Laura C. | 6-27-2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

Passengers boarded M/V Sea Lion today with vigor, in hopes of either witnessing whales in their natural environment for the first time or reconnecting with these charismatic leviathans once again!  And we were not disappointed!  Captain Pete manned the helm as we ventured north through San Juan Channel and rounded Orcas Island to join fellow whale-watching vessels near Sucia Island.  We were elated to see a familiar family in the area...

Alexandria | Saturday, June 1, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM 

What a beautiful evening!  The sun was shining, our group was ready to get on the water, and water was beautiful and glassy- it was the perfect beginning to our sunset evening Class Whale Watch.

We boarded M/V Sea Lion, excited about such gorgeous weather and ready to explore the area to see what we could find.  We started heading north out of Friday Harbor and headed up San Juan Channel.  As we were working our way up...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, May 31, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Today was a day packed full of amazing wildlife viewing! It was a sunny, beautiful day out on the water. We began our day heading north out of Friday Harbor, getting some gorgeous views of Spieden Island. We ended up on the western side of Stuart Island, watching a juvenile humpback whale. It was taking very short dives and only spending a few moments at the surface. It showed its beautiful fluke to us as we left. We also got an...

Erick | Saturday, March 9, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

If you can imagine a perfect March day, then that day was today. The sun was shining bright, there were a few fluffy white clouds hanging out above the islands, and the breeze was slight. Captain Mike, Sarah, and I took a pretty large group out aboard M/V Sea Lion. We left from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. And headed south into San Juan Channel. The channels in between the main islands of the San Juan Islands are not very...

This Sunday in September sure felt like fall. Capt Gabe, Jordan, and myself headed out with a great group of passengers into the rainy blue Salish Sea. Most people visit this area in the summer, which is beautiful here. The temperature is usually super pleasant, the sun is up for a very long time, and there is usually not a rain cloud to speak of. The rest of the year though, it looks like it did today - very misty, cool, breezy, and rainy. We ventured off into the Pacific...

[Thursday, 5/3/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

May is here and things are beginning to feel more and more like summer. More staff are arriving back and even Captain Pete has returned from his journeys around the world. Captain Pete tagged along with us on this trip as Captain Mike and I took folks out on another sunny day in the islands. We started by heading north and looking in the places where there is food for the whale species and types that we usually see during...

[7/31/17 2pm Kestrel]

Today's whale watch on the M/V Kestrel took us all the way out to Anacortes, where a group of killer whales had been reported before we left the dock. We pushed off the dock and motored out of Friday Harbor with 75 degree weather and clear, sunny skies. Our route took us through small, scenic inter-island passageways, where we had the opportunity to observe a whole host of non-whale wildlife along the way.

Our first stop was at the north end of Lopez Island...

(7/23/17- M/V Sea Lion- 5:30 PM)

This evening we departed from our Friday Harbor dock with reports of some of our Southern Resident Killer Whales heading up the west side of San Juan Island.  This is only my fourth time seeing these whales all season, so our guests today got a real treat. 

We headed up San Juan Channel where we stopped by some rocks and saw a few harbor seals hauled out while the tide was out.  Harbor seals haul out usually once a day in order to warm their body...

(7/15/17- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 PM and 5:30 PM)

Another day on the water with whale calves!  We saw the same two families of whales on both our afternoon and sunset trip departing from Friday Harbor, the T34’s and part of the T37’s. 

These individual whales have been hanging out in near the San Juan Islands for the past few weeks, but today they were North of San Juan Island in Canadian waters.  On our first trip we watched the whales in the lower portion of the Strait of Georgia.  By...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, 07/13/2017, 1:30 pm and 5:30 pm Tour

Today was an incredible day on the water. M/V Sea Lion ran two tours out of Friday Harbor today, each with some spectacular sea and weather conditions and some great sightings of killer whales, harbor seals, bald eagles galore, and an exploration of some unique aspects of our marine ecosystem out here in the Salish Sea - like our amazing bull kelp forests and nutrient-dense waters. I've compiled and editted some of my...