Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

(Naturalist Rachel- Friday, April 30- M/V Sea lion)

Today we were lucky to have reports of Orcas just north of San Juan Island.  We headed out of the harbor and came across a few bald eagles in flight, a majestic sight to be seen!  Not too long after that we found a group of transient, or Bigg’s Killer Whales, just off of Yellow Island.  The group of whales were the T2C’s, a family of whales that have been seen quite a bit during the spring season.  This particular family is...

Today I want to write about the foundation of the entire food chain in the Salish Sea as well as all the worlds ocean.  That’s right, I’m talking about plankton!  There are two types of plankton that exist: phytoplankton, tiny plants, and zooplankton, tiny animals.  Because phytoplankton are in fact plants, they are going spend a majority of time at the surface of the water in order to have access to their main food source, the sun.  These animals are going to photosynthesize in...

Naturalist Rachel, M/V Sea lion, March 28, 2018      

Today we were lucky to find an abundance of wildlife in the San Juan Islands.  First we headed to Spieden Island where we saw a large haul out of Steller’s Sea Lions.  We also spotted some non-native sheep as well.  We then went up to Canada where we saw a lone Pacific white sided dolphin, commonly referred to as lags.  This was the first time in multiple years that either Brian or I had observed these charismatic creatures.  This...

[Sunday – 3/25/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

      On Sunday here in the islands Mike, Sarah, and I took a great group of folks out to see what we could find in the cool waters of the Salish Sea. We started north through San Juan Channel and towards the outer islands of this little archipelago. We squeezed in between Jones and Orcas Island and took a quick stop to take a peek at some Harbor Porpoises. These are the most common and also the smallest cetaceans (whales...

[Friday -  3/23/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

     This Friday, Captain Mike and I took ourselves with a great group of guests out on a little adventure. We headed north on this nice spring day and pointed towards Spieden Island. We were on a search for exciting wildlife and our first stop was the eastern end of Spieden Island, called Green Point. Here we found one of the Steller Sea Lion colonies in the San Juans. This colony is only here in the winter months and...

 M/V Sea Lion, March 26, 2018

            Today on our trip aboard M/V Sea Lion we had an amazing encounter with Dall’s Porpoises!  These cetaceans are some pretty cool animals that we occasionally have the pleasure of seeing on our trips!  And today they treated us to an absolutely awesome viewing! 

            On our way north into Strait of Georgia we had a pod of Dall’s Porpoises join us for a play date!  This pod of about 15-20 Dall’s Porpoises started riding the wake and...

Saturday, March 24th | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Under today’s blue skies the M/V Sea Lion took to the Salish Sea with Captain Mike, naturalist Erick, myself, and a boat full of enthusiastic visitors! We pointed our sights north in search of whales and wildlife and soon found ourselves at Green Point on Spieden Island watching a raft of Steller’s sea lions frolic in the currents. These giants must have thought the M/V Sea Lion was one of them because as we floated there we were treated...

[Monday, 3/19/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

            Again, today, it was beautiful and sunny, and the green waters of the Salish Sea greeted us placidly. Sometimes this great weather is too much. Captain Mike, myself, and a newbie, Alexandria headed out with a great group of folks to find some fun creatures out in the wilds of the sea. We headed north to the place where we had spotted some orcas earlier that morning in San Juan Channel. We soon found them again...

[Sunday, 3/18/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday started like most days this spring. It was a little cloudy, the water was super calm, and Captain Mike and I went looking for some whales and other amazing wildlife in the waters around San Juan Island. We headed north and pointed towards Boundary Pass which is the border between Canada and the U.S. As we approached Java Rocks and Saturna Island we started to see a few dorsal fins emerge above the surface. They...

[Saturday, 3/17/18 - 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

     We were blessed with yet another sunny day for this year’s St. Patrick’s Day. Captain Mike and I headed out again with a great group of guests and looked northward for exciting wildlife in the San Juan archipelago. We first stopped at Green Point on Spieden Island and looked at a large group of Steller Sea Lions rafting and swimming in the strong current streaming off of the point. This...