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...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Today's trip was magical! We started our trip with no firm reports of whales, so we decided to head toward the Strait of Georgia and cover some different areas than other boats were covering. We were going for a whale search. We stopped by Flattop Island, which is an important wildlife refuge. Here we saw harbor seals hauled out on the rocks and swimming around in the water. At one point, one of them even jumped...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 14, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a fantastic afternoon out in the Salish Sea! It began with humpback whales directly outside of Friday Harbor. We headed a couple of minutes south before seeing two humpback whales. They were diving at the same time and coming up to the surface at the same time. We got to see both of their flukes come up out of the water, and the whales were identified as Heather and Raptor, who are two female humpback whales. After seeing...

Alexandria | Thursday, April 11, 2019 | 12:00 | M/V Sea Lion

Today we had an awesome day on the water!  It was so awesome that we got to hang out with our group of orcas not once, but twice!   When we loaded onto M/V Sea Lion we were very excited to see what the day had in store.  We met up in the office and headed down to board our 55ft vessel.  Once on board Captain Brian and Captain Sarah introduced themselves and talked about what the game plan for the day was.

We had some...

Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/20/2018 | 02:00pm

Today we enjoyed an amazing trip spent surrounded by wildlife and the beautiful scenery of the San Juan Islands. Even though we had a bit of rain throughout the day it did not deter our sightings!

We left Friday harbor and headed across San Juan Channel towards Shaw Island. Someone had reported a possible whale tucked into one of the many coves along the shoreline. Half way across the channel… POOF! A minke whale materialized out of the...

[Naturalist Sarah – 03/15/2018 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

Lately we have had some simply exceptional days out on the water. Not only have we been treated to insane whale sightings, but we have also had magical springtime weather.

While I was cooking breakfast this morning Captain Brian called me, “Want to go find some whales? Get down to the harbor in 15.” I quickly downed my breakfast, gathered my gear, called Naturalist Rachel, and zoomed down to the harbor. With fresh cups of...

It’s the most magical month of the year! It’s Orca Awareness Month! At San Juan Safaris we believe that every month is Orca Awareness Month, but since 2006 Washington State has officially recognized our Southern Resident Killer Whales in the month of June.

The month-long, now multi-state and international, celebration was...

Today the M/V Sea Lion continued its whale-viewing streak into April with two species of cetaceans! April has been good to us in terms of weather and wildlife. We left the dock under sunny skies and with great expectations!

Captain Mike, Naturalist Rachel and I left Friday Harbor and almost immediately we were lucky enough to encounter a gray whale! Gray whales are unusual visitors for us here in the San Juan Islands. This was actually only the third or fourth gray whale I have seen...

The Salish Sea around the San Juan Islands is considered to be the premier location in the world to see killer whales in the wild. Your average whale watcher will look out across our beautiful water and say that they are looking at some really nice black and white orcas. This is true, but there is so much more going on!

The orcas that we primarily see in this area can be split into two very distinct groups, known as ecotypes. These ecotypes are not only genetically distinct...

Today was one of those days that comes maybe but once a summer here in the Salish Sea, and Captain Mike, myself and some lucky passengers were fortunate enough to see some incredible examples of our local wildlife.

We left the dock at exactly noon (despite a slightly tardy naturalist) on the trusty Sea Lion and headed South out of Frdiay Harbor through the San Juan Channel. As soon as we left the harbor, the show began with sightings of some harbor seals and about six playful harbor...