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Adventure Tour from Friday Harbor: Bigg's Killer Whales

[Sarah | 05/04/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am and 2:00pm]

Today’s two adventure tours were super special. We got to spend the whole day exploring the Salish Sea looking for all sorts of wildlife and enjoy some incredible spring weather.

Our 10:00am trip left the dock with a rumor of killer whales around the Strait of Georgia. Reported by some fisherman, there were no commercial whale watch boats with the orcas, so we had to go on a search pattern to find them. We motored up north...

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Killer whale surfacing

Bigg's Killer Whales in San Juan Channel

[Sarah | 05/03/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

We had an incredible day on the water today from Friday Harbor. This time of year the we say that the chances of seeing orcas are 50-60%, but we have been having a spectacular early season seeing whales on over 80% of our trips. Though it doesn’t happen every day, before we even left the dock we had a report of some killer whales close by in San Juan Channel!

Captain Brian, Captain Erick, and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor...

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killer whale

Bigg's Killer Whales in the Salish Sea: Welcome home to the T065As!

[Sarah | 04/7/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today Captain Brian and I took a lovely group of guests out to explore the Salish Sea. After a few days of windy conditions, it was nice to be out on the water in relatively calm conditions. We started our day by taking a left out of Friday Harbor, pointing north on the hunt for wildlife. This time of year is still considered early season for orcas, but we have enjoyed over 75% success rate this spring, so spirits and optimism were high!

W...

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J Pod heading North

Southern Resident Killer Whales Spotted in the Salish Sea

[Sarah | 03/23/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was spectacular… there is no other way to put it. Oftentimes today the waters of the Salish Sea were so calm that the islands and tiny puffy clouds were reflected perfectly in the surface. It feels like spring all through the islands, with flowers sprouting and baby animals running around on the slope of Spieden Island. We left Friday Harbor with an early morning report of orcas spotted on the west side of San Juan Island and the...

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Humpback Whale Watching Near Seattle

Humpback North of San Juan Island

October 8- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with no reports of wildlife in our area.  So we headed out and started searching North of San Juan Island.  We saw a lot of harbor porpoise while in transient.  Thankfully we spotted a spout off in the distance.  Captain Mike headed that way and we found out it was a humpback whale cruising around.   We watched as it circled around just South of Patos Island.  This whale was most likely feeding under the water and getting...

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San Juan Island Orca Whale Watching

Whales Off San Juan Island

October 5- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with the report of orcas just off the South West side of San Juan Island.  We cruised around the area and found some harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions.  we then continued around the island and found the whales just off shore from Lime Kiln lighthouse.  We watched as the two transient families spread out looking for food.  We got to spend a lot of time with the whales and then decided to circumnavigate San Juan Island.

Our...

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Orcas Not Far From Friday Harbor

September 29- M/V Kestrel- 2:00 pm

It was a beautiful day out on the water!  We had some of our well-known transient orcas just North of Lopez Island.  We left Friday Harbor and headed that direction.  We watched as the T65A’s finished up a harbor seal meal.  We even got to see them do a few spyhops!  We decided to circumnavigate Lopez Island to see what else we could find.  We got to see a juvenile bald eagle and some of our impressive Steller’s sea lions.  After going around the...

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Killer Whales Right Outside of Friday Harbor!

Piper | 09/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

Today began as a blustery September Saturday on San Juan Island. Captains Gabe and Sarah and I hopped aboard the M/V Sea Lion with a great group of adventurers and off into the Salish Sea we went! We didn't have to go very far today, though, because we'd barely finished watching a bald eagle soar off Point Caution before we were watching a group of Bigg's killer whales meander down San Juan Channel! This group of orcas was identified based...

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Orcas Hunting Steller's Sea Lions

September 27- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

We had an eventful day out on the water!  We got a report of some transient orcas down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  We headed that way to hopefully get a look at them.  It was a bit of a drive but well worth the travel.  When we got on scene the orcas started hunting a few Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions are the largest species of sea lion in the world at a whopping 2500 pounds.  We watched as two matriarchal groups worked together to...

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Orcas in the Strait of Juan de Fuca

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of transient orcas in the southern part of Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Townsend.  We headed south of San Juan Island and came across the T137’s, a family of four mammal eating whales.  When we first arrived we saw the whales enjoying some prey-sharing time.  This is after whales have completed a kill and move on to tearing the carcass apart and sharing it among the family members.  We were also lucky enough to see some surface social...

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