June 10, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 Sunset 

Today the 5:30 sunset tour hosted a small group of enthusiastic whale lovers! Captain Pete and I heard reports of orcas heading north along the east side of San Juan Island so we decided to head around the north end of the island and down the east side to meet them.

As we neared Lime Kiln, the first spouts were detected! Eventually we realized that multiple groups were swimming around the boat: the T86s, T100s and T101s. These beautiful...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel, 8/9/17, 2:00PM]

On our afternoon trip for the day, Gabe and I and all the lovely folks aboard started another exciting search for some cool marine wildlife. Our first stop was one of our favorites. We motored down to Whale Rocks. These two Islets emerge from the waves of Cattle Pass just southwest of Lopez Island. You can see them from the shores of both Lopez and San Juan, and when they are covered by our favorite pinnipeds you can definitely...

[Tuesday, May 30th ~ 12pm Departure, M/V Sea Lion]

Scientists love to speculate as to why whales breach. Some say it's a social behavior, on par with an excited exclamation or a loud "hey!" When there's no other whales around, we like to mention that whales can generally hear about 10 miles away, so potentially they are still communicating with a distant associate. Some argue that breaching is a nice way to itch themselves, and they'll use that impact of the water to dislodge...

Oh, I do love a good family get together. Orcas, being the incredibly social animals that they are, are often seen hanging out with their families, traveling throughout the Salish Sea and frequently foraging for salmon. But what's life without a little fun? You can't just spend your whole day searching for fish! These animals certainly need their play time, especially the families with young calves. Just like any baby mammal, calves seem to be full of endless energy, freuqently seen...

We left the dock today with reports of two killer whales just off of the west coast of San Juan Island. We headed north initially and rounded the top of the island before turning south into Haro Strait. We picked up some nice waves at that point, hopping over three-footers caused by the tide and the wind moving in opposite directions. After the equivalent of a splash mountain ride later, we arrived on scene to calming seas and two adult male transient killer whales riding the tide...

This Friday, we got a very welcome break from the heat wave that hit us earlier this week. Capt. Pete and I headed out to a cool, calm afternoon. We’re currently in the shoulder season where anything can happen. This area is most famous for seeing the Southern Resident Killer Whales, but they make up only a small portion of the cetaceans and marine mammals that call this place home. They are also not even the only type of Killer Whale that inhabits this area! There is another ecotype...

We left on the M/V Sea Lion for one of our spectacular sunset tours. Earlier that day we had seen a mixture of J and K pod heading north on the west side of San Juan Island. So, we headed north to see if we could meet up with them on the north side of the island. We first met up with a large group of J and K pod traveling really close to each other close to shore along Henry Island. We got some great looks as they calmly cruised northward. We soon broke off of this group and went to...

Another beautiful day on the water. Leaving Friday Harbor Captain Mike, myself and our guests, once again traveled north along San Juan Island before reaching the west side of Henry Island where we met up with northbound traveling J pod as well as the small group from L pod, the L12s. Right away we saw one of my favorite group of whales from J pod, the "Cookie Clan" consisting of J22 (Oreo), J34 (Doublestuff), and J38 (cookie).
As the whales traveled right next to Henry island we...

Couldn't have asked for a better day on the water. Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, and myself were lucky enough to take out a great wedding party. The rainy skies cleared away for a beautiful sunny day and we only had to turn the corner out of Roche Harbor to spot J Pod. Couldn't get any easier! While watching off of Henry Island, J Pod seemed to be moving quickly along the coastline. We got to witness lots of porpoising and the occasional breaching. It was great to see these whales...

Around 10:40 AM this morning we received a Southern Resident Killer Whale report: members of J, K, and L pod headed north in Haro Strait. We were extremely excited yet a bit uneasy knowing they were headed for Active Pass (Canada). Luckily enough by the time we boarded and headed out for the strait the whales had turned around. It couldn’t have been more perfect timing.

As we made our way into the gut of the strait, reaching a center point between Stewart, Moresby, Sidney, and...