California Sea Lion

A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island

Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island.

We headed out of Friday Harbor going north making a stop at NWR Yellow Island, and rock outcroppings with 43+ snoozing Harbor Seals.   We made our way along the coast of Speiden Island. Often times this is a great place to spot Bald Eagles – no Eagle this time.  But we did...

No orca whale reports today, BUT as we pulled out of Friday Harbor the Captain received word of a humpback whale by Halibut Island, Canada. It took us nearly an hour to get to the location but there it was – a beautiful humpback whale. It looked as though it was feeding the entire time we were with it – almost ½ an hour. When it dove down, one could see many of the ‘knuckles’ on it’s back.  Two of the many dives it waved it tail gently before disappearing into the water...

  Today with beautiful weather the two Kenmore Air sea planes touched down at the dock and we were there waiting to take the guests for a wildlife tour.  The group included people from Denmark, Sweden and Japan.

We went down the east side of San Juan Island stopping a few times to view birds and harbor seals. We had a good look at a mature bald eagle, solo, at the top of a tree. As we neared the southern-most tip of the island, we stopped (turned off the engine) and sat to watch...

Today, even the Kittiwake had an adventure!  We traveled over to Orcas Island to pick up a family of ten for a private charter and from there on, we were surrounded by a continuous showing by Pacific Northwest wildlife!

First, it was a little harbor seal between Lopez and Shaw Islands.  Next, it was one then two stellar sea lions (BIG ones too--they can weigh up to 2,200 pounds and be ten feet long!) swimming in the currents between Lopez and San Juan Islands.  Further into the...

Today was the first day of Memorial Day Weekend and we celebrated it by nearly filling both of our vessels, the Sea Lion and the Kittiwake, for an afternoon whale watch.  Throughout the day, the weather went from gray clouds and overcast to nice white fluffy clouds and sunshine.  We boarded the boats and left Friday Harbor heading north towards the Canadian border.  After an hour of solid travel, several sea birds, numerous islands and a swimming harbor seal, we edged up to East...