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Dall's Porpoises Bow Riding?! Say What Now?!!!

Laura C. | M/V Sea Lion | 11/24/2019 | 12:00pm

Sunshine radiated throughout the Salish Sea today!  The seas were beautiful, surrounded by crisp clean air that provided miles of visibility.  We headed north in the San Juan Channel, through President’s Channel and past Patos Island into the Strait of Georgia.  Patos Island is home to a bald eagle’s nest, and it was a great first stopping point to larger wildlife, as their nests can weigh up to 1 ton each!  Passengers assisted in a...

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Bigg's Killer Whales in Boundary Pass

A Magical Whale Day near San Juan Island

Olivia | September 28th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Sadly, today was my last Kestrel trip of the season with Captain Gabe and we decided early on that it was going to be epic. Being one of the first boats out on the water, we often must travel into areas where there haven’t been other boats in order to find potential whale sightings. We heard of a Humpback Whale near Battleship Island north of Roche Harbor, but decided to go scope out waters elsewhere due to the amount of boats...

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Humpback Whales in the Strait of Georgia

Synchronized Humpback Whales in the Strait of Georgia

Olivia | September 23rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 11:00am

We started off our Classic Whale Watch trip by heading north through San Juan Channel into Boundary Pass and up through Plumper Sound. As we boated along, we saw Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises swimming around in the rain. Once we started to turn into Georgesons Passage, we spotted a big Bald Eagle perched up at the top of a pine scanning the water horizon! Not only that, but about two minutes later we saw a Great Blue Heron...

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Humpback Whale in Rosario

Humpback Whale Duo off Orcas Island

Olivia | September 22nd, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

We started off our Adventure Trip by heading north through Spieden Island. To our surprise, the entire island was so lush green in just a matter of one week with the amount of rain we have gotten. We looked at Mouflon Sheep for quite a bit before heading into Haro Strait to check out the body of water to see if any whales were around. After that we headed north through John’s Pass where we saw heaps of Harbor Seals floating around...

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Transient Orcas San Juan Islands

Private Charter with Amazing Whales

Olivia | September 11th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm Private Charter

This afternoon we had a private charter of two book on, which was an absolute delight. These folks were so excited just to be on the water checking out the gorgeous scenery of our many islands. We decided to wave at the Humpback Whale still hanging out in the channel from earlier in the season and attempt to go find something black and white and moving away from us. We boated north through San Juan Channel, cutting...

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Transient Orcas San Juan Islands

Solo Orca and Humpback Whale in the Salish Sea

Olivia | September 8th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What a fun day Captain Sarah and I had with all our passengers on M/V Sea Lion! We started off the trip by heading north where we immediately began seeing Harbor Porpoises rounding San Juan Island through Spieden Channel. After taking a quick stop at Spieden Island to see Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, and heaps of Mouflon Sheep, we continued towards Stuart Island where we ran into our solo Bigg’s Killer Whale, T49A3! This goofy...

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Killer Whales in Boundary Pass

Transient Orcas Take Over Boundary Pass

Olivia | September 4th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

What an incredible day aboard M/V Sea Lion! Captain Sarah, Co-Naturalist Jordan and I headed north through the San Juan Channel in hopes to see some whale reports that were rumored from the morning. Initially we were going to head around the tip of San Juan Island and into Haro Strait, when we last minute heard of some Bigg’s Killer Whales that were closer and coming our way.

All along our trip, both heading north and later on in...

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Humpback Whales in Canadian Waters

Humpback Whale Duo Swim Across the Salish Sea

Olivia | August 14th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

For our evening sunset, we received reports of Humpback Whales heading north through Swanson Channel in Canadian waters. Because of the far distance pushing our 3 to 4 hour time frame, Captain Pete and I agreed to head straight for that area in hopes to see whales before the sun set. We traveled north through San Juan Channel, dipped into Spieden Channel watching the exotic sheep and deer peak out into the southern side of Spieden...

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Bigg's Killer Whales Near Stewart!

Bigg's Killer Whales Surround Stewart Island!!

Laura C. | M/V Sea Lion | 8/6/2019 | 5:30pm

Our evening wildlife cruise aboard M/V Sea Lion was spectacular!  We all anxiously made our way out of Friday Harbor as quickly as possible because we heard reports of orcas traveling south from Boundary Pass to Stewart Island!!  It is so exciting to hear of whales traveling so close to home!  On our way north we made a quick pit stop to see a splashing Stellar sea lion in full feeding mode around a bait ball!  The birds were the first...

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Big Male Orca Whale Near Stuart!

 

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/06/19 | 1:30pm

Today started as a gorgeous sunny day without a cloud in the sky, and it just got better. Captain Sarah, Naturalist Laura and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel up towards reports of wildlife! But, on the way, we kept finding other random wildlife!

We stopped as we saw a swarm of birds, also known as a bait ball, swirling over a sea lion! It was really cool to briefly see this Steller sea lion pop...

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