[Sarah | 04/29/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was yet another spectacular day out on the water in the San Juan Islands. We had amazing weather for a super long trip to find killer whales, and it was worth every moment on the water! Captain Pete and I decided to head south out of Friday harbor and, boy, did it pay off!

We travelled south through San Juan Channel and Griffin Bay popping out of Cattle Pass into the wide expanse of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The sky was a bright...

[Sarah | 04/24/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Springtime in the San Juans is absolutely magical. The Salish Sea is in flux and there is such an interesting mix of our overwintering wildlife still lingering and some of our summertime species just arriving to our nutrient-rich waters. These conditions make the spring one of my favorite times to be on the water as the ecosystem is so incredibly dynamic and you just never know what you’ll see or where you’ll end up.

We started our tour...

Alexandria | Tuesday April 16, 2019 | 12:00 | M/V Sea Lion

What an absolutely amazing trip!  Today was quite the day!

When we hit the water this afternoon we were very excited to have two reports of orcas within our range.  The first was a bit up north and the second was south of us.  We decided to begin the trip by heading south and passing through the southern point of San Juan Island.

While we were heading south we were treated to some awesome views of eagles flying over us, as...

[Sarah | 04/14/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was a stark difference to yesterday’s stormy weather. We had high clouds and some rain squalls rolling through the area, but the strong west wind had disappointed a bit. Leaving just some residual breeze. Captains Erick and Brian and I decided to head north of Friday Harbor towards Canadian waters to search for some wildlife. We shot north to put ourselves in prime position in nutrient-laden waters with other whale watching boats...

Alexandria | Thursday, April 11, 2019 | 12:00 | M/V Sea Lion

Today we had an awesome day on the water!  It was so awesome that we got to hang out with our group of orcas not once, but twice!   When we loaded onto M/V Sea Lion we were very excited to see what the day had in store.  We met up in the office and headed down to board our 55ft vessel.  Once on board Captain Brian and Captain Sarah introduced themselves and talked about what the game plan for the day was.

We had some...

Erick | Sunday, March 24, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Listen to the Bigg's Orca Vocals we recorded this day here

Yet another day of beautiful sunny weather today. Captain Mike and I took a pretty large group of folks out on M/V Sea Lin to look for some marine wildlife in the San Juan Islands. We left Friday Harbor and headed north towards the northern edge of the islands. We made our first stop at Flattop Island. This whole island is a nature preserve and it is a perfect spot to...

Erick | Friday, March 15, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

On Friday, it was another beautiful sunny day that reminded us that spring is just around the corner for us! Captain Mike and I headed out with a great group up north to go see what we could find! We headed through San Juan Channel, then to Spring Pass, and through Presidents Channel. In Presidents Channel we got to see a lot of Harbor Porpoise. I sometimes call this area Porpoise alley. Harbor Porpoises are definitely our...

September 29- M/V Kestrel- 2:00 pm

It was a beautiful day out on the water!  We had some of our well-known transient orcas just North of Lopez Island.  We left Friday Harbor and headed that direction.  We watched as the T65A’s finished up a harbor seal meal.  We even got to see them do a few spyhops!  We decided to circumnavigate Lopez Island to see what else we could find.  We got to see a juvenile bald eagle and some of our impressive Steller’s sea lions.  After going around the...

Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Mike and I were excited to get on the water with a report of transient orcas already moving East from us. About an hour travel time for us to get on scene with these whales, Mike and I were eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed. 

As of earlier, the day had been calm and sunny but now the wind was starting to pick up and the clouds were starting to show up. On our way over to these whales, we crossed San Juan Channel to take...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with naturalist Rachel, Captain Pete and I were ready to get out on the water on this CLEAR and sunny August day! After two long weeks of wildfire smokes in our area and no visibility, it was a treat to get to see the mountain ranges in the distance. Already looking like a good day with a report from another boat who had Humpbacks south of Cattle Pass. After boarding the boat and familiarizing our guests with the natural history of the area, we left...