M/V Sea Lion | Naturalist Alexandria | Monday, September 9th, 2019 | 12PM

We had a gorgeous day out on the water today aboard M/V Sea Lion.  We all boarded onto M/V Sea Lion and headed north up through San Juan Channel.  We had a report of a Humpback whale off of Green Point on Spieden Island.   As we worked our way out we got some fantastic looks at Harbor porpoise sprinkled throughout the channel.

It took about thirty minutes to get up to this report, and as we were getting on...

Olivia | August 29th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

Today was such a breezy day on the water, both literally and figuratively. We started off by [barely] traveling south to find Bigg’s Killer Whales near Pear Point. From there, they turned north and were able to view them all the way back to Friday Harbor. As soon as we found them, we also saw Harbor Porpoises that were frantically fleeing the other way, including a full leap out of the water which is rare for porpoises.  This...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/19/19 | 1:30pm

Wow! We saw so much wildlife today! Hope everyone knew how lucky we were to see all that we did!

As soon as Captain Pete, Naturalist Piper and I left Friday Harbor, we boated about 5 minutes north and found orca whales immediately! Amazing! Typically, we travel far and wide to see the whales!

These transient (Bigg’s) killer whales were travelling around San Juan Channel but erratically changing directions every few minutes! They really kept...

Olivia | August 15th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

My favorite trip thus far.

I cannot express the realm of emotions myself, Captain Gabe, and our 19 passengers went through on our 11:00am Adventure Tour. We heard reports early in the morning that our Southern Resident Killer Whales (J Pod) had returned to Haro Strait per Lime Kiln recording their dialect through the hydrophone. With a thick bank of fog south and west of San Juan Island, we decided to head around the northern side to...

Olivia | August 14th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

For our evening sunset, we received reports of Humpback Whales heading north through Swanson Channel in Canadian waters. Because of the far distance pushing our 3 to 4 hour time frame, Captain Pete and I agreed to head straight for that area in hopes to see whales before the sun set. We traveled north through San Juan Channel, dipped into Spieden Channel watching the exotic sheep and deer peak out into the southern side of Spieden...

Olivia | August 3rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

What an evening! We had a beautiful morning with two types of Baleen Whales (still in range) which made it an exceptional trip, and by the sunset trip, we found out about some Killer Whales sightings. The only problem was that they were just out of our range and we wouldn’t be able to make it within the 3-4 hour trip, and more importantly, back before it gets dark. We knew our passengers really wanted to see them, so with a lot of...

Olivia | July 31st, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

This evening, the whales made our job very easy! Captain Pete and I brought our passengers around the northern side of San Juan Island, through Spieden Channel, and down towards Lime Kiln. Prior to getting there, we spotted the same family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales that we saw south of San Juan Island earlier that morning. The T46B1’s were feeding right outside of Mosquito Pass and comprised of three individuals, including the...

Olivia | July 24th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

Starting out our second trip of the day, Captain Brian and I knew the group of Bigg’s Killer Whales we saw earlier today moved further north, pushing our range to stay between the 3 to 4 hour timeframe. We discussed this with our passengers and came to a group decision that even though there was a possibility we wouldn’t see these whales with the rate they were traveling, we were going to attempt the long trek anyway in hopes of an Orca...

Olivia | July 24th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

It was a beautiful morning as we were able to leave the dock with a reported whale sighting. Earlier that morning, prior to the trip, Captains Brian and Sarah casually boated around to see what whales were gracing our waters when they stumbled upon a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales heading north through the San Juan Channel. Although it is never a for sure thing until we are actively looking at them, especially with marine mammals that...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/21/19 | 5:30pm

Today was extraordinary. I had a fantastic group of people with me that just loved asking all the really good whale questions!

It all started as Captain Pete and I headed out of San Juan Island and into the San Juan Channel. We headed north and crossed under Speiden Island. Here we slowed and checked out some lovely wildlife.

We were able to spot mouflon sheep, fallow deer and harbor seals all along the shoreline of the island! It was crazy...