It was yet another beautiful day in the San Juan's as the M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor and headed North. The killer whales we had heard rumor of up in Canada had begun to travel in our direction and were supposed to meet up with us within the hour! Excitement ran high from guests and crew alike, when we finally got on scene we all witnessed some awesome behavior!

I was just explaining to guests that we were watching Biggs killer whales, better known as transients. These are...

After leaving our Friday Harbor location today and traveling the waters of the Salish Sea for the majority of our tour, captain Mike and I decided to head in the direction of San Juan Island. Guests aboard the M/V Sea Lion saw harbor porpoise, steller sea lions, harbor seals, and a wide variety of sea birds. Still, we had yet to find any orcas. That was until we received a call over the radio while we were passing the southwest side of Waldron Island. The radio call notified us of a...

Like many days in early spring when killer whales have no set pattern of occurrence, we left our Friday Harbor location without a confirmation of killer whales. However, when we got a possible report of transients headed through Active Pass, we decided to go check it out and see what we could see. As we entered the Strait of Georgia, our small groups of guests aboard the M/V Sea Lion got a nice surprise as we began to see dorsal fins emerge in the distance. As we got closer, I...

We left our Friday Harbor location today and headed north with hopes of intercepting some killer whales that we had heard were traveling through the area. The weather definitely wasn’t cooperating- it was cold, windy, and rainy! However, a little weather never stops us when killer whales are involved! Guests soon settled in the heated cabin as we headed into the Canadian Gulf Islands. When we got on seen with the whales, what we ended up witnessing was something we never would have...

The M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor yesterday in search of the killer whales that inhabit the Salish Sea. When we got underway Captain Mike got a report of Biggs Killer Whales, or Transients, off the Southeast side of Galiano Island. Even though that was far into the Strait of Georgia, and into the Canadian Gulf Island of British Columbia, we decided to go for it! With the bow of our boat pointed north, guests enjoyed a beautifully scenic route into Canada where we spotted about...

When the M/V Sea Lion departed from the docks today it was down-pouring rain. We all stayed inside the cabin, where the heat was on to keep us warm while we weathered the storm. That however, didn't last long as we soon came upon a group of playful harbor porpoise to look at! They were all around our boat and were foraging in the San Juan Channel. And, as we continued on, we were able to see about forty steller sea lions! It was great, these guys are about 2,000 pounds of sheer fat...

Today Captain Mike, naturalist Caitlin and myself headed out of the San Juan Channel, through Cattle Pass and to the south end of the Haro Strait. We had heard rumors about the whale activity on the south end of the island and hoped to encounter L-Pod and even some transient killer whales! This trip we had a particularly great, enthusiastic group of guests on board and our hopes were high when we saw our first spout from our resident L-Pod.

This is the second day that L-Pod has been...

We headed South today from our Friday Harbor location and into the San Juan Channel where we promptly had to do a "man overboard" drill to retrieve one of our customers hats! The hat flew off and into the water, at which point Captain Mike swiftly turned the boat around and Caitlin and I retrieved the water-logged hat! Sometimes, we start out with a little excitement right in the very beginning! We'll always go out of our way to make sure we still have smiling faces aboard!

After the...

Another busy day on the water with all the familiar faces of the Salish Sea. In addition to watching Transient Killer Whales south of D’arcy Island, British Columbia (48°30.86N, 123°16.48W), we also came across a lone California Sea Lion (a rarity in the Salish Sea). He was floating with just his head, hind flippers, and one pectoral flipper out of the water, a strategy sea lions use to regulate their body temperature in these frigid 48°F waters. On our way home we picked up a...

The Transient Killer Whales were all business today. A group of approximately 6 individuals were taking their sweet time below the surface, typical foraging behavior. They kept us guessing as to where they were going to pop up for a few breaths before their next long dive. Meanwhile we drifted in the calm, sunlit waters in sight of downtown Victoria (48°21.21N, 123°18.01W). On our way back in, we came across porpoises, murres, cormorants, loons, seals, sea lions, and a Minke...