched west on the other. Captain Mike, Alex, and I took an excited group out to look for all the fun spring time wildlife in the...

Erick | Sunday, March 10, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Today we were fortunate enough to have another beautiful, sunny day. Captain Mike and I headed out with a small crew to search for the whales and other wildlife of the Salish Sea. We first dipped a little bit south around Turn Island to scan around Griffin Bay. Here, we saw a wonderful Bald Eagle perched high up in a gnarled Douglas Fir. Underneath him amidst the glassy upwelling next to Turn Island we saw a few young Harbor...

Erick | Saturday, March 9, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

If you can imagine a perfect March day, then that day was today. The sun was shining bright, there were a few fluffy white clouds hanging out above the islands, and the breeze was slight. Captain Mike, Sarah, and I took a pretty large group out aboard M/V Sea Lion. We left from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. And headed south into San Juan Channel. The channels in between the main islands of the San Juan Islands are not very...

Erick | February 23, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

As the short month of February approaches its end we do our last weekend-only trips from Friday Harbor. Once March starts we will be starting daily trips aboard M/V Sea Lion departing from Friday Harbor at noon. This Saturday, Captain Mike and I had a wonderful trip with a very small group of passengers. I think folks were afraid of the cold so it ended up being only two hardy folks aboard wanting to go out and see what was out there in...

[Sarah | 11/18/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

 On Sunday the M/V Sea Lion had one of those perfect fall trips that will sustain this whale nerd throughout the rest of the cold, rainy, dark, and long winter ahead! We set out from Friday Harbor with blue skies up above and the potential glimmer of a rumor of some killer whales in the area. In November, sometimes you have to trust your gut and follow up on rumors. We decided to head south to see what we could find.

Pointing towards the...

Piper | 7/21/18 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 AM

Captain Gabe, myself, and an awesome group of guests left the dock in Friday Harbor this morning headed toward a report of a humpback whale near Cypress Island. We made our way over the top of Lopez Island, right through the heart of the San Juans and in no time at all we’d arrived at our destination. The humpback surfaced in the distance, giving us an idea of where we should look, and as we finished our slow approach we were shocked to see...

Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and myself were excited to get out on the water and see what orcas were hanging around East Point! We had received a report of transient orcas up that way earlier and I️ was eager to see them after about two weeks of focusing on the resident orca pods. We decided to head up the San Juan Channel and into Boundary Pass getting the beautiful views of the Canadian Gulf Islands on one side and the Northern islands...

On a sunny and perfect summer day on San Juan Island like today, everyone was eager to get out on the water. As we headed up the San Juan Channel, the wind started to pick up and we were already getting a break from the summer heat on land. We had heard the same group of orcas we had seen yesterday was hanging out around the same area- North West tip of Stuart Island and around the Canadian Gulf Islands. This has been interesting to observe lately because these animals can travel and...

Jordan | June 20, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 sunset

Captain Pete, Alexandria and I journeyed out of Friday Harbor for the 5:30 sunset tour on our quest to find the whales! The M/V Sea Lion headed north up the San Juan Channel, through the Spieden Channel to the West coast of Henry Island.

Here we found a group of Southern Resident orca whales! In fact, J pod was having a wonderful time scanning the shoreline for their salmon. We watched the whales jump and spy hop and slap the water...