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Humpback Whale

Windy the Humpback Whale Travels Around Saturna Island!

Erick | Tuesday, May 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Tuesday was another beautiful day out here in the archipelago. We headed out of Friday Harbor and turned north. We headed towards Spieden Island. Just around Yellow Island we saw a Minke Whale! These are smaller baleen whales that inhabitat the Salish Sea. They are around 30 feet long and are usually difficult ot watch but today was so calm it was easy to see this one. Minke Whales, also unusually, seem to stick to the same areas...

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Humpback Whale

Two Whale Tuesday I Can't Handle It! : A Humpback Whale and a Grey Whale Travel Together

Erick | Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

What a beautiful day!! Captain Pete, Sarah, and I set out with a wonderful group of folks to look for fun wildlfie out in the Salish Sea! It was beautifully sunny and calm today as we headed north. We started by going through Spring Pass and President Channel in between Waldron and Orcas Islands. Just as we reached the eastern entrance to this channel we got to see quite a few Harbor Porpoises fishing around Point Doughty. These...

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young Bigg's Orca breaches

Bigg's Orca Whales Hunt and Party in Boundary Pass: The T49A's Breach like Crazy!

Erick | Sunday, March 24, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Listen to the Bigg's Orca Vocals we recorded this day here

 

 

Yet another day of beautiful sunny weather today. Captain Mike and I took a pretty large group of folks out on M/V Sea Lin to look for some marine wildlife in the San Juan Islands. We left Friday Harbor and headed north towards the northern edge of the islands. We made our first stop at Flattop Island. This whole island is a nature preserve and it is a perfect spot to...

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Southern Resident Orcas of J pod

Wildlife Winter Wonderland: J pod Orcas spotted in Haro Strait!

Erick | February 23, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

As the short month of February approaches its end we do our last weekend-only trips from Friday Harbor. Once March starts we will be starting daily trips aboard M/V Sea Lion departing from Friday Harbor at noon. This Saturday, Captain Mike and I had a wonderful trip with a very small group of passengers. I think folks were afraid of the cold so it ended up being only two hardy folks aboard wanting to go out and see what was out there in...

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San Juan Safaris Humpback Whale

Transient Orcas and a Humpback Whale in the mist! [Sunday, 10/7/18, Noon - M/V Kestrel - Erick]

[Sunday, 10/7/18, Noon - M/V Kestrel - Erick]

This Sunday was another classic Pacific Northwest fall day. The water was glassy calm, the rain came down in a calm almost imperceptible drizzle, and the evergreen forest canopy scraped the low hanging clouds. Capt. Brian and I headed out with a great group from all over the world on M/V Kestrel to find some amazing animals out in the Salish Sea! We headed north and very soon found a group of Orcas around Green Point off of Spieden Island...

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orcas

Two Transient Orca Families Hunt in Haro Strait [Saturday, 10/6/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Erick]

[Saturday, 10/6/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Erick]

 

This Saturday, Captain Mike, Rachel, and I took a full crew of passengers out on M/V Sea Lion on a beautiful fall day! We headed out on this sunny afternoon and started going south. We made our first stop at Turn Rocks just on the other side of Turn Island. Here we saw our first marine mammals, some Harbor Seals! There was a bunch of them sunning themselves on the rocks. These little rock sausages are so adorable and sleepily looked back...

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All the way into the Strait of Juan de Fuca!|9/14/18| 1:00PM

Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Mike and I were ready to get on the water to see what we could find out there today. So far there was a report of a humpback hanging out pretty far south from us, but still within our reach. With no other reports, we took right out of the harbor headed that direction but planning to scan the waters for other animals on the way. Headed south down San Juan Channel, Captain Mike received a report of transient orcas found in the strait of Juan de...
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Land and Water Wildlife!| 9/8/18| 10AM

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...

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Whale Hunt

Captain Mike, Naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to be on the water on this VERY hot summer day. We had not heard of any reports in our area yet this morning, so we were a little anxious leaving the harbor with a full boat of hopeful guests. Some other boats had found a humpback on the West side of San Juan Island, but we were hoping that we would be able to find our own whales, so we headed up North towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. The whole way up the channel, our eyes were...

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Sunset Perfection

Gabe and I were ready to take off on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. We had a half full boat and the guests were enjoying the warm breeze and bright view of the islands as we headed up the San Juan Channel. We had been with a group of transient orcas, who have been hanging around the islands for the past month or so, all day and now we were headed out to catch up to them again. They had traveled all the way from South end of Lopez and up past Waldron Island in just a few hours we...

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