Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 9, 2021 | 12:00 pm

For today’s whale sightings, we didn’t have to go too far! We left Friday Harbor pointed North through San Juan Channel where we were united with a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. Within the group was T60 (Panthera) and three of her five living offspring. T60C (Yelnats) is her oldest living calf born in 2001. T60F (Tigris) and T60G (Unnamed) are her two youngest calves, born in 2012 and 2019. Two of her middle children, T60D and...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 22, 2021 | 1:30 pm

Today’s encounter with our Bigg’s Killer Whales was spectacular. After a long journey through San Juan Channel towards a chain of islands known as the outer islands, we saw the whale watching vessels in the distance! Rounding the west side of Sucia Island is where we first saw some spouts from a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. This family seemed to be actively hunting and devouring a freshly-caught harbor seal. As they finished...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 9/20/2020 | 1:00

This afternoon consisted of the most beautiful and wonderful wildlife excursion!  M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor with full steam ahead, as there was an early morning report of Bigg’s killer whales in US waters.  They were headed NW from Patos Island, so we wanted to head north as quickly as possible in case they decided to go into the Strait of Georgia.  Along the way, we passed so many harbor porpoises I completely lost count.  A few of...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | September 17th, 2020 | 13:00

What a crazy, adventurous day out in the dense fog and smoke! We left the dock with no more than a 30-yard visibility in either direction of the boat. We were still able to travel out in the San Juan Islands safely and continue north where there were some whale rumors far in the Strait of Georgia. The smog started to lift the further north we went and by the time we were just past Patos Island, and just south of Point Roberts, the...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 6/13/2020 | 5:30pm

This evening's sunset whale watch was spectacular!  We headed southbound through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Point.  We passed some fun pelagic bird species along the way, including pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, and cormorants.  After reaching Cattle Point, the seas were a little rough but passengers were excited for the adventure!  We received a report of Bigg's killer whales (historically called transients) along the west side...

Laura C. | 7/19/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Today was absolutely exquisite on M/V Kestrel!  We had such a great time observing all the diverse wildlife found in the Salish Sea!  Our Captain Gabe rounded the bend out of Friday Harbor and we already had our first sighting, a bald eagle!  This eagle looked like he/she was supervising the vessel traffic in and out of the harbor from above and took this job very seriously! 

On our way to find whales we stumbled across some harbor seals...

Laura C. / 7-3-2019 / M/V Kestrel / 3:00pm

This evening’s excursion was full of a variety of wildlife!  Our vessel headed north and just as we headed away from Friday Harbor we saw a bald eagle swoop across our bow overhead.  Within the first five minutes we already had a wildlife encounter!  The bald eagle is one of the few species to rebound as a population and were delisted from the Endangered Species Act (ESA).  This area is home to about 150 breeding pairs and are a great...

Olivia | July 1st, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 6:00pm 

What a spectacular sunset this evening! We had a small group of about 9 passengers who were able to enjoy the evening with myself and Captain Brian. The best part? We didn’t have to travel far until we saw Bigg’s Killer Whales! We first viewed the T124A’s in the Wasp Passage around McConnell and Yellow Islands. They moved slowly through the Wasp Islands until they met up in the San Juan Channel with (SURPRISE) another family group...

Laura C./ 6-29-2019/  M/V Sea Lion /  1:30pm

Today was an outstanding day out on the water!  Our vessel Sea Lion traveled far north towards Point Roberts!  We were so excited to see a large family of Bigg’s killer whales demonstrating an abundance of surface activity!!  As our vessel approached the scene passengers stared in delight watching full breaches and tail breaches from a spirited calf!  There were also adults joining in on the fun!  A large male performed a full body breach...

point roberts

Today we definitely went the extra mile. Out of the harbor we were immediately faced with a tough decision… head south to a confirmed Humpback Whale sighting that we could easily reach, or take the chance of catching up with some Orcas that were spotted in Canada and heading north.

Captain Mike went with his gut and we headed north. We made our way through the San Juan Channel and Presidents Channel seeing several Harbor Porpoises, Harbor Seals, and even a few...