Today on this sunny trip we got to see some awesome pinnipeds!  We started our day off by getting to see celebrity Harbor Seal, Popeye,  before we even left the docks of Friday Harbor!  As we headed out we were treated to even more adorable "rock sausages" as we passed through the cactus islands.  Harbor seals are about 5 feet long and 200 pounds.  This area is at carrying capacity in terms of our Harbor Seal population- this means that our ecosystem can not support any more of these...

October 8- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with no reports of wildlife in our area.  So we headed out and started searching North of San Juan Island.  We saw a lot of harbor porpoise while in transient.  Thankfully we spotted a spout off in the distance.  Captain Mike headed that way and we found out it was a humpback whale cruising around.   We watched as it circled around just South of Patos Island.  This whale was most likely feeding under the water and getting...

October 7- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Right before we left the dock we got a report that one of our kayak guides, Clai, had found whales in Spieden Channel.  We headed that way and came across a group of whales looking for food.  We got to see them make a quick kill.  They were traveling at about 9 knots, which is a pretty fast travel pace for our orcas.  The water was so calm, it was so nice to see the whales break the surface of the water.  We headed back towards some of the other island...

[Saturday, 10/6/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Erick]

This Saturday, Captain Mike, Rachel, and I took a full crew of passengers out on M/V Sea Lion on a beautiful fall day! We headed out on this sunny afternoon and started going south. We made our first stop at Turn Rocks just on the other side of Turn Island. Here we saw our first marine mammals, some Harbor Seals! There was a bunch of them sunning themselves on the rocks. These little rock sausages are so adorable and sleepily looked back...

October 5- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with the report of orcas just off the South West side of San Juan Island.  We cruised around the area and found some harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions.  we then continued around the island and found the whales just off shore from Lime Kiln lighthouse.  We watched as the two transient families spread out looking for food.  We got to spend a lot of time with the whales and then decided to circumnavigate San Juan Island.

Our...

[M/V Sea Lion Noon Thursday 10/4/18]

Since it is October there are less trips, crisp breezes, and great fall weather. Captain Mike, Alexandria, and I took a great, full boat out with us on M/V Sea Lion. Today was bright and crisp. We headed south against the tide and went through Cattle Pass. We passed Cattle Point Lighthouse and headed southwest past Salmon Bank and pointed towards Hein Bank down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we approached the bank we started to see blows off in...

What a great day we had!  As we started out on our trip this cool fall day we knew it would be a fun trip!  We had reports of Resident Orcas on the West Side of San Juan Island, so naturally Captain Mike headed up through San Juan Channel to meet up with those orcas!  On our way we swung by Spieden Island and got some great looks at some Fallow and Sika deer as they were running and frolicking on the hillside- they were very fun to watch!

We continued over to our report of orcas and...

September 30- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of some Bigg’s killer whales off the Northeastern shoreline of Orcas island.  We cruised that direction and stopped to see a bald eagles nest along the way.  We first got on scene and discovered that the particular family of orcas was the T49A’s.  We watched as the family hugged the shoreline looking for seals.  Eventually they found a good snack and we watched as they worked together to take down and eat...

Piper | 09/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

Today began as a blustery September Saturday on San Juan Island. Captains Gabe and Sarah and I hopped aboard the M/V Sea Lion with a great group of adventurers and off into the Salish Sea we went! We didn't have to go very far today, though, because we'd barely finished watching a bald eagle soar off Point Caution before we were watching a group of Bigg's killer whales meander down San Juan Channel! This group of orcas was identified based...

Sarah | 09/28/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

September has always been my favorite month out on the water. In these seasonal transitions the ecosystem is super dynamic creating unique opportunities for wildlife viewing. On Friday we were incredibly lucky to encounter a humpback whale on our afternoon Classic Whale Watch.

Captain Mike, Naturalist Clai, and I decided to head west on our noon departure from Friday Harbor. Though sightings vary drastically day to day, recently heading...