Olivia | August 17th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

If any of you have been reading my blogs, you know I have said this many times. The thing is, I’ve always meant it. It holds true to say- today was my favorite trip of the season. Yes, we all know wildlife is enchanting. You never know what you’re going to see, how active they will be, what the weather is doing, or even how your fellow passengers will respond. Today, however, hit the jackpot as Captain Erick, Co-Naturalist Laura and...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Thursday, August 15, 2019 | 5:30 PM

This evening was the greatest trip of all time. We began our trip heading south out of Friday Harbor. We went through some upwelling zones near Cattle Point lighthouse, which were bringing food to the water's surface and causing birds to gather around us. Cattle Point lighthouse marks the southernmost point of San Juan Island, and it is a gorgeous beacon. We entered into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and headed toward False Bay...

M/V Sea Lion | August 15th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

What a fantastic day we had today!  We rarely get to see our Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKWs) in our area, but today was a special day!  We started out our trip so excited because we had report that our SRKWs had been spotted off the west side of San Juan Island!

We knew that we absolutely wanted to see them if at all possible, so we started our trip heading south down San Juan Channel.  They were starting to swim...

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...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/14/19 | 1:30pm

It was a magical minke whale day!

It began with Captain Pete, Naturalist Olivia and I heading out of Friday Harbor on the Sea Lion. We boated south down through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Point lighthouse. We continued out towards the Salmon Bank, a very shallow body of water off the southern tip of San Juan Island. Here we saw something appear…

It was a minke whale! The big black back and crescent moon shaped dorsal fin emerged...

Piper | Tuesday, August 13, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

The M/V Sea Lion left the docks in Friday Harbor today carrying some lovely guests along with Captain Pete, Erin, and myself! We left the marina and headed south through San Juan Channel to meet up with a group of Bigg’s orcas that were traveling south near Admiralty Inlet. This group of killer whales were marine mammal-eating and they consisted of many generations of the same family tree, broken up into two pods of five...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Monday, August 13, 2019 | 1:30 PM

It was an absolutely wonderful trip in the Salish Sea today. We left the harbor with numerous reports of large whales in the area, so we headed towards them. We made our through the San Juan Channel and into Spieden Channel. We crossed into Haro Strait and towards Gooch Island, where we soon saw a large blow in the distance. When we got closer, we saw that it was a humpback whale. The whale was taking really short dives and not...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/12/19 | 5:30pm

What a lovely trip!

Captain Pete and I headed out of Friday Harbor and towards hopeful reports of whales! We booked it down south through the San Juan Channel, past a beautiful lighthouse off of Cattle Point and into the open waters. We boated west towards Canadian waters. We reached Vancouver Island and neared Victoria. We came pretty close to land before we found orca whales!

Here we found a pod of four whales who I absolutely love...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, August 11, 2019 | 5:30 PM 

It was a lovely evening in the Salish Sea. We began our trip not knowing which direction we wanted to head. There were whales either very southeast of us or far northwest of us. Captain Erick decided to head in the northwest direction, where there was a report of a lone killer whale. We headed up the San Juan Channel, which was quite calm. We were able to see harbor porpoises popping up around us throughout the channel. They...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/11/19 | 3:00pm

What an amazing trip!

Captain Gabe and I set out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel. We boated around the eastern tip of Speiden and towards the Cactus Islands. Here we found a bald eagle!

The eagle was devouring a huge salmon on the rocks close to the water. It was really cool watching him tear pieces away and you could literally hear him eating! But then things got interesting! Another bald eagle swooped in to...