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...

09/29/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Today our guests were lucky enough to see a J pod party out on their whale watch!  We left Friday Harbor and headed down South toward Smith Island. 

On our way we stopped at Whale Rocks to see some Steller’s sea lions.  These guys are back in full force with dozens of individuals all over the rocks.  The Steller’s are one of my personal favorite animals to watch in this area.  There are pretty predictably at these rocks and they are always so many different...

09/25/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Today was a magical day out on the water, our guests were spoiled!  We headed South towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca and stopped to see some Steller’s Sea lions along the way.  Although these animals are amazing to see in action they don’t smell too great. 

We continued on and headed towards the city of Victoria through the glassy waters of the strait.  We made it just South of Race Rocks and spotted a humpback whale.  This humpback whale was a brit...

[Naturalist Sarah – 09/23/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm & 04:00pm]

With recent beautiful weather and the incredible wildlife sightings we made a late decision to add a sunset trip to our schedule. It was such a treat to spend even more time out on the water at this magical time of year.

12:00pm Whale Watch

We left Friday Harbor and headed east through Upright Channel… we had a report of Southern Resident killer whales travelling south through Rosario Strait. Working together with the...

09/23/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

We had great reports leading up to today’s trip!  We headed South via San Juan Channel, towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where we had reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales traveling West. 

On our way towards the whale reports we stopped at whale rocks to look at some Steller’s Sea Lions.  These huge animals, roughly 12 feet long and 2,500 pounds, were soaking up some sun on the rocks.  It is so nice to have these pinnipeds back in the...

09/22/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Today we left Friday Harbor on a beautiful fall day, with a slight overcast and glassy seas.  We first got to see some harbor seals hauled out on some rocks off of Lopez Island.  We then headed to whale rocks where we got to see some Steller’s Sea Lions in and out of the water. 

As we were heading towards our orca reports for the day, we saw a big bait ball that intrigued us, so we made a pit stop.  We were lucky enough to see some minke whales lunge...

09/17/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Today was a wet one!  We had a rainy day on our hands, but thankfully whales area already wet so the rain doesn’t bother them. 

We left Friday Harbor and made a cruise around Spieden Island where we saw three Steller’s sea lions swimming in the water.  We also saw some of the exotic terrestrial animals that reside on the island as well as we cruised by.  We then headed to the North side of Orcas Island, where we spotted the T100’s and the T101’s.  The T101...

09/13/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

Our resident whales still seem to be sticking around!  We haven’t seen much of our resident whales this summer because of our record low salmon run, but today our guests were treated with the opportunity to see L pod. 

We headed down San Juan Channel and found the whales in Cattle pass.  When we first arrived we saw a few breaches and some other displays of social behavior.  The whales then shifted to a fast travel pattern while heading towards the...

09/11/17- M/V Sea Lion- 12PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports that our resident whales were still in the area.  We headed towards salmon bank, a common feeding place for the whales, to take a look. 

We came across the five females and juveniles that make up the L12’s.  The male of the family L41, was a little further South from the reset of the group.  It is not uncommon for the whales to spread out long distances for feeding in order to cover more surface area.   The...

09/10/17- M/V Sea Lion- 12PM

Today our guests were lucky enough to spend some time with our southern resident killer whales.  These animals were not in the area for 29 days prior to their recent arrival, so our guests were exceptionally fortunate to get to hang out with them. 

The orcas were on the south side of San Juan Island, near false bay, so we headed around San Juan channel and stopped at whale rocks to see some harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions.  We are finally seeing our...