Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | October 13, 2024 | 12:30 pm

October weather can be tricky out here in the Salish Sea. Luckily for our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour last Sunday, we were granted calm seas and sunny skies. Although the elements can sometimes prove tricky, Fall is a spectacular time to come whale watching in the San Juan Islands. Not only do we still regularly see killer whales, but we start to get a massive influx of migrating humpbacks as well. By October, most of the humpback whales...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | September 1st, 2020 | 13:30

Every day and every trip in the San Juan Islands are completely unique. With such a strong diversity in the most productive waters in the world, we never truly know what is going to grace our presence. Today solidified that theory. Captain Sarah and I received word through the PWWA of Southern Resident Killer Whales in Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan Island. This was a big surprise since this ecotype of Killer Whales are...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 26th, 2020 | 14:00

After having an exciting morning trip, we were already enthused for our afternoon adventure! We immediately went south towards Whale Rocks in hopes to see the Steller’s Sea Lions to which they greeted us with lots of water wrestling and face biting! Seeing the world’s largest Sea Lions brawling in our waters was exhilarating.

As we are watching Steller’s Sea Lions, we found the same Minke Whale in the channel that we saw on our trip back...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 25th, 2020 | 13:30

Starting off the trip, Captain Pete said to me, “Olivia, today is starting off a little weird, but sometimes those turn out to be the best days.” If he ever decides to retire as a Captain, he has a great future in fortune telling since he nailed our day on the head! A Bald Eagle soared through the sky as we left Friday Harbor and started our travels southwest. We had Mount Baker perfectly standing on the horizon, Mount Rainier glancing...

To be born into the world a baitfish would be an especially cruel fate. Baitfish such as herring, sand lance, and surf smelt form the base of the food chain, performing a critical, albeit brief function in the Salish Sea ecosystem.

Schools of these forage fish were being discovered and plundered all across the shallow banks south of San Juan Island today. Gulls attacked the schools from above while rhinoceros auklets picked them off from below, returning from their dives with a...