Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 28th, 2020 | 17:30

We started off the trip by heading south into the Strait of Juan de Fuca in search of the same Bigg’s Killer Whales we saw on our 13:30 trip. We knew they were heading south but currently no one in the PWWA was on scene with them, making it more of an adventure to find them. Our M/V Sea Lion as well as a couple other whale watching vessels out of Friday Harbor divided along the strait scanning and working together to provide our guests...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 25th, 2020 | 17:30

After seeing part of L-Pod foraging in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on our 13:30 trip, we hoped for our sunset trip that they would still be foraging down there to give our guests the same opportunity to see Southern Resident Killer Whales as we did earlier. To our humble surprise, those Orca started traveling UP the San Juan Channel! What!! I had never heard of this behavior historically and immediately our hearts were racing with...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 24th, 2020 | 14:00

“No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”

-David Attenborough

I do not even know where to begin with writing tonight’s blog. I have been a naturalist in New Zealand and the San Juan Islands for a total of 4 years now and have never had such a profoundly spectacular trip as I did this afternoon. We left the dock with no reports of orca in the area and decided to go see...

Sarah | 07/24/2020 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm

Captain Pete and I left Friday Harbor on a beautiful summer day in search of whales around the San Juan Islands. We decided to head north towards calm seas, sunny skies, and a reported humpback whale.

As we rounded the north side of San Juan Island we headed out into Northern Haro Strait, and we started to see a blow, or whale exhale, in the distance! We had found our humpback whale! As we got a closer we got great looks at the whale’s...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | JUly 14, 2020 | 13:30

Every moment of our trip was a picture-perfect day out on the water. From the minute we left the dock we were graced with sharp views of Mount Baker [volcano] towering over the islands, a full bodied Mount Rainier [volcano] greeting us in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as well as the entirety of the Olympic Mountain Range silhouetting the South.

We took a sneak peek at some Harbor Seals hauled out near Turn Island before spotting Harbor...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | July 10, 2020 | 2:00pm

Wohoo! Another beautiful day out in the San Juans! It felt a little bit like summer out there in the Salish Sea but there was still a cool breeze coming from the south. Capt. Brian and I took an excited group out on M/V Kestrel to go find some wildlife! We first headed east and soon saw a blow out near Lopez Island! As we got closer, we saw that it was Humpback Whale headed south! We watched this giant whale swim quickly towards Cattle...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 3rd, 2020 | 14:00

It was such a fun day out on the water with Captain Brian-who is also the owner/operator of our family run business. We call our zodiac trips an ‘Adventure Trip’ for a reason; Not only is our zodiac faster than M/V Sea Lion, it is also all exposed. On rainy days like today, it absolutely feels like an adventure as you are braving the Salish Sea and its weather trying to scope out wildlife.

We started off the trip leaving the dock with a...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | June 28, 2020 | 13:30

Today as quite the adventure, and a well needed one at that! We started off the trip with the fastest introduction speech of wildlife and the Salish Sea that I have done to date. The reason for the rushed speeches as we set off was because there were whale sightings far away and heading north. Captain Pete was anxious to start our travels as soon as possible in order to give our guests that black and white glimpse they were itching to...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | June 28, 2020 | 13:30

Today as quite the adventure, and a well needed one at that! We started off the trip with the fastest introduction speech of wildlife and the Salish Sea that I have done to date. The reason for the rushed speeches as we set off was because there were whale sightings far away and heading north. Captain Pete was anxious to start our travels as soon as possible in order to give our guests that black and white glimpse they were itching to...

Sarah | 06/24/2020 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

WHAT A DAY!! We had such an amazing day on the water exploring the Salish Sea looking for wildlife. With two separate rumors of whales around the San Juan Islands, but no confirmed reports. This meant that we had to go out to find the whales ourselves!

Captain Erick opted to try to find a group of orcas who had been spotted earlier in the day off the westside of San Juan Island. We made our way north through San Juan Channel, around the...