Captain Mike seemed antsy to board our guests and depart on the day’s safari.  The skies were dark and brooding, but there wasn’t a puff of wind and the channel outside of Friday Harbor was calm.  By the time we left the dock, the wind had cranked up and white caps busted against the bow, blurring the line between sea and surface as sheets of salt spray soaked the aft deck. 

Fortunately another captain in the whale watching fleet had sighted killer whales near Lopez Island and we...

Can I take just a moment to brag?  This morning, when Captain Mike was likely still in his orca print onesie dodging dreamtime flotsam, I was watching orcas from the deck of a Washington state ferry.  Between all of the naturalists, captains, and their associates, there are a lot of eyes on the water, and to be the first to report a killer whale sighting is an honor that has thus far evaded my collection.  Well today I checked it off my list, even though it was not a result of...

Today Captain Pete, Kayak Guide Jordan and I headed out on another tour on the M/V Sea Lion. We have been having some excellent weather lately, and it has been a true pleasure to be out on the water. Leaving Friday Harbor we headed North through San Juan Channel towards Spieden Island.

In Spieden channel we had an awesome encounter with some foraging Steller’s sea lions. There were at least twenty of the huge pinnipeds in the water! The animals were surfacing around the very active...

We have had a great start to our 2017 season over the past two weekends, highlighted by a wintertime visit by some of the Southern Resident killer whales on Saturday the 18th.

In the winter we usually expect our Resident whales to be foraging for salmon off the coasts of Washington and Oregon, but, on occasion, they journey inland in search of fish. These winter trips here to the Salish Sea are often fleeting, usually lasting only a few days...

She was my first wild orca. I will never forget that moment as I sat on the bow of the M/V Sea Lion, mere hours after stepping off the ferry, and I was looking at her family. I watched her glossy back break the surface and heard that powerful "kwoof" that instantly became my favorite sound. I took in every detail of her closed saddlepatch and petite dorsal fin with a scallop out of the trailing edge before she dove below the surface.  With a wandering tear rolling over my cheek, and...

The days are a little cloudier as we delve deeper and deeper into Autumn, but that doesn’t slow us down nor the whales! They live in water so cloudy or rainy days don’t bother them and the mists that float in from the ocean here help the isles show their true colors.  This is what the islands usually look like. The greenest evergreens scrape the low lying cloud train all while the calm waters of the Salish Sea reflect the diffused light of the terrestrial world. But no worries there...

We see whales most days and they are super! But some days we have an extra special day. Today we went north and motored through some of the outer islands north of San Juan Island. We first stopped around Flattop Island to look at some really cool Harbor Porpoises surfing in the windy chop south of the island. After we checked out their silly antics we continued north and saw quite a few majestic Bald Eagles and as we approached East Point on Saturna, one of my favorite places in the...

Today is one of those fall days that you dream about here in the Salish Sea. After the last couple of stormy days, today’s sun was a welcome break.

We left Friday Harbor turned left, and headed north. We were lucky enough to find a humpback whale within 10 minutes of leaving the harbor as it traveled south through San Juan Channel. Humpbacks are usually 45 feet long on average. This individual appeared to be a bit smaller, indicating that it was a juvenile. We spent about 15 minutes with the...

Today we had the rare opportunity to view four different family groups of transient killer whales. When we pulled away from the dock, reports of killer whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca brought us south of San Juan Island. On our way down, we encountered all sorts of wildlife, including Steller sea lions, harbor seals, cormorants, harbor porpoises, and even a minke whale!

When we arrived at where the orcas were last reported, we noticed that the group consisted of nine different...

You know what people love more than whales? Nothing except more whales and maybe perhaps the idea of autumn as they drown everything in brighter earth tones, sweaters, and pumpkin spice flavoring, but today wasn’t one of those days it was a whale of a day. Captain Mike, myself and Alex headed north to search for the Southern Resident Orcas. We first spotted them around East Point on Saturna Island. This place is one of my favorite in the islands, the current get a little bit crazy...