[Friday, 3/16/18 - 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

     We have been experiencing a long sunny break from our normal drizzly spring weather and it seems to be bringing out all the natural spring activities in full force. Flowers are blooming, there are little lambs running around everywhere, and the birds have started to migrate back north. On this lovely, sunny day Captain Mike and I took our small group of guests out to search for some fun wildlife. We headed north towards...

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

This Saturday, we headed out again on another rare, sunny spring day! Captain Mike and I took our small group of guests north towards the outer islands of the San Juans and the Southern Gulf Islands of British Columbia. We made our first stop at Green Point (the eastern-most point on Spieden Island just north of San Juan). Here at Green Point is a favorite haul out spot for our largest pinniped species and the largest Sea...

10/4/17- M/V Sea Lion- 12PM

One common topic of conversation during our whale watching trips is Spieden Island, previously known as Safari Island. 

Spieden Island is the largest privately owned island in the San Juans.  It is roughly two miles long, so it is pretty substantial to say the least.  There are many rumors of who currently and previously have owned this island but one story in particular is best known.  Back in the 60’s three brothers, who were taxidermists, purchased the...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel, 8/9/17, 2:00PM]

On our afternoon trip for the day, Gabe and I and all the lovely folks aboard started another exciting search for some cool marine wildlife. Our first stop was one of our favorites. We motored down to Whale Rocks. These two Islets emerge from the waves of Cattle Pass just southwest of Lopez Island. You can see them from the shores of both Lopez and San Juan, and when they are covered by our favorite pinnipeds you can definitely...

[8/15/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 5:30PM]

Some days, whales are juuuust out of reach from us, and that is okay! We understand that the animals we are searching for are wild, and orcas can actually swim 35 mph and travel up to 100 miles in a day! We always want to see whales, but we also have a great deal of other amazing wildlife that fills these islands in the Salish Sea that we want to share with travelers. We actually have 4 species of baleen whale, 2 species of dolphin...

Yesterday, we saw a wide diversity of marine mammals. We cruised around the northern San Juan Islands and even went into the Gulf Islands of Canada for a quick bit. We saw a few Harbor Porpoise including a calf which was super tiny and super cute. We also saw several tons of Harbor Seals laying on the rocks around Flattop Island and swimming and twirling in the water. A young one pooped up and took a few minutes to check us out checking him out. We also saw all three species of the...

On Sunday, Captain Mike, myself, and Hannah set out on yet another sunny adventurous day in the Salish Sea. It was a wee bit windy down south, so we headed north to search within and on the northern edge of our little archipelago here. We skimmed past Orcas Island and Waldron Island two of our taller islands and definitely the ones with enormous coniferous trees hanging on desperately onto the rocky cliffs that rise from the dark blue waters. We approached the Patos Island lighthouse...

On Sunday, we had a great group on the Kittiwake and weather to match them. Capt. Jim and I took them to the west side of San Juan Island in search for the Southern Resident Killer Whales. We headed north and soon found most of K pod near the County Park. We saw Tika (K-33), Lobo (K-26), and Cappuccino (K-21) right off the bat. They were easy to spot because of their huge, adult, male dorsal fins or almost huge in the case of Tika - he's still growing. We stayed with K pod for awhile...

What a trip! Today the Sea Lion left the dock crewed by Captain Mike and Naturalists Mike and Alex. Despite a few clouds, our full boat of passengers was super excited to see some wildlife! Fortunately for everyone on board, a group of Transient Orcas was spotted up north in Canadian waters. Eager to see them, we sped north! Along the way we saw a few harbor seals watching our progress as well as a bald eagle flying overhead, but we only slowed down when we began looking for a...

We caught up with a group of Transients today near South Pender Island, British Columbia  (48°44.01N 123°18.00W). Initially we paralleled the path of a group of 4 whales, which included 2 large bulls.  At one point we were traveling 10 knots to keep up with them!  The group slowed and synchronized their dives as they approached a second group of transients milling near a shoal.  The whales suddenly became very active on the surface with several partial breaches, tail-lobbing...