Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 3rd, 2020 | 14:00

It was such a fun day out on the water with Captain Brian-who is also the owner/operator of our family run business. We call our zodiac trips an ‘Adventure Trip’ for a reason; Not only is our zodiac faster than M/V Sea Lion, it is also all exposed. On rainy days like today, it absolutely feels like an adventure as you are braving the Salish Sea and its weather trying to scope out wildlife.

We started off the trip leaving the dock with a...

Sarah | 09/13/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Today was just a lovely day on the water! With calm seas and some reports of several baleen whales in our area, Captain Gabe and I were eager to hit the water.

We started our day heading south from Friday Harbor through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass between San Juan Island and Lopez Island. We stopped for a brief look at some Steller’s sea lions hauled out on a rocky outcropping known as Whale Rocks. These massive pinnipeds are the...

Olivia | July 22nd, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Despite the beautiful sunshine, Olympic mountain range silhouetting the southern horizon, and Mount Baker proudly standing above the San Juan Islands, we ended up having fairly rough seas as we headed out on our adventure. We left Friday Harbor aware of two potential whale sightings, one very far north and moving further away, or another south near Whidbey Island where the swells were about 3-4 feet in some areas of our travel. Captain...

I have recently uprooted back to the United States after living in New Zealand for a year and a half and decided I wasn’t ready to give up that beautiful scenery. I discovered the San Juan Islands after an impromptu trip with my best friend and decided not only is it incredibly similar to my life down under, but it was a place I needed to be!  Therefore, I packed up my Red Band gumboots in my favorite Osprey backpack and moved out here at the very beginning of May. Being a hard...

Sarah | 05/05/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Today was an amazing day on the water! We are seeing an incredible diversity of killer whales in our waters these days and today was no different!

We left Friday harbor and headed south through San Juan Channel, passing Griffin Bay and the south end of Lopez Island. In Cattle Pass we stopped at Whale Rocks to check out a group of Steller’s sea lions, hauled out near a group of harbor seals. It was really interesting to be able to compare the...

[Sarah | 05/03/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

We had an incredible day on the water today from Friday Harbor. This time of year the we say that the chances of seeing orcas are 50-60%, but we have been having a spectacular early season seeing whales on over 80% of our trips. Though it doesn’t happen every day, before we even left the dock we had a report of some killer whales close by in San Juan Channel!

Captain Brian, Captain Erick, and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor...

[Sarah | 04/25/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was the day! The day we have all been waiting for! Ask anyone who knows me and they’ll tell you that I have been talking about the day we would finally see a humpback whale in the 2019 season and that day was today!

Captain Pete and I had no reports of cetaceans when we left the dock in Friday Harbor. Undiscouraged we decided to head east, interisland, to search some waterways that hadn’t been looked at by any whale watchers yet...

Sarah | 10/30/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Today we welcomed a small group of great guests on board the M/V Sea Lion for an exploration of the Salish Sea in search of wildlife. Autumn forecasts are so fickle here in the San Juan Islands, we had no idea what to expect until we left the dock. The water was glassy and we had peek-a-boo blue skies with low hanging clouds over the islands.

We headed north through San Juan Channel towards Canadian waters in Boundary Pass. As we worked our...

Sarah | 10/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

We had a great trip on M/V Sea Lion, enjoying the sweeping scenery of the Salish Sea as well as great encounters with wildlife. Heading north out of Friday Harbor, we decided to point the boat towards the Outer Islands of the San Juans, and into Canadian waters. After some rain in the morning we were treated to a high clog ceiling and even some blue skies over smooth water.

With no reports of whales or other wildlife as we left the dock we...

October 8- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with no reports of wildlife in our area.  So we headed out and started searching North of San Juan Island.  We saw a lot of harbor porpoise while in transient.  Thankfully we spotted a spout off in the distance.  Captain Mike headed that way and we found out it was a humpback whale cruising around.   We watched as it circled around just South of Patos Island.  This whale was most likely feeding under the water and getting...