Olivia Esqueda | M/V Sea Lion | September 28th, 2024| 12:30pm

Saturday out on the water was SO fun! We headed south through San Juan Channel making a brief stop at Goose Island where we saw Harbor Seals, Double Crested Cormorants and Pelagic Cormorants before passing Cattle Point Lighthouse and exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After transiting past heaps of Surf Scoters, we came across a large bait ball where we were able to see one of the few Minke Whales in the Salish Sea. However, we...

Olivia Esqueda | M/V Sea Lion | September 25th, 2024 | 12:30pm

We are loving these fall days out on the water. Not only can we see the wildlife that spend the summer months here still hanging around, but we are also starting to see a return of the wildlife that will spend the winter months in these waters. These transitional phases bring in a broader biodiversity within the Salish Sea, making the shoulder seasons some of our favorite times of year to get out on the water. 

Today we felt lucky to...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 23rd, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Happy Monday from the M/V Sea Lion! We began our afternoon by heading south, excited to explore San Juan Channel and search for wildlife. Our first stop was at Goose Island near Cattle Point on the southeast side of San Juan Island. We got great looks at one of my favorite marine mammals, the harbor seal, as well as lots of cormorants and other sea birds along the rocks. It’s always a great sign to see this kind of activity in our...

Lauren Tschirhart | M/V Sea Lion | September 22nd, 2024 | 12:30pm

Captain Vaun and I were eager to start our tour today, with reports of a giant T-Party forming north of Mayne Island in the Strait of Georgia. The only problem… Would these whales stay in our range? We raced out of Friday Harbor and headed north into San Juan Channel. With no time for wildlife stops along the way, we headed right for Active Pass. After transiting over an hour and a half we finally made our way into the Strait of...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 21st, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Today’s Classic Whale Watch was another perfect September day on the water! We left Friday Harbor with reports of some whale activity to the east in Rosario Strait, so began our trip by heading in that direction. After traveling interisland and seeing great views of Shaw and Lopez Islands, we soon slowed down to approach the scene of some killer whales! As we approached, we could see there was a family of five Bigg’s Killer Whales...

Olivia Esqueda | M/V Sea Lion | Thursday, September 19th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Today was such a fun tour bringing in all the fall vibes. We started off our trip by heading south through San Juan Channel, stopping briefly off Turn Island to see a Sea Otter floating around in the bull kelp reef. This gave us an opportunity to chat about how the increased sightings of sea otters in the last few years all circles back to sea star wasting disease. We love conversations showing how everything is connected...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 20th, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Nobody could have predicted the crazy trip ahead of us as we left Friday Harbor on our afternoon Classic Whale Watch! We had reports of some killer whales traveling interisland, so we began by heading around Turn Island and stopping to look at some harbor seals before continuing east. We traveled in between Shaw and Lopez Islands, and soon saw a group of boats ahead of us rounding into East Sound of Orcas Island. As we approached the...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 17th, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Our Classic Whale Watch felt like Fall as we left Friday Harbor in overcast and cooler weather, but that certainly didn’t deter us from having a great day on the water! We left the dock and headed north, following up on a report of some killer whales. We traveled up San Juan Channel, following the western side of Orcas Island heading towards Patos Island. After a look at Patos Lighthouse, we rounded the corner and saw a few other...

Kelly | M/V Sea Lion | September 15th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Southward was the plan as we left Friday Harbor on our Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour. A rumored report of killer whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca was our destination, a long run on the ole M/V Sea Lion but we were determined to make it work! As we transited down San Juan Channel and approached Cattle Pass, guests aboard pointed out splashing in the distance! After slowing the boat to investigate, it became clear that the splashing...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | September 14th, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Our Sunday trip aboard the M/V Sea Lion took us about as far as we can go during a 3-to-4-hour whale watching tour out of Friday Harbor. The only whales we knew of were slowly exiting the Puget Sound, heading north-west out of Admiralty Inlet. Captain Gabe and I hoped for the best and headed south in San Juan Channel. We stopped at Goose Island to look at some Double-Crested Cormorant nests and some hauled our harbor seals. We cruised...