Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 11, 2020 | 13:00

It was an exception treat this morning leaving the dock. We had reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales within our area that swam in quickly from Victoria early this morning. They moved up so far and fast, that leaving the dock they were milling near the south western part of San Juan Island. In order to give our passengers, the best possible opportunity to view Transient Orca, we decided to head straight for this family before they moved too...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 9th, 2020 | 14:00

Today’s Adventure Trip was quite a ride south, and it was a gorgeous one! We dipped down the San Juan Channel and stopped just south of Cattle Point in a shallow area called Salmon Bank. It was here that we spotted two Minke Whales feeding in the bait balls. We decided to shut down the engine to watch and listen as they fed in every direction of our vessel. This was a first Minke Whale encounter for a lot of passengers, and they got in...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | August 8th, 2020 | 17:30

Setting out on our sunset trip, Captain Pete and I decided to head south again in the direction of Hein Bank to follow up on a Humpback Whale rumor that was potentially traveling north in our direction. Being a long haul on our classic whale watching vessel, we decided to go straight there without stopping. Nearing the end of Salmon Bank, we came across a surprise Minke Whale lunge feeding off our port bow. We slowed down the boat and...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 7th, 2020 | 14:00

The Hail Mary works again! Captain Brian and I decided to take a chance and head far south on our afternoon adventure trip in an attempt to see Killer Whales between Whidbey and Camano Islands. This was a long shot as there was no coverage on the whales and we would have to find them ourselves, in addition to going far and pushing our time limits with the four-hour trip. We decided it was worth it to give it our all for our passengers...

Erick | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 | July 30, 2020

Today was another beautiful, sunny day here in the San Juan Islands. Captain Pete and I left the dock with some great guests in search of the marine wildlife here. We started by heading south towards Cattle Pass. We made our first stop at Turn Rocks just off of Turn Island. Here there were quite a few Pacific Harbor Seals and some pups basking in the beautiful sun. Many of them were holding their ‘banana poses’ where they hold their head...

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...