M/V Sea Lion was all boarded and ready to go along with Captain Pete, naturalist Jordan and myself. The sunset trip was sounding like a good one already with a report of southern resident orca within our range. The only problem was, we didn’t know whether to head south or north to get around to the West side of the island from Friday Harbor. We were hesitant that if we went one way versus the other, they would keep moving the opposite way and away making it harder for us to catch up...

Jordan | July 22, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip

Today was one of the warmest days of the summer which made the trip all the more enjoyable as the cool sea air made our boat perfectly pleasant. Captain Gabe and I heard reports of whales toward the north end of San Juan Island heading south through the Haro Strait.

So, we set out south down the San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass, past Cattle Point lighthouse and up the west side of San Juan Island. But, before we reached the...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the Captain Gabe, naturalist Alexandria and myself had the most rewarding encounter today! Heading out for our second trip of the day, we were so excited to have seen the Southern Resident Orcas and were hoping they were still around and within our reach. Reports we were getting were not very encouraging and we were hesitant to go their way because it seemed that they were barely in our reach and moving quite fast north (opposite way of us)...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the crew had quite a day today!  Heading out Naturalists Piper, Captain Gabe, and I were so excited that the Southern Resident Orcas had not yet left our waters. There were reports received earlier that morning about a group of them spread out on the West side of the island so we were excited to go look at what pod this was. We boarded M/V Sea Lion with the biggest smiles on our face and genuine excitement to see the Residents!

After boarding...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion had quite the treat today!  Heading out Naturalists Mariana, Captain Gabe, and myself (Alexandria) were very excited about reports we had heard about Southern Resident Killer Whales in our area! We boarded M/V Sea Lion with high hopes excited to find some Ressies! 

We got on the water right away and headed toward the reports!  Quickly we were treated to some awesome tail lobs and surface action from our guests of honor!  They put on quite the show for us...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion had quite the treat today!  Heading out Naturalists Mariana, Captain Gabe, and myself (Alexandria) were very excited about reports we had heard about Southern Resident Killer Whales in our area! We boarded M/V Sea Lion with high hopes excited to find some Ressies! 

We got on the water right away and headed toward the reports!  Quickly we were treated to some awesome tail lobs and surface action from our guests of honor!  They put on quite the show for us...

Jordan | July 10, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip

What a great trip we had today! We received reports of whales traveling off of Active Pass up in Canadian waters. So, Captain Pete and I voyaged up through the San Juan Channel, past Boundary Pass, around the west side of Saturna Island and all the way up to Trincomali Channel. It was a long journey but it was definitely worth it when we found the whales!

We found two pods of transient whales, T124As and T36As, traveling together up...

Erick | 7/8/18 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30PM

This Sunday, Captain Mike, Rachel and myself took a great big group of folks out on M/V Sea Lion. We headed north through San Juan Channel and headed around Waldron Island and across Boundary Pass. We passed East Point on Saturna Island and as we continued into the Strait of Georgia we began to see blows in the distance. As we approached we could see that it was a pod of orcas! And as we spent more time with them we saw that they were...

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...

Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to work together on this rare rainy day in July on the San Juan Islands. During the summer, the islands stay dry and we usually don’t see rain until mid-September again! Without any whale reports in the area yet this morning, we decided to head North up the San Juan Channel and see what we could find. On the way up, we came close to the West side of Orcas and cut through the inside of Yellow island scanning the waters in that...