orca whale watching by seattle

Piper | Saturday, September 28, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 12:00 PM

Today Captain Erick and I took a really awesome group of folks out on the Sea Hawk from Roche Harbor. We started out leaving the docks and spying a humpback whale just outside of the marina! We got some incredible looks at this whale, fluking and breathing its massive breath at the surface. This whale was MMX0007, also known as “Bond” (hopefully for obvious reasons!). That number starts with an MM instead of a...

Piper | Saturday, August 31, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 4:00 PM

Today’s evening tour left Roche Harbor with reports Southern Resident killer whales off the west side of San Juan Island, so off Captain Erick and I went with an awesome group of guests! We left through Mosquito Pass and moved into the Haro Strait, the waters of which were incredibly calm today, glassy even!

We motored down to False Bay on the southern half of the island where we spotted our first orcas of the...

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 PM | Monday, August 19, 2019

What an incredible afternoon in the Salish Sea! Words can barely describe the experiences that we had, but I will attempt to document it! We left out of the north entrance of Roche Harbor and the sun was shining brightly! We were all excited for the potential of seeing some killer whales. Captain Sarah received word that there were some orcas south of us, so we headed east out of the harbor into Spieden Channel...

Piper | Thursday, August 15, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 PM

Today Captain Erick and I were incredibly excited to take a group of people out on the water from Roche Harbor because there were reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales in the area! The SRKWs are a critically endangered ecotype of orca that used to spend their summers splashing around the Salish Sea every day, however in the last few years sightings of these salmon-eating orcas have been very low as they spend...

Jordan | M/V Sea Hawk| 05/26/19 | 12:00

What a great day out on the water! Captain Erick and I took the Sea Hawk out of Roche Harbor and headed north through the channel towards Spieden Island.

We went past the western tip of the island and up towards Johns Island. It was such a gorgeous view as we went through John's pass and enjoyed the shimmering water against the shoreline. Peering through the trees we were able to spot a Native American longhouse hidden in the...

[Sarah M | 08/15/2018 | M/V Seahawk | 02:00pm]

Yesterday the M/V Seahawk had another great trip in the Salish Sea. Even though we are still experiencing smoky conditions, the wildlife sightings have been off the charts amazing and unaffected by the atmospheric conditions.

On our 02:00pm afternoon trip we left Roche Harbor and headed southwest through Mosquito Pass towards Sidney Island. As we reached the south end of Sidney Island, near Hughes Pass we found a family...

Captain & Naturalist Sarah | 06/23/2018 | M/V Seahawk

AHHHHH… Days don’t get much better than this on M/V Seahawk… bright blue skies and whales nearby. Owner/Operator Brian and I decided to leave Roche Harbor and head north to a report of killer whales just off of Waldron Island. As we Rounded Green Point on Spieden Island we quickly realized that the reported group had split up… two famlies heading north towards Boundary Pass, and another heading south through...

[Sunday, 6/17/18 - M/V Seahawk - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday we had a lovely time taking a great group of folks out aboard M/V Seahawk to search for some marine wildlife in the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and myself left Roche Harbor and wound our way through Mosquito Pass until we exited into Haro Strait. We started south along the western shore of San Juan Island. We cruised by the big cliffs on the northern part of the shoreline and once we reached Lime Kiln...

[Sarah M – 06/13/2018 – M/V Seahawk – 12:00pm]

Captain Gabe and I took passengers aboard the M/V Seahawk on a whirlwind adventure North into the Canadian Gulf Islands on the search for killer whales. Captain Gabe steered the boat out of the North entrance of Roche Harbor and we turned left.

We had a lovely cruise up the shoreline of Stuart Island to Turn Point lighthouse towards Swanson Channel. The water movement we caught glimpses of was spectacular. There was so...

[Sarah M - 08/17/2017 - M/V Seahawk - 02:00pm]

M/V Seahawk has had an excellent season of whale watching here in the San Juan Islands. We have had the chance to explore some waters that we do not usually get to check out due to the abundance of the very tricky transient killer whales in our waters. On August 17th we got to meet up with the T030s as they travelled inter-island. This was the first time I had ever encountered this family! Please enjoy some shots from the day...