[Saturday, 9/15/18, M/V Kestrel, 10:00]

On Saturday, Captain Gabe and I took a great group out on a cloudy morning to go look for some amazing wildlife. We headed up north. We went through San Juan Channel and up past East Point towards the Strait of Georgia. Here, in between Saturna Island and Point Roberts we started to see some blows in the distance. We slowed down and approached these whales we could see that they were members of the Southern Resident Killer Whale Community...

Jordan | July 26, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip

The sun was out and shining as Captain Pete, Mariana and I headed out on our Sea Lion vessel towards the promise of a great whale day. We headed south through the San Juan Channel and passed through Cattle Pass. Here we stopped briefly to watch some harbor seals playing in the waves and bounding between huge stalks of kelp. A few were flopping about on the rocky Whale Rocks while others idly watched. They were super cute.

Then we...

Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Gabe and I were looking forward to see what Southern Residents were out on the water today. With a full boat and excited guests to get out on the water we took off South to see what we could find. There had been reports of Resident orca pods coming up the Southern tip of Lopez Island and very spread out. We headed down the San Juan Channel in hopes of encountering these animals somewhere on the south end.

As we crossed Cattle Pass, we...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the crew had quite a day today!  Heading out Naturalists Piper, Captain Gabe, and I were so excited that the Southern Resident Orcas had not yet left our waters. There were reports received earlier that morning about a group of them spread out on the West side of the island so we were excited to go look at what pod this was. We boarded M/V Sea Lion with the biggest smiles on our face and genuine excitement to see the Residents!

After boarding...

Jordan | July 14, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00

Today was a spectacular day full of so many displays of the beauty of nature. Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel past Cattle Point and dropped by the Whale Rocks to check out some seals! They were super cute flopping around on the rocks.

Then we voyaged into the Salmon Bank. Here we boated around the shallow waters until we found a minke whale! Minke whales are the smallest baleen whale in the world! We like to...

You know what people love more than whales? Nothing except more whales and maybe perhaps the idea of autumn as they drown everything in brighter earth tones, sweaters, and pumpkin spice flavoring, but today wasn’t one of those days it was a whale of a day. Captain Mike, myself and Alex headed north to search for the Southern Resident Orcas. We first spotted them around East Point on Saturna Island. This place is one of my favorite in the islands, the current get a little bit crazy...

This afternoon was absolutely, positively, hands-down magical. Our Southern Residents were heading in, and several members of K-pod and L-pod were foraging for salmon near Eagle Point. Sea Hawk left Roche Harbor with this report on our minds, and fair seas and sunshine ahead. We haven't seen our residents for the past few days, so it was exciting to have them back in the area!

But, of course, the best part about whale watching in the San Juan Islands is that you have a chance to...

Some days are just simply spectacular. Today combined flat water, good company, and amazing killer whale sightings for magic on the M/V Sea Lion.

Naturalist Erick, Captain Mike and I set out on our 1:30 pm tour with reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales on the west side of San Juan Island in Haro Strait. We work together with a spotting network, known as the Pacific Whale Watch Association, which is comprised of other whale watch companies spread out all over the...

Saturday September 6th was a great day on the water. M/V Sea lion, captain, crew, and guests enjoyed the sunny weather and calm seas on the south west side of San Juan Island today. The resident (salmon-eating) orcas seem to still be finding food here in the Salish Sea and were back in full force. We had reports of all three pods in the area (J, K, and L)! We spent most of our afternoon with what seemed to be a mixture of K and L pods, with some close looks at K21 and L44 both mature...

Our journey out of Friday Harbor started out a bit blustery and bumpy, but we soon discovered it did not scare off any of the wildlife!  Today’s trip was full of creatures from both the land and the sea! Eagles, harbor seals, harbor porpoise, and last but not least ORCAS! As we journeyed up and over to the west side of San Juan Island we discovered a large pod of 15+ killer whales in Haro Strait; all surfacing and traveling in perfect synchronization.  We believe this pod was made up...