(7/23/17- M/V Sea Lion- 5:30 PM)

This evening we departed from our Friday Harbor dock with reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales heading up the west side of San Juan Island.  This is only my fourth time seeing these whales all season, so our guests today got a real treat. 

We headed up San Juan Channel where we stopped by some rocks and saw a few harbor seals hauled out while the tide was out.  Harbor seals haul out usually once a day in order to warm their body...

[7/21/17- M/V Kestrel- 10AM & 2PM]

We left Friday Harbor with the plans of heading South toward Puget Sound.  We got reports of transient killer whales towards that area and decided to look for some additional wildlife on our way down. 

We made one of our common wildlife stops, the whale rocks, where we found some harbor seals as well as a lone Steller’s sea lion.  Most of the Steller’s sea lions have all gone North to the beaches of Alaska for their breeding season.  However, some...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 07/25/17, 1:30 pm & 5:30 pm Tours

There was lots of excitement this morning when we heard reports that J-pod, one of the Southern Resident Killer Whale pods in this area, was still hanging around in the Salish Sea. Earlier whale watching tours had spotted them cruising around out in Rosario Strait. We didn't know it at the start, but we would have the chance to see these amazing whales on both of our tours today! 

Naturalist Sarah and I made sure Sea Lion...

1. [Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel, 7/24/17, 2:00PM]

Yesterday, Captain Mike and I took a great group of folks from Friday Harbor to search for whales and other wildlife! We first went south towards Cattle Pass and Whale Rocks. Whale Rocks are a collection of rocks south of Lopez Island. They are called such because they appear like whales rising from the waves not due to the presence of whales, but it is a super beautiful place! As the tidal flow ripped around the rocks we saw a...

[7/24/17- M/V Kittiwake- Kelsey, Naturalist- 11:30AM]

Today, we had a water taxi from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island to Orcas Island. What is so great about these is that the trips can be tailored to guests’ likings! For example, today we had whale reports in the area, so we made time to visit some whales and other awesome wildlife before heading over to the final destination. Flexibility made this trip pretty amazing!

We left Friday Harbor on M/V Kittiwake heading north. It wasn’t...

[7/22/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 1:30PM]

To kick off the day, a drizzle of rain coated the island- some of the first rain in two months! Whoop! We were feeling refreshed as we departed Friday Harbor and San Juan Island in search of whales and other wildlife. Hopes were high and there was determination in our eyes. We were ready for whatever the day would bring us!

We turned south and went through Cattle Pass into the Haro Straight, and entering through the Straight of Juan...

[Sarah M. – 07/20/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 05:30pm]

After a bit of a gray day in the San Juan Islands, we had a very welcome break in the clouds as we departed on our sunset whale watch from Friday Harbor. Out here in the Salish Sea your luck with wildlife sightings can change minute by minute, and yesterday was a great example of how the outcomes of previous trips can have no impact on sightings later in the day.

Captain Mike steered the M/V Sea Lion north out of the harbor towards...

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[7/18/17 1:30 SL]

Finally! After weeks of radio silence from our well-known resident orcas, L Pod has finally made a much-anticipated appearance. Historically found in the Salish Sea for the entirety of the summer, resident killer whales are now becoming a rarity in this area. Seeing them around San Juan Island during today's trip was such a treat, and...

[7/17/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 PM]

Another day out on the water here in the beautiful Salish Sea!  We left our dock in Friday Harbor and headed to the North West side of Orcas Island.  Once we got to that area we found a couple different families of transient killer whales, but we focused our attention on the T77’s. 

The T77’s have five individuals in their family, T77, who is the 36-year-old matriarch of the group, and all of her offspring.  Her youngest kiddo, T77E, is about a year...

(7/15/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 PM and 5:30 PM)

Another day on the water with whale calves!  We saw the same two families of whales on both our afternoon and sunset trip departing from Friday Harbor, the T34’s and part of the T37’s. 

These individual whales have been hanging out in near the San Juan Islands for the past few weeks, but today they were North of San Juan Island in Canadian waters.  On our first trip we watched the whales in the lower portion of the Strait of Georgia.  By...