Well Folks, the shortest day of the year has arrived are we are ready for the sun to stay up past 4:15! These cold northwest nights have us dreaming of kayaking on blue bird days and enjoying campfire cooking.  With 2015 just around the corner, it is an excellent time to start looking ahead to summer vacation plans.  Overnight Kayak Tours are an excellent way to spend a weekend - or even a week! We run full service tours that provide all the gear and food so all you need to do is...

With November right around the corner, we cannot believe how fast this season went!  Not only was it a wonderful summer full of sun, but we had record high orca whale sightings!  This past season we had ample time to enjoy J,K, and L pod in their summer hunting grounds in the Salish Sea.  Many of these days were spent on the west side of San Juan Island, a favorite spot for the salmon eating Southern Resident Killer Whales.  On days that the SRKWs (Southern Resident Killer Whales)...

A trifecta of whales today for the 'ol M/V Sea Lion. Guests that stuck with us through the rain and the spray from the waves were rewarded with incredible views of not just our resident orcas, but also TWO humpbacks, AND a minke whale! Oh and did I forget to mention the 7-10 Dahl's porpoise that decided to ride the wake of our boat for up to 15 minutes? Yes, that also happened! It was a great day on the water and the wildlife was out in droves. Never a dull moment for the M/V Sea...

Today Captain Mike, Caitlin and I had a very eventful day on the water. Though we left with no reports of orcas, we felt hopeful that some might turn up around the islands. We first stopped to see some Northern sea lions just south of San Juan, before catching up with a pod of right around 100 Pacific white-sided dolphins! We enjoyed their antics as they surfed in the M/V Sea Lion's wake and bow rode at the front of the vessel. It is always fun to see these very athletic visitors to...

Today Captain Mike, Naturalist Caitlin and I had a trip that we all agreed was the highlight of our season. We left Friday Harbor at 12:00pm and immediately stumbled across some harbor seals hauled out on some rocks. The seals need to lay in the sun to warm up as they have a very minimal layer of insulating fat known as blubber. With another stop to check out some nesting double-crested cormorants and some gulls, we headed out to find a minke whale on a glassy Haro Strait. We caught...

Yet another beautiful late summer day with the Southern Residents! We had a spectacular afternoon full of breaching, tail lobbing and porpoising.... generally very happy orcas! Today we enjoyed the company of a couple of different L-pod families. We spent the most time with the L54s (L54 "Ino" and her calves L108 "Coho" & L117 "Keta") who were joined by some of my favorite males: L92 "Crewser", L88 "Wave Walker", and L84 "Nyssa". Wave Walker and Nyssa are the last remaining members...

We had a wonderful day on the water with some very goofy southern resident killer whales! We saw a mixture of J and K pods playing, rolling and breaching in Haro Strait. We saw a number of spyhops today as well. Killer whales have excellent eyesight, very much like our own, but they can only see about three feet above the water when they are under. In order to survey their surroundings they will spyhop, sticking their heads out of the water. We had a wonderful time enjoying the...

Today Captain Pete, Tyler and I headed out for a blustery day on Haro Strait. We headed North around San Juan Island and met up with a beautiful group of transient killer whales in the middle of the strait right on the US/Canadian border. Transients eat marine mammals (basically anything that we think is cute and cuddly) with harbor seals making up about 60% of their diet. Today we were fortunate enough to see the T37s and the T137As. We can identify individuals whales by looking at...

Today we had a gorgeous day on the M/V Kittiwake travelling up into Canadian waters to find a pod of transient orcas. These whales eat marine mammals, with harbor seals making up the majority of their diet. A male killer whale can eat over 400 pounds of food a day! We enjoyed watching a group of five individuals meandering up near Active Pass. Not only a great day with no fog, but also a great group on the boat!

Sarah, M/V Kittiwake, San Juan Safaris Whale Watching

Today Captain Mike, Aimee and I started the day off with a lively charter out of Roche Harbor! We brought the M/V Sea Lion up from Friday Harbor to pick up a wonderful group. After a couple of days of no killer whales, it was awesome to see the Residents back in the Salish Sea. Oftentimes guests ask us when the whales will get to a certain area at a certain time, and no one can really answer that! The whales don't work on the same time frame as we do, they work completely on salmon...