Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | June 28, 2020 | 13:30

Today as quite the adventure, and a well needed one at that! We started off the trip with the fastest introduction speech of wildlife and the Salish Sea that I have done to date. The reason for the rushed speeches as we set off was because there were whale sightings far away and heading north. Captain Pete was anxious to start our travels as soon as possible in order to give our guests that black and white glimpse they were itching to...

Sarah | 11/09/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

We left San Juan Island under typical November gray skies with a sight drizzle. Weather doesn’t really affect our wildlife sightings, we usually see the same wildlife on sunny days and rainy days.

Captain Pete and I decided to head north through San Juan Channel to start our trip off. We stopped at Spieden Island to look for some bald eagles. We got a great look at a pair of eagles up on some of the trees on the North side of the island...

Sarah | 11/01/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

It was an amazing day on the water here in the Salish Sea. Captain Pete and I left the dock in Friday Harbor and decided to point south through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass on the search for whales.

On the way out of Cattle Pass we decided to stop at Whale Rocks to take a peek at some Steller’s sea lions hauled out enjoying some of this late fall sunshine. These huge sea lions are the largest in the world, with males topping out at...

Sarah | 10/29/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

On Tuesday we enjoyed an amazing day on the water with tons of wildlife and great weather. The chilly fall weather didn’t keep us from enjoying the magnificent Salish Sea Marine Ecosystem, we just bundled up!

We started the trip with a start at Flattop Island just north of San Juan Island. We got great looks at some harbor seals in the water around the rocky outcropping and even hauled out on the rocks. These are our most numerous marine...

Sarah | 10/15/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

We had a lovely October day out on the water, with a bit of Pacific Northwest liquid sunshine falling from the sky and amazing wildlife in the waters surrounding the San Juan Islands, today was autumnal whale watching at its best.

Captain Erick and I left Friday Harbor with a group of wonderful guests. With no initial reports of whales in the area we had decided to leave the harbor and head south. We had no sooner started to pick up speed...

Sarah | 10/12/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What an incredible day on the water! After an early morning report of a huge group of orcas moving east in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, Captain Erick and I were eager to leave the dock here in Friday Harbor to go out and explore!

We decided to head south out of the harbor, and on the way out towards open water we stopped to check out some Steller’s sea lions hauled out on Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass between San Juan and Lopez Islands. These...

Naturalist Erick | Wednesday, October 9, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

Today, was another sunny, fall day in the San Juan Islands. Captain Sarah and I headed out to search for some wonderful wildlife. We headed south through San Juan Channel and as we passed Turn Island we spotted a majestic Bald Eagle soaring along the rocky, cliff-lined island. We usually see the Eagles being lazy and perched on a rock or tree. This one was soaring in the blustery fall air and making dives over the...

Sarah | 09/29/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Captain Gabe and I set out from Friday Harbor for another day on the Salish Sea. We set out from Friday Harbor heading south towards reports of good weather and smooth water.

On our way out towards open water we decided to stop to check out some Steller’s sea lions hauled out on Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. These massive pinnipeds are the largest sea lions in the world, males can reach lengths of 12 feet long and weigh over 2,400 pounds! We...

Olivia | September 28th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Sadly, today was my last Kestrel trip of the season with Captain Gabe and we decided early on that it was going to be epic. Being one of the first boats out on the water, we often must travel into areas where there haven’t been other boats in order to find potential whale sightings. We heard of a Humpback Whale near Battleship Island north of Roche Harbor, but decided to go scope out waters elsewhere due to the amount of boats...

Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/26/2019 | 12:00pm

September continues to impress with great weather and amazing wildlife. Today we left Friday Harbor under blue skies, enjoying some early fall sun and warmth on land. As we motored out of the harbor we were all commenting that we were happy to have our warm layers as the temperature dropped with wind chill off of the water.

Captain Erick steered M/V Sea Lion north through San Juan Channel towards a report of some killer whales in Rosario...