Kelly | M/V Osprey | 8/1/22 | 12:30

It was a picture-perfect summer day as we left Friday harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. After quickly cruising up the channel, we stopped at Flattop Island. This island was bustling with wildlife! Multiple bald eagles soared over head as harbor seals lounged along the shoreline. A solo bald eagle was perched along the shoreline with its talons dug into a carcass. We watched as the impressive raptor pulled apart the animal’s flesh with...

Jordan |m/v Kestrel |07/08/2021| 2:00pm

Today was definitely one of my favorite trips of the season. Just want to start by saying thank you to all my wonderful guests! Your passion and intrigue made the trip even better!

The day began as Captain Eric and I headed East out of Friday Harbor, in between Blakely Island and Decatur and then out towards Anacortes. We sped past Anacortes and around Guemes Island. Here, we found Orcas!

We shortly identified them as the T34s and T37s! These...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 8/31/2020 | 1:30pm

Even though it is the end of August and fall is right around the corner, we had the most beautiful summer day out on the water on M/V Sea Lion!  Morale was high among passengers as Captain Erick explained at the dock that our plan was to head south today to follow a morning report of Bigg’s killer whales!  The whales had been seen by the RA buoy east of Hein Bank and were trending southeast at 5-6 knots.  With a quick calculation, we aimed to...

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...

Jordan | June 29, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 sunset trip

What a lovely sunset tour today! Captain Mike and I set out at 5:30 from Friday Harbor with a fairly decent idea of where we could find orcas!

We received reports of a transient whale pod up in West Sound, so we headed north through the San Juan Channel towards those waters. However, as soon as we grew closer, the whales took off in the opposite direction! Luckily, we were able to catch up and we met the whales in the Upright...

Isn't it amazing how family-oriented killer whales are? They wouldn't be very successful out there in the big wide ocean without their moms and sisters and brothers! Once a female orca gives birth to a calf, that calf is going to stick by her side for life. Family pods are the core unit of orca society, and they are headed by the female matriarch. She's generally a wealth of information since she's been around the longest, and she can show her family the ropes as far as where to...

Its been a prolific past 9 days marred by only been 1 day whale-less day. We've been blessed by humpbacks, transient orcas and resident orcas. For the past few days we've seen the easily identifiable T-40. Transient male dorsal fins can get up to 6 ft. tall and T-40 is all male. Born in 1961, the tip of his dorsal fin is dropping with age. It creates a natural umbrella handle or hook. Over the past few days he has been traveling with 2 companions, possibly both females or juvenile...