Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/29/19 | 1:30pm

What a lovely day out on the water! I really enjoyed talking with all my guests. They were a great group.

Captain Sarah, Naturalist Alexandria and I took our vessel, the Sea Lion, out of Friday Harbor and sped up through the San Juan Channel.

We boated up towards this little island near Waldron Island and spotted tons of seals! These harbor seals lounged lazily amongst the wet rocks and snuggled up against each other as they fought the rising...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Monday, July 29, 2019

What an incredible day packed with wildlife in the Salish Sea! When we left Friday Harbor, the sun was shining and it was shaping up to be a gorgeous day. We headed north out of the harbor toward a report of orcas in Boundary Pass! The water was calm, and we were all excited to see wildlife. We stopped past White Rock, which is south of Waldron Island. It is an important wildlife refuge for pinnipeds and birds alike. We saw a lot...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Saturday, July 27, 2019 | 5:30 PM

It was a lovely evening of viewing wildlife around the Salish Sea. The Salish Sea attracts so many different types of wildlife because of the amount of productivity that occurs. This productivity creates phytoplankton and allows for the whole food chain to be present, especially throughout the summer months. Our first wildlife sighting was at Flattop Island. Flattop Island is northeast of Spieden Island, and it is designated as...

Laura C. | M/V Sea Lion | 7/25/2019 | 1:30pm

Today was a beautiful day on the water!  Our vessel Sea Lion headed far north with morning reports of some cool whale sightings!  After a picturesque journey surrounded by Canadian mountain views and Mount Baker in the distance, we saw a dorsal fin way out in the distance.  It was the fin of a humpback whale moving sleekly through the glass calm water! 

We stayed with this humpback for quite a while and watched her take 4-5-minute dives...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

This was a trip for the books! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and headed back towards where we had seen whales on our previous trip, in the Strait of Georgia. We stopped past White Rock, which is a very interesting location. It is important for both birds and harbor seals. There were lots of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, some of which had pups! There was one pup that was moving around on the rocks. It was...

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

Today was a really lovely day out on the water! I really enjoyed speaking with all our guests and answering all their great questions about our wildlife!

Captain Sarah, Naturalist Piper and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed up north towards reports of killer whales. We headed up through the San Juan Channel and past Speiden Island. We boated around Stuart Island, across Boundary Pass and into Canadian waters. Here we went towards...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, July 14, 2019 | 11:00 AM

It was an absolutely wildlife-filled day on the water this morning. We began our trip heading south out of Friday Harbor. We made our way to Cattle Point and got a lovely view of the lighthouse. Then we went directly across the San Juan Channel to Whale Rocks and we saw over 20 harbor seals hauled out of the water! There were a few swimming around in the water as well. Not only were there harbor seals, but there was a Steller's...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, July 7, 2019 | 5:30 PM

What a wonderful evening we had in the Salish Sea! When we left Friday Harbor, the rain was starting to slow down and we could see the sun trying to peak out of the clouds. We were excited because we were heading to the area we had seen orcas in on our previous trip. We headed north out of Friday Harbor and saw lots of harbor porpoises as we headed through San Juan Channel. They were popping up all around our boat and everyone was...

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...

Piper | Sunday, June 30, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM

Happy last day of June! Tonight’s sunset cruise took us south through San Juan Channel to check out a report of orcas near Hein Bank! We headed down towards Cattle Point Lighthouse and stopped at Whale Rocks to check out a few Steller sea lions STILL hanging out in the pass! One sub-adult was lounging on the rocks soaking up the remaining rays for the day, trying to get warm. We continued south to an awesome view of the Olympic...