[M/V Sea Lion Noon Thursday 10/4/18]

Since it is October there are less trips, crisp breezes, and great fall weather. Captain Mike, Alexandria, and I took a great, full boat out with us on M/V Sea Lion. Today was bright and crisp. We headed south against the tide and went through Cattle Pass. We passed Cattle Point Lighthouse and headed southwest past Salmon Bank and pointed towards Hein Bank down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we approached the bank we started to see blows off in...

September 30- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of some Bigg’s killer whales off the Northeastern shoreline of Orcas island.  We cruised that direction and stopped to see a bald eagles nest along the way.  We first got on scene and discovered that the particular family of orcas was the T49A’s.  We watched as the family hugged the shoreline looking for seals.  Eventually they found a good snack and we watched as they worked together to take down and eat...

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...

September 27- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

We had an eventful day out on the water!  We got a report of some transient orcas down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  We headed that way to hopefully get a look at them.  It was a bit of a drive but well worth the travel.  When we got on scene the orcas started hunting a few Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions are the largest species of sea lion in the world at a whopping 2500 pounds.  We watched as two matriarchal groups worked together to...

Leaving the harbor aboard Kestrel with Captain Gabe headed North to check out some transient orcas in our area. Although a bit rainy out, the visibility was good and the sun was already trying its best to shine through. Out of the harbor, we headed north up San Juan channel to later get to Spieden channel where the sighting currently was.  

A smooth ride up to spieden channel, when arriving on scene we could see some dorsal fins hugging spieden island in the distance. Covered by...

[Friday, 9/7/18, M/V Kestrel]

On Friday, Captain Mike and I took a group out to look for some amazing wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north towards the outer islands of the San Juan Islands. As we cruised north we saw a lot of Harbor Porpoises darting through the eddies around Green Point. Next, we headed further north. We headed around East Point where there is a a large number of pinnipeds! Pinnipeds are the seals, sea lions, and walruses of the world. Here we only have seals...

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...

[Piper | 8/30/18 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM]

Today, Captain Gabe, Naturalist Mariana and I boarded the Sea Lion with a great group of guests and headed north from Friday Harbor, all the way up into the Canadian waters of the Strait of Georgia. It took a little while to get there but it was so worth it because when we arrived, we found five families of Bigg’s killer whales, made up of 20 or so orcas, socializing and traveling south. These orcas were lobbing their tails and spy-hopping...

August 19- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 am

We left Friday Harbor and headed South West towards Canada where there was a report of some transient orcas.  On our way down to Victoria we got to see some harbor seals and some Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions spend the majority of the summer on the coast or up in Alaska for their breeding season, but some have started to return!  We then went and saw a mother-son pair of transient orcas resting near Victoria.  We then got another report of...