T65A’s Baby Shower

[M/V Sea Lion 4/15/18- Naturalist Alexandria]

Week old T65A6 joined by the rest of their family and friends!

When: Aboard M/V Sea Lion’s Trip on Sunday, April 15th at Noon

Where: Rosario Straight

Why: Celebrate the newest addition to the Transient Family!

Suggested Attire:  Warm, Casual Layers   (Guest of honor T65A6 will be dawning a peachy orange hue, as...

A Beautiful Day on the Water with the T 10s

[Naturalist Alexandria – 09/26/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

What an awesome day on the water we had!  Naturalist Courtney and myself were so excited to begin our trip today, as we knew our Captain had received reports of Transient, or Biggs Orcas, being in the area!  We eagerly greeted our new friends that would be joining us on our trip for the next few hours, boarded everyone onto M/V Sea Lion, and were off! 

It wasn’t long before we...

[Sarah M. – 07/20/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 05:30pm]

After a bit of a gray day in the San Juan Islands, we had a very welcome break in the clouds as we departed on our sunset whale watch from Friday Harbor. Out here in the Salish Sea your luck with wildlife sightings can change minute by minute, and yesterday was a great example of how the outcomes of previous trips can have no impact on sightings later in the day.

Captain Mike steered the M/V Sea Lion north out of the harbor towards...

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...

It’s been an excellent year for Transient Killer Whales so far, and today was no exception! Recently there’s been a number of family groups hanging around the San Juan Islands, and we’ve been venturing up to Boundary Pass almost on the daily. Today we left the dock with similar reports and started our trek north.  

On the way up we stopped by a tiny rocky island just off of Waldron Island to look at some harbor seals that were hauled out on the banks. Harbor seals are a super yummy...

Yesterday all of our stars aligned. During April, cetacean sightings have historically been a bit hit or miss… whales here one day and then gone the next. Lately we have had a lull in whale sightings, but we have still been out enjoying the beautiful weather and ample wildlife of spring in the Salish Sea.

We left the dock with no good report of orcas; no one in the Pacific Whale Watch Association’s spotting network had spotted anything. About 30 minutes off the dock, Captain Mike...

What an incredible day out on the water! Today was Captain Pete's last day driving for us, and the Salish Sea made sure it was a special trip.

We loaded up the Sea Lion with excited passengers ready to see some of the unique wildlife and headed North out of Friday Harbor under a clear sky. We had heard some reports of orcas up in the Canadian Gulf islands and were excited to get up into whale country!

Along the way we checked out the islands and scenery of the San Juan Channel along...

We started this trip with smiles on our faces because of the warm weather, and ended it the same way because of the spectacular wildlife we encountered. With no orca reports when we left the dock, we headed North to try our luck. On the way, we spotted an abundance of harbor porpoises, their tiny dorsal fins rolling at the surface as an indication of their presence.

Much to our delight, we soon received notice of two transient orcas between Saturna and South Pender island near the...

Another fabulous day on San Juan Island! Our Owner and Captain Brian was out on the water today and spotted transient orcas near Henry Island late this morning.  T18 was out with the T19 group hunting in Open Bay and off Battleship Island.  We often see these transient orcas in the summer months as well.  Harbor seals were the main course this morning, a favorite of transient orcas.  Brian observed lots a vocalizations after the hunt was over.  Transients are often seen "celebrating"...