Olivia Esqueda | M/V Sea Lion | September 28th, 2024| 12:30pm

Saturday out on the water was SO fun! We headed south through San Juan Channel making a brief stop at Goose Island where we saw Harbor Seals, Double Crested Cormorants and Pelagic Cormorants before passing Cattle Point Lighthouse and exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After transiting past heaps of Surf Scoters, we came across a large bait ball where we were able to see one of the few Minke Whales in the Salish Sea. However, we...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | September 13th, 2024 | 2:00 pm

The M/V Kestrel is our adventure boat, and our 2:00 pm Saturday trip was nothing short of an adventure. Nothing like celebrating the tail end of our summer whale watch tours with a torrential downpour! 

We left the dock, cruised out of Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to Sentinel Rock, a predominate harbor seal haul out site near Spieden Island. Harbor seals are super important to our ecosystem as they...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | September 12th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Our Thursday afternoon tour aboard the M/V Sea Lion started how we wish every tour would begin. Not only did we have reports of killer whales, but we had reports of multiple killer whale social gatherings. Not one, but two T-Partys had been found in Rosario Strait. A “T-Party” refers to a large group of Bigg’s AKA Transient (hence the “T”) killer whales. For a gathering to be a true T-Party, there must be members from at least three different...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | September 3rd, 2024 | 12:30pm

We are officially running our daily classic tours aboard M/V Sea Lion which tends to be a favorite vessel of our naturalist staff. Starting off the day, it sure felt like fall as we headed south into the fog. After a brief stop at Goose Island to check out some Harbor Seals thermoregulating on the shoreline, Double Crested Cormorants nesting on top of the island, and Pelagic Cormorants drying out their wings, we headed into the Strait of Juan...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 26th 2024 | 2PM

Aboard the M/V Kestrel on our 2pm Adventure tour, we left Friday Harbor with high spirits and turned left to zoom up San Juan Channel. We heard a rumored report of whales around Coal Island, just off shore from Sidney, BC. We quickly curved over the top of San Juan Island and made our way straight across the Canadian border. As we neared Coal Island the rain began, and quite frankly...it never stopped. This amount of participation is unusual for this...

Olivia | M/V Osprey | August 21st, 2024 | 12:30pm

Summer season out here in the San Juan Islands is considered peak season, bringing in the opportunity to see potentially two ecotypes of Killer Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, and Gray Whales. While statistics continually reflect on that, every day is a brand-new adventure on where or what type of whale it is we are going to see. Starting off August, we had a bit of a Killer Whale lull in the Salish Sea, where Pacific Whale Watch...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | May 23rd, 2022 | 12:30pm

The Pacific Northwest decided to pull one of her most cliché moves by raining on a day that didn’t call for it; but off we went with happy faces ready for whatever the day brought. Heading north, we stopped at Flattop Island admiring heaps of Pigeon Guillemots with their red feet bold against the green water. Nearby we found several Harbor Seals swimming along the basalt rock as well as an adult Bald Eagle stoically looking across the...

Laura | M/V Osprey | 8/3/2021 | 5:30PM

Today was one of the best humpback encounters I have experienced in quite a while!   We left the dock headed northbound through San Juan Channel and it was only about 10 minutes before we spotted some blows!  A young boy named Oliver looked close to the shoreline and exclaimed to naturalist Haleigh that he just spotted a blow!  Our Captain Gabe instantly slowed the boat down and we patiently awaited our next leviathan sighting!  On the next...

Olivia | M/V Osprey | May 30th, 2021 | 12:30pm

Our sunny Sunday started off with heaps of Pigeon Guillemots exploring the inner Friday Harbor as we slowly made our way out of the hustle and bustle of the holiday traffic. Scouting out reports from multiple directions around the San Juan Islands, we made the decision to head north up San Juan Channel in the direction of the outer islands!

We were able to pass not only more Pigeon Guillemots, but also Rhinoceros Auklets, a variety of...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | September 8th, 2020 | 13:00

Leaving the dock today, we did not let the smoke tear down our spirits as we headed south through San Juan Channel. Reaching Cattle Pass, we heard rumors of Bigg’s Killer Whales southwest of Hein Bank and decided to aim there with our best chances of showing our guests something black and white in the water. Our entire way there we were spotting Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoise swimming between the shallow Salmon and Hein Banks.

It...