Erick | Sunday, April 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Happy Easter everyone! Today we had a fantastic trip. Captain Pete, Ryder, and I headed out with a full boat on a beautiful sunny day! He headed north through San Juan Channel and then through President Channel following up on a report of orcas near Sucia and Matia Islands just north of Orcas Island. Once we got nearer to Sucia and Patos Islands we started to see the blows! We soon identified them as part of J pod! J pod, probably...

Erick | Saturday, April, 20, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Happy Earth Day! 

This was a sunny Earth Day out in the San Juan Islands. Captain Pete, Alex, and myself took a large group out to celebrate the day and find some other great denizens of Earth out there. We headed north through San Juan Channel and into President Channel where we had a few Bald Eagles soar above us. After we passed Waldron Island we stopped by Bare Island to look at the Harbor Seals that were trying to escape...

Erick | Monday, April 15, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

The Spring BLOOM has arrived! Noooo I don’t mean all the wildflowers blooming on all the prairies around the islands (well, they are blooming too). I’m talking about the phytoplankton and zooplankton! Every spring once daylight hours hit a certain threshold and there are enough nutrients floating around the phytoplankton re populate exponentially thereby feeding the zooplankton and eventually the whole ecosystem! Your can see...

Erick | Wednesday, April 10, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

This Wednesday brought us back to very on brand Pacific Northwest spring weather. Low-lying clouds scraped the canopy of the evergreen forests that cover the San Juan Islands intermittently dipping low enough to brush us with a light rain. Captain Brian and I took a smaller group out on M/V Sea Lion to look for a wonderful array of wildlife in the Salish Sea. As we left Friday Harbor, we turned north to travel up San Juan...

Erick | Monday, March 25, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

It felt a little bit more like normal springtime weather today. There was a heavy grey cloud cover that diffused all the sun light, but the good news is that the clouds were quite high up so you could still see far into the distance where Mt. Baker loomed on one side and the Olympic Mountains stretched west on the other. Captain Mike, Alex, and I took an excited group out to look for all the fun spring time wildlife in the...

Erick | Sunday, March 24, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Listen to the Bigg's Orca Vocals we recorded this day here

Yet another day of beautiful sunny weather today. Captain Mike and I took a pretty large group of folks out on M/V Sea Lin to look for some marine wildlife in the San Juan Islands. We left Friday Harbor and headed north towards the northern edge of the islands. We made our first stop at Flattop Island. This whole island is a nature preserve and it is a perfect spot to...

Erick |Friday, March 22, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Today we caught a short sunny period as we left Friday Harbor to search for some amazing wildlife on this beautiful spring day. Captain Mike and I left with a smaller group and headed north up through beautiful San Juan Channel. We cruised through Spieden Channel and went out into the northern part of Haro Strait and soon saw a few scattered groups of blows in the distance. It was a large group of Orcas travelling spread out...

Erick | Tuesday, March 19, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Today. We took a wonderful group of folks out on a pretty warm sunny very springtime day. Captain Pete, myself, and Alex motored south to look at Griffin Bay and saw some Harbor Seals lounging on the rocks soaking up the sun as much as we were. We did not see any whales so we turned and headed north. Right around Turn Rock we saw a Steller Sea Lion that had grabbed a Giant Pacific Octopus! He was tearing into it and swallowing...

Erick | Monday, March 18, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 12:00 

Spring is here! On this warm and sunny day Captain Brian and I took a great small group out on Kestrel to see what wildlife was out enjoying the sunshine too. We headed out of Friday Harbor and almost saw blows immediately! They were right off the shore of Brown Island. We approached this group of whales and soon saw that they were Bigg’s Orcas. Orcas aka Killer Whales are divided into different ‘ecotypes’. These ecotypes are...

Erick | Friday, March 15, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

On Friday, it was another beautiful sunny day that reminded us that spring is just around the corner for us! Captain Mike and I headed out with a great group up north to go see what we could find! We headed through San Juan Channel, then to Spring Pass, and through Presidents Channel. In Presidents Channel we got to see a lot of Harbor Porpoise. I sometimes call this area Porpoise alley. Harbor Porpoises are definitely our...