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 | August 30th, 2020 | 14:00

It was the iconic Pacific Northwest weather today, going into the trip with sunshine and warmth, and ending the trip in rain and clouds. However, we do not let the shift in weather get us down just like it does not get down the whales- our trip proved this theory! We were lucky enough to leave Friday Harbor and immediately between Turn and Shaw Islands, we saw a Minke Whale! The Minke Whale fought against the nickname “Slinky Minke”...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 28th, 2020 | 13:30

It was a flawless day out on the water this afternoon. Captain Pete and I were lucky enough to inform our passengers that we were leaving the dock with a rumored whale report in the area, which already made it a special day. What was even better? The rumor was that the whales were just south of Jones Island, right in San Juan Channel. Who on our boat has good karma?! Scooting up to Jones Island, we caught sight of those black dorsal...

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

We started the day with a report of Transient Orca as we left the dock. This immediately shot Captain Sarah and I into excitement, since every day we leave port having to find whatever whales might be swimming in our waters. Without whales being tagged, everything is found based on visual sight. Not only was there a report, but they were rumored to be close! What!? If this held true, our jobs were going to look way too easy. We...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 21st, 2020 | 17:30

Leaving the dock, we were intensely paying attention to our radios, repeaters, and apps on the whereabouts of the Transient Orca we saw previously on the 13:00 trip. Since the whales can travel over a hundred miles in a day, we don’t ever expect what we see on one trip to be true for the next—but we REALLY wanted to see this family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales. We immediately started heading south (passing multiple Harbor Porpoise)...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 21st, 2020 | 13:00

What an adventurous morning on M/V Sea Lion braving the weather and circumnavigating San Juan Island! We started the trip with no whale reports, a very common daily occurrence, and decided to head north scanning the wildlife hot spots for any action in the water. We first stopped at the eastern side of Spieden Island where there were THREE Steller’s Sea Lions swimming in the water near the Bull Kelp reef. This was riveting! Not only...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 20, 2020 | 14:00

Leaving the dock, we had a rumored report of Bigg’s Killer Whales in U.S. waters but inching closer to the Canadian border. Due to Covid-19, that border is closed not only on land, but also across the water. Therefore, after a brief stop in Cattle Pass to get the passengers on board with our game plan and be in tune with our surroundings, we headed straight to find the group of six black and white dolphins.

Upon arrival, we spotted the...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 18th, 2020 | 13:00

We left the dock today with no whale reports in the area- a completely normal way to start any whale watching trip, especially when you are one of the first boats off the dock. Therefore, Captain Sarah and I agreed to head north towards some wildlife hot spots where we tend to see higher numbers of Pinnipeds and Cetaceans.

Aiming towards Waldron Island, we caught word of a whale rumor near Patos Island, but in Canadian waters. Due to...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 15th, 2020 | 17:30

The Transient Orca families we watched on our 13:00 trip traveled too far southeast out of our range to view again, but to our delighted surprise, ANOTHER family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales swam into U.S waters that earlier were milling southeast of Victoria, B.C. Initially, these whales traveled into U.S waters near Lime Kiln Lighthouse and were heading northeast at about 8kts. We made the decision to head north around San Juan...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 9th, 2020 | 14:00

Today’s Adventure Trip was quite a ride south, and it was a gorgeous one! We dipped down the San Juan Channel and stopped just south of Cattle Point in a shallow area called Salmon Bank. It was here that we spotted two Minke Whales feeding in the bait balls. We decided to shut down the engine to watch and listen as they fed in every direction of our vessel. This was a first Minke Whale encounter for a lot of passengers, and they got in...