Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 4/15/2021 | 1:00PM

Today was a spectacular day out on the water!  We left the dock on M/V Sea Lion with a morning report that orcas had just been spotted near Orcas Island in East Sound!  Passengers were super excited to head out in hopes of finding whales close by on such a beautiful sunny day!  As we headed out of Friday Harbor our Captain, Pete, noticed two majestic bald eagles neatly perched along an exposed branch near the Friday Harbor Marine Labs.  They...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 6/25/2020 | 13:30

This afternoon’s whale watch aboard M/V Sea Lion was simply spectacular!  We left Friday Harbor with reports of killer whales not far away, near Blakely and Obstruction Islands.  I am always so excited to hear the radio announcing the presence of whales even before we leave the dock!  After a quick safety talk from our Captain Pete, we hurried our way through San Juan Channel to get to Obstruction Pass.  There we were greeted by a couple of...

Did you know that our transient killer whales are also known as Bigg's killer whales? Dr. Michael Bigg was instrumental in pioneering killer whale identification research throughout the 1970's and 1980's, revealing the very distinct populations of orcas and also bringing to light the realization that the numbers of orcas in these popoulations were relatively low. Before Bigg, it was generally assumed that there were massive amounts of killer whales in the ocean and that they all ate...