Naturalist Alexandria | M/v Sea Lion | June 10th, 2019  | 12:00 PM

What an amazing day we had today out on the water!  We started our trip out with no firm reports, though Captain Gabe had heard on the radio the possibility of a Humpback up north, so we decided to head that way to see what we could find.  

As we started our way north up San Juan Channel we were treated to a friendly harbor seal that was swimming by our boat.  He seemed to almost be posing got us as he swam along.  We...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, June 9th

Today was a great day!  We all met up at the office and got our group of 14 together for this trip.  It was an awesome mix of people, and though we are coast guard approved for 49 people we only had 14 people on board so everyone had ample space to move around and enjoy making it feel like they were on their own boat to some extent. 

As we hit the water we started heading out, making a left hand turn and working our way up north...

Piper | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM

On this evening’s sunset whale watch we headed out of the marina to go north again, with a very different destination in mind compared to our afternoon trip; the same orcas we were watching by Jones Island were now in Cordova Bay off of Victoria, BC! So we cruised up San Juan Channel and into Spieden Channel to go over the top of San Juan Island and just as we were pointing down the Haro we spotted two humpback whales which were...

Piper | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Captain Gabe and I were on the Sea Lion today with some awesome folks and there was a report of Bigg’s killer whales just up the channel from us! We left the docks and headed north, arriving with the whales shortly after beginning the tour. We were seeing the T49A’s, a group of five mammal-eating orcas which are made up of mom and her four kiddos, ranging from 18 to just over one year old! The orcas were travelling pretty...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/07/19 | 5:30 Sunset

As we gathered for our tour, I noticed how wonderfully small our group was! We definitely were lucky to have lots of space to walk around the boat and chat with new friends! Captain Gabe and I took the Sea Lion out of Friday Harbor and headed off in search of some wildlife!

Luckily, we heard reports from other whale watching boats right off the bat! So, we sped off towards the east. We had a fantastic tour of all the islands as we wound...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 7, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a phenomenal day it was out in the Salish Sea! We saw so many different types of wildlife, and the sun decided to show itself as well! We began our trip heading south toward Cattle Point. When we got to Cattle Point, we got some great views of Cattle Point lighthouse. Then we attracted our attention toward Whale Rocks, where there were Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the rocks and swimming in the water around them. There...

Olivia | June 6th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

What. A. Night. This was the most incredible tour I have had thus far! Captain Gabe and I barely made it out of the harbor; “barely” as in we never had the chance to pick up speed because the family of Bigg’s Killer Whales (T65B’s and T137’s) we saw during the morning tour had traveled about 20 miles north since then and were now directly in front of Friday Harbor. This was extra incredible because our passengers have all traveled far...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm | Thursday, June 6th

On this trip today we were lucky enough to see two Humpbacks off Saturna Island!  We started out this trip having a pretty good lead that there was a possibility of seeing Humpbacks today.  As we worked out way up we stopped and checked out Speiden Island, where we got some glances at Moufflan sheep and Sitka and Fallow deer.

We continued traveling up north and eventually met up with our humpback!  After spending a...

Piper | Wednesday, June 5, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

A bank of clouds rolled over the San Juans last night but the rain held off during today’s trip into the Salish Sea. Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and I headed out of the marina with our great group of guests during a very low tide! We moved north in San Juan Channel and made our way into New Channel along the north end of Spieden Island. We spotted a group of harbor seals hauled out in the Cactus Islands and since the...

Piper | Tuesday, June 4, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Just as I was gathering our guests for our trip today Captain Pete was on the radio with other whale watching boats and received a report of orcas in Canadian waters! So, we got off the docks with an awesome group of people and headed north in San Juan Channel, cutting across Spieden Channel towards the Southern Gulf Islands of Gooch and Mandarte. Arriving on scene with the Bigg’s killer whales, the mammal-eating ecotype, we...