Piper | Sunday, June 30, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM

Happy last day of June! Tonight’s sunset cruise took us south through San Juan Channel to check out a report of orcas near Hein Bank! We headed down towards Cattle Point Lighthouse and stopped at Whale Rocks to check out a few Steller sea lions STILL hanging out in the pass! One sub-adult was lounging on the rocks soaking up the remaining rays for the day, trying to get warm. We continued south to an awesome view of the Olympic...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 7, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a phenomenal day it was out in the Salish Sea! We saw so many different types of wildlife, and the sun decided to show itself as well! We began our trip heading south toward Cattle Point. When we got to Cattle Point, we got some great views of Cattle Point lighthouse. Then we attracted our attention toward Whale Rocks, where there were Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the rocks and swimming in the water around them. There...

Piper | Friday, May 31, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM

On our afternoon tour today the orcas that were spotted in the morning (the T65Bs, T75Bs, and T75Cs) had continued north so we left from Friday Harbor going north into San Juan Channel. When we arrived to Green Point on Spieden Island, a common haul-out site for Steller’s sea lions, at first we continued to motor past because it looked like all of the sea lions had left for Alaska, but Captain Gabe caught sight of some Stellers in...

Piper | Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

This lovely Wednesday morning the M/V Sea Lion was crewed by Captain Gabe and I, and we carried a great group of people north into San Juan Channel to scan the waters for whales. We made our way into Boundary Pass and across the border into Canadian waters where a report of humpback whales came through! We arrived at Saturna Island and Java Islets and we spotted the blows of two humpbacks surfacing next to each other! We...

Erick | Tuesday, May 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Tuesday was another beautiful day out here in the archipelago. We headed out of Friday Harbor and turned north. We headed towards Spieden Island. Just around Yellow Island we saw a Minke Whale! These are smaller baleen whales that inhabitat the Salish Sea. They are around 30 feet long and are usually difficult ot watch but today was so calm it was easy to see this one. Minke Whales, also unusually, seem to stick to the same areas...

Erin | Monday, May 20, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 p.m.

Today was incredible. It began with some sightings of harbor seals as we departed from Friday Harbor. They were swimming through the water as we cruised past them. We travelled north toward President Channel, and we saw some harbor porpoises and harbor seals along the way. Everybody became quite good at spotting harbor porpoises as the trip went on. Their small, chocolate chip-shaped dorsal fins became stars of the show at...

Erick | Sunday, May 19, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30PM

On our second trip this Sunday, Captain Gabe and I took our lovely group of folks north through San Juan Channel and towards Boundary Pass. We made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island. Here there were a few Steller Sea Lions enjoying the warm rocks of the late afternoon. Up on hillside there was a herd of Mouflon Sheep grazing as well. These are sheep that were brought here to be part of an exotic game hunting ranch...

M/V Sea Lion | Friday, May 18th | Naturalist Alexandria | 2:00 PM

What a great day we had today!  As we were heading out of harbor we decided we were going to head south and see what we could find.  When we hit the water with no firm reports, all the captains are in constant communication with each other, and work together to decide where each boat is heading, all in an effort to ensure that we scan as many areas as possible looking for whales and wildlife.

We decided to head south...

Erick | Tuesday, May 14, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Today, we were back in our normal spring weather – so gray skies with light drizzles through out the day. I love this weather because the low-lying clouds scrap along the tree line and the mist that you walk through cools down the temperature and the colors of the islands. Captain Pete and I left with a good group of folks out of Friday Harbor to find out what sort of marine life was out there today. We started out going north in...

M/V Sea Lion | May 11, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

What a great day we had today out on the water!  Captain Pete, Erick and myself all hit the water with no firm reports of whales, but as we headed north up San Juan Channel we heard of some Humpbacks that had been seen up in Boundary Pass!

We were just passing through Presidents Channel- right off of Orcas Island- and were already headed in the right direction! Along the way we got some good looks at a few harbor porpoise swimming...