The day started strong! The sun was bold this morning following a rainy day off. With only a half hour before suiting up for an afternoon adventure tour there were rumors of orcas in the Rosario strait, heading south towards Anacortes. 

Now, if I’ve learned anything in my brief time here thus far, it’s that whales are only rumors until you get eyes on them yourself. I was still hopeful though. 

As soon as the team was suited and booted we hopped onto Kestrel with our Captain Brian...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 16th, 2020 | 14:00

Our entire Adventure Trip today was one unexpected moment after another! Heading inner island, we started the trip feeling a warm wind [it was the hottest day all summer, after all] and headed south through Rosario Strait. Scanning the blue waters, we suddenly spotted a baleen dorsal fin! Turns out, we had a solo Minke Whale lunge feeding through the bait balls. This was a first Minke Whale sighting for all our passengers which made it...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 2nd, 2020 | 13:30

Starting off our trip, Captain Pete and I decided to head south towards Haro Strait where we have been finding Baleen Whales foraging the past few weeks. On our route we stopped and saw heaps of Steller’s Sea Lions. These are my absolute favorite and the males are starting to return back to our waters after spending the summer in Alaska breeding with those females. The previous week we were only seeing roughly 3-5 individuals and now...

M/V Sea Lion| Sunday, October 13th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

What a full day we had today!  With fall in full swing here on San Juan Island, it sure turned out to be the perfect fall day! The sunshine was out as we departed on our trip aboard M/V Sea Lion and we had already heard of a report of orcas in Rosario Strait!

We headed out of Friday Harbor and aimed towards that report.  On our way we were lucky enough to see some Harbor porpoise swimming by us, these critters are...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/22/19 | 1:30pm

What an adventure!

Today, Captain Pete, Naturalist Erin and I headed out of Friday Harbor with no reports of whales!

We searched and searched the surrounding area. We boated up through the channel between Shaw and Lopez and down under Decatur Island and through the Lopez Passage. We headed across the Rosario Strait, all the while looking for any signs of wildlife.

We made it all the way to Whidbey Island and here we found a blow really...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 07/18/19 | 11:00am

What am amazing morning! Captain Brian and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor and headed towards reports of orcas! We boated south of Shaw Island across the south shores of Orcas Island, intertwining through Peavine Pass and then up Rosario Strait.

We stopped by some tiny islands called Peapod rocks where we found some seals! These harbor seals basked in the sunlight as they dried themselves from their watery hunting adventures. You had...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/04/19 | 1:30pm

Happy Fourth of July!! The day started with a beautiful parade marching down Spring Street in Friday Harbor. It created an air of excitement amongst everyone.

Captain Pete, Naturalist Laura and I took our vessel, the Sea Lion, out of Friday Harbor towards the mysterious unknown. We headed down through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Point where a beautiful lighthouse stood, marking the southern point of San Juan Channel.

We scanned the...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/13/19 | 12:00pm

Today started as a beautiful day in Friday Harbor! The sun was shining, and it truly felt like one of the first real summer day here in the San Juan Islands. Captain Sarah, Naturalist Erick, Naturalist Laura and I took our beautiful boat, the Sea Lion, out for a day of adventure! We were incredibly lucky to hear multiple reports of whales. So, we set out to find whales, excited for what the day had to offer.

We headed northeast through...

Today was an awesome day out on the water!  Our great group boarded M/V Sea Lion this afternoon and headed out east.  Once we passed over to Rosario Strait we headed north to catch up with some Transient (also known as Bigg's Killer Whales) that we had reports of!  We were so excited when we got on scene!  There were quite a few individuals- at least two families of these Bigg's Killer Whales!

We hung out for quite awhile with these amazing animals, watching their massive dorsal fins...

Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Gabe and I were looking forward to see what Southern Residents were out on the water today. With a full boat and excited guests to get out on the water we took off South to see what we could find. There had been reports of Resident orca pods coming up the Southern tip of Lopez Island and very spread out. We headed down the San Juan Channel in hopes of encountering these animals somewhere on the south end.

As we crossed Cattle Pass, we...