[6/25/17 - M/V Sea Lion - 1:30PM] The Residents are back! Parts of J pod and L pod were both spotted and heard (on the hydrophones) this morning. This is exciting! The San Juan Islands are best known for the salmon eating Southern Residents and it’s great to hear that they are back at least if only for a little while. Captain Gabe, Rachel, and I set out with a great crew to go find them. When they are around they usually have a few distinct paths that they like as they search for the...

[6/24 5:30 SL]

It's Pirate Days here in the San Juans! Folks stroll around town, flaunting their best pirate attire, skull-and-crossbone flags decorate our marina railings, there are concerts abound, and even two historic tall ships are available for sailing trips! It's been a weekend full of excitement and surprise, since it's the 1st annual festival that San Juan Island has hosted. What we didn't expect when heading out on our 5:30 whale watch was having the opportunity to witness...

[6/23/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30PM]  The sun has returned to the San Juan Islands! Not a cloud in the sky was spotted as M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor. The start of summer has been in full swing, and this was a beautiful taste of what is to come for the upcoming months.

We bobbed and weaved amongst the islands and tides, spotting harbor seals and various sea birds. After some time, we spotted quite a large pod of harbor porpoise spread out amongst the tides. Typically boat shy...

(6/22/17 - Sea Lion 1:30pm Departure)

We left Friday Harbor with a great group of guests who seemed genuinely excited to learn about the wildlife that we were going to see.  We left our dock heading up San Juan Channel, through Haro Strait and into Canadian waters.  As we were traveling we got a few great looks at some harbor seals who popped their heads up near the boat.  We also saw about four bald eagles in flight over Spieden Island.  We made it into the Canadian Gulf Islands...

[6/20/17 ~ Sea Lion 1:30 Departure]

Yesterday was a record-breaking day for me aboard the M/V Sea Lion. I've been pretty far north before, close enough to see the skyscrapers of greater Vancouver, but yesterday I was lucky enough to go even further north into the Strait of Georgia. Lead by a report of two familiar humpback whales in the Strait of Georgia, and no whales closer by, Captain Gabe took us full speed up to the water northeast of Galiano Island. 

Thankfully, the day was...

Lauren Fritz, Naturalist, M/V Sea Lion, 6/20/17, 1:30 pm & 5:30 pm tours

Anyone who's around me long enough has fallen victim to my ramblings about how amazing humpback whales are. I spend a significant portion of my year with these whales down in Maui, one of their main breeding grounds, so it's very exciting to see them up here in one of their feeding grounds as well! It's difficult not to marvel over the amazing migration of 2,500-3,000 miles that these whales make every year -...

Today was super misty as we motored out of the harbor. We couldn’t see very far ahead as the wooded islands, water, and clouds all melded into one. We headed south through Cattle Pass and out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We first encountered a small group of Harbor Porpoise off of Hein Bank (a shallow area  that is a great feeding area for so many of the marine mammals that inhabit our waters) The group of Harbor porpoises quickly passed us as the followed a small group of fish...

(06/17/2017 -Sea lion 01:30 pm Departure)

Today we left Friday Harbor only needing to travel about 10 minutes before reaching our first pod of whales! We first encounter a group of transient, or mammal eating orcas, on the Eastern side of San Juan Island.  These whales were specifically the T36A’s as well at the T65B’s.  These two families were seen traveling together throughout the entire day today and we were lucky enough to see them complete a kill and engage in some social...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 6/15/17, 1:30 pm Tour

Wow! Today was a true PNW day, with blustery winds and scattered rainshowers. Lucky for those of us on the 1:30 whale watch tour, M/V Sea Lion was well prepared to take on some rough waters. Tucked away and cozy in our cabin, we headed out of Friday Harbor with orcas on our mind. Transients had been spotted along the northeast side of Orcas Island, by Sucia and Patos Island. We were true mariners today! It was wet, but we had so much...

[06/13/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 01:30pm & 05:30pm]

Today we had another wonderful day on the water with multiple whale reports and sunny skies. We had the pleasure of hosting two wonderful groups of guests on our afternoon and evening trips.

On our afternoon trip we headed north through San Juan Channel towards Spring Passage between Jones and Orcas Islands. Heading towards White Rock in Cowlitz Bay near Waldron Island we found harbor seals and a bald eagle out on the rocks. Both...