Laura C. | 7/17/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

This evening’s whale watch was simply magical!  Captain Pete manned the helm and ventured north to Swanson Channel.  Our passengers were thrilled to find a family of Bigg’s killer whales traveling near North Pender Island!  This family was quickly identified as the T60s, with the lead matriarch estimated to be 39 years old!  T60C is a large male that was born in 2001 and he stood out as a powerful bull compared to his younger and smaller...

Olivia | July 17th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am / 3:00pm

What an adventurous Adventure Tour on our M/V Kestrel with Captain Gabe! We had a morning trip with 22 passengers and an evening private charter with a fabulous work group for their team bonding. For both the 11:00am and 3:00pm trips, we saw the same Cetaceans within our waters.

In the morning we decided to head north around San Juan Island and eventually end up in Haro Strait where our first reported whale sighting was. On...

Piper | Wednesday, July 17, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

This morning started out pretty drizzly but Captain Pete, Laura, me, and our enthusiastic guests got covered up in our awesome bright yellow rain slickers and hit the water like some Alaskan deep-sea fishermen! Only, our goal today was to get to watch some orcas and other wildlife just do their own thing, and we definitely accomplished that goal today!

We left Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel up and around...

Olivia | July 16th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

Today was a gorgeous day out on the water! We had multiple sightings reported for whales in our area, and Captain Gabe decided to go with our best option of heading south just a wee bit before passing between Shaw and Lopez Islands. Between these islands we saw three Bald Eagles and a Bald Eagle Nest! These large birds of prey are considered to be monogamous by returning to the same nest with the same mate year after year. They...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Monday, July 15, 2019 | 1:30 PM

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Sea Lion today! The sun was shining and the water was smooth. Not only did we have an amazing boat ride, but we saw an abundance of wildlife! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and went toward Canada. There were some reports of orcas in the Strait of Georgia, so we headed in that direction. As we got to East Point, we saw a humpback whale blow in the distance. The whale went down for a dive...

Piper | Thursday, July 11, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM

On this evening’s sunset cruise, we had two really lovely groups of folks visiting the Salish Sea for the first time! The M/V Sea Lion motored out of Friday Harbor and north through San Juan Channel, passing by some wee harbor porpoises and harbor seals swimming along the channel. Our destination was Plumper Sound amongst Canada’s Southern Gulf Islands where a hodgepodge of Bigg’s killer whales were hanging out together!

We...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/11/19 | 1:30pm

WOW! Today was unbelievable. We saw so much wildlife, it was fantastic.

Captain Erick, Naturalist Piper and I took our vessel, the Sea Lion out of Friday Harbor and headed up north through the San Juan Channel. We boated all the way up to Boundary Pass near Moresby Island where we saw orca whales!

Here we saw our first pod of orcas identified as the T77s! This group consisted of 5 whales including one of the newest members of the entire...

Olivia | July 10th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

We had the most adventurous ‘Adventure Tour’ yet this season! Gearing up for the trip, Captain Brian decided to take a risk and head towards our only Killer Whale reports down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, almost bordering Haro Strait. On our way south near Cattle Point, we stopped at Whale Rocks to view Harbor Porpoises (which we saw right at the dock) and many sea birds such as Cormorants. Here’s where the adventure truly began! It...

Olivia | July 9th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

For our rainy sunset tour, Captain Gabe immediately started heading south past the Cattle Point Lighthouse down into the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we had far away whale sightings from earlier in the day. While he was determined to show our passengers whales, I started handing out rain slickers and heaps of blankets for our hour and 15-minute trek south. While on route, we spotted Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises swimming about which...

Olivia | July 8th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

Perk of being on the 3:00pm tour, is that our 11:00am has already scoped out the area to know where our potential whale sightings are. Captain Pete and I were confident on seeing both Humpback Whales and Killer Whales up in Boundary Pass, so we started off by heading north through the San Juan Channel to find them! We ended up near the same family group as this morning, the T65A’s, and watched as they milled around and provided us with...