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

Today’s trip started out with sunny skies and excited guests as we left Friday Harbor for our 1:30 trip on our Sea Lion vessel. Captain Pete, Naturalist Rachel and I heard reports of some whales far up in Canada. Luckily, they were headed south towards us, so we headed north to meet them! We boated up through the San Juan Channel and through Boundary Pass alongside the west side of Waldron island as we entered Canadian waters and...

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...

Jordan | June 20, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 sunset

Captain Pete, Alexandria and I journeyed out of Friday Harbor for the 5:30 sunset tour on our quest to find the whales! The M/V Sea Lion headed north up the San Juan Channel, through the Spieden Channel to the West coast of Henry Island.

Here we found a group of Southern Resident orca whales! In fact, J pod was having a wonderful time scanning the shoreline for their salmon. We watched the whales jump and spy hop and slap the water...

[Tuesday, 6/12/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

Another grand day in the San Juan Islands! It did start out a little grey, but was still pretty warm for June as Captain Gabe and I headed north with a great group of people aboard the M/V Sea Lion. We traveled up past Spieden, Johns, and Stuart Islands until we reached Boundary Pass. Here we started to see some blows against the cloudy grey sky reflected in the still waters of the Salish Sea. It was Orcas! It was a super...

[Naturalist Sarah – 06/12/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 10:00am]

The whale watching has been great lately! We are entering what local naturalists are calling the “new normal.” The diversity of our ecosystem is shifting, and we are seeing that reflected most notably in our local orca populations. With a drop in our local salmon population we are seeing less and less of our Southern Resident killer whales in our inland waterways. Traditionally we expect to see members of J, K & L Pods from...

[Saturday, 3/31/18 – 4:00PM – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

     On Saturday, there were so many folks that wanted to go watch fun wildlife that we had a second trip! In the summer we have two trips every day, but this was definitely a treat for this time of the year. Captain Mike and I picked up a new group of guests and headed back out. We headed north in San Juan Channel and pointed towards Boundary Pass. The Orcas of J Pod which we had left in the northern end of Haro Strait...

[Saturday, 3/31/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

Happy end of March and Passover!

On Saturday it was so beautiful and there were so many folks that were interested in coming out with us that we had to take two trips out to see our wonderful wildlife! Captain Mike, Piper, and I took a great group of folks out. It was sunny and calm, and we couldn’t ask for a more perfect spring day. We headed south through San Juan Channel, passed through Cattle Pass and traveled...

[Sunday, 3/18/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday started like most days this spring. It was a little cloudy, the water was super calm, and Captain Mike and I went looking for some whales and other amazing wildlife in the waters around San Juan Island. We headed north and pointed towards Boundary Pass which is the border between Canada and the U.S. As we approached Java Rocks and Saturna Island we started to see a few dorsal fins emerge above the surface. They...

09/23/17- M/V Kestrel- 2PM

We had great reports leading up to today’s trip!  We headed South via San Juan Channel, towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where we had reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales traveling West. 

On our way towards the whale reports we stopped at whale rocks to look at some Steller’s Sea Lions.  These huge animals, roughly 12 feet long and 2,500 pounds, were soaking up some sun on the rocks.  It is so nice to have these pinnipeds back in the...