Jordan Higgins | M/V Sea lion | 03/27/21 |1:00pm

Today was a fantastic day out on the water! Captain Pete, Laura and I hopped on our vessel, the Sea Lion, and took off out of Friday Harbor.

We were lucky to begin the tour with reports of Southern Resident whales just a couple islands away! But, before we could even leave the harbor, we found a different wildlife surprise: Steller sea lions! There were three of them lounging in the water, showing off their massive bodies as they...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | JUly 14, 2020 | 13:30

Every moment of our trip was a picture-perfect day out on the water. From the minute we left the dock we were graced with sharp views of Mount Baker [volcano] towering over the islands, a full bodied Mount Rainier [volcano] greeting us in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as well as the entirety of the Olympic Mountain Range silhouetting the South.

We took a sneak peek at some Harbor Seals hauled out near Turn Island before spotting Harbor...

M/V Sea Lion | May 6th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

Today was a beautiful day!  Not only did we get spend a generous amount of time with our Resident Orcas in the area- but we also had a gorgeous, sunny day with Mt. Baker and the Olympics as the backdrop to our amazing afternoon!

As we boarded onto M/V Sea Lion we already knew it was going to be a beautiful day, but we had no idea how amazing our looks of these beautiful members of J-Pod would be!  We headed south down San Juan...

M/V Sea Lion | Thursday, May 2nd, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

We had a nice small group of guests today onboard M/V Sea Lion!  As we were boarding for the trip it was pretty overcast but once we hit the water the clouds started to clear and the sun worked its way out!  It was a little breezy through parts of this trip so it was so nice to have the beautiful sunshine while we were out on the water!

Once we hit the water we had heard murmurs of Resident Orcas up north.  Unfortunately...

Jordan | August 11, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 trip

The early morning clouds burned away as the sun rose higher in the sky. We knew right away it was going to be a great day as we received reports of whales along the west side of San Juan Island! Captain Mike and I sped off on our Kestrel vessel and headed south through the San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass.

We passed by Whale Rocks and took the opportunity to check out the harbor seals and Steller sea lions that were lounging...

Jordan | July 26, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip

The sun was out and shining as Captain Pete, Mariana and I headed out on our Sea Lion vessel towards the promise of a great whale day. We headed south through the San Juan Channel and passed through Cattle Pass. Here we stopped briefly to watch some harbor seals playing in the waves and bounding between huge stalks of kelp. A few were flopping about on the rocky Whale Rocks while others idly watched. They were super cute.

Then we...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with the Captain Gabe, naturalist Alexandria and myself had the most rewarding encounter today! Heading out for our second trip of the day, we were so excited to have seen the Southern Resident Orcas and were hoping they were still around and within our reach. Reports we were getting were not very encouraging and we were hesitant to go their way because it seemed that they were barely in our reach and moving quite fast north (opposite way of us)...

Our 2pm trip today aboard M/V Kestrel was truly one for the books!  From the beginning I suspected that this was going to be a great day!  We had beautiful weather and a fantastic group- everyone was smiling, excited to get going, and of course even participated in the obligatory laughing at my jokes- like I said it was the Dream Team and Dream Trip from the get go….

But no one have fully prepared for what a fantastic trip it would prove to be!  As we headed out we knew that we were...

Those aboard M/V Sea Lion today were treated to an incredible day!  This time of year we are lucky enough to frequently see orcas on our trips, but whenever we are out on the water and are treated to orcas it is truly an amazing trip!

When we headed out, Captain Pete was optimistic with reports that we had heard in the area, so we all headed out of Friday Harbor and south in San Juan Channel.  We were treated to some gorgeous views of Cattle Point Lighthouse on the southern tip of...

Captain Mike and I were up early today and excited to see what was out there! Southern resident orcas had been hanging around the islands for the past couple of days and we could not wait to get a better look at them! We, along with our 11 smiling guests, headed down San Juan Channel to go look for some orcas. We first took a good look at the South end of Lopez and saw some harbor seals hauled out along with 3 bald eagles perched up in the nearby trees and rocks. We then headed...