roche harbor

Naturalist Olivia | M/V Sea Hawk | August 22nd, 2020 | 13:00

What a day on Sea Hawk! It was so refreshing to have a sunny, calm day out in the Salish Sea- did I mention it was warm? We left the dock with two options of Killer Whales in our waters [YAY!] and had to make a decision if we were heading north or heading south. After receiving word from colleagues in the Pacific Whale Watch Association, the family group far to the south had turned east out of range of our...

Naturalist Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 11th, 2020 | 12:00pm

It was my personal first trip on M/V Sea Hawk of the season and it definitely did not disappoint! We left Roche Harbor with gray skies, but our happy faces were no reflection of the weather, as everyone was already in good spirits as we traveled southwest through Mosquito Pass. We left the dock with potential whale rumors, which is always humbling on our retired fishing boat. Despite knowing there were potential...

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...

Olivia | September 1st, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

It is always wonderful leaving the dock with reports of whales in the area. We had potential Minke, Humpback, Gray, and Killer Whales today, but with their far distance apart from one another, Captain Sarah decided to go see something black and white swimming around. That being said, we left Roche Harbor, took a turn around Henry Island, and headed southwest across Haro Strait towards D’Arcy Island.

The Haro Strait was...

Jordan | M/V Sea Hawk | 08/24/19 | 2:00pm

Today was unbelievable!

Captain Erick and I boated out of Roche Harbor and west towards Henry Island. It only took a few minutes before we started seeing whale watching boats along the coastline. We found orca whales!

We were able to identify the pod as the T36As! This pod consists of a young mother, T36A (born in 1990), and her 3 young children, T36A1, T36A2, T36A3. They travelled closely to shore looking for food and battling...

Jordan | M/V Sea Hawk | 08/17/19 | 11:00am

What a beautiful day out on the water!

Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor on our vessel, the Sea Hawk! We heard reports of the Southern Resident killer whales down south by False Bay and heading north through the Haro Strait!

Excitedly, we booked it down the strait, boated past Lime Kiln lighthouse and headed towards the whales! It was a gorgeous day; the sun was shining, and I had the sweetest group of people...

Olivia | July 14th, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

Heading out of Roche Harbor today, we stumbled across one of our Harbor Seals right as I was giving the wildlife talk about how to spot them, how perfect is that? The sun was shining, and it stayed awfully warm, especially since we didn’t have to travel far before we saw our first whale siting! Despite never getting too cold, I passed out blankets to all 7 passengers so we could stay nice and cozy the entire trip. We...

Olivia | July 2nd, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

Today was one of the top trips for both Captain Sarah and me! Sarah is not only our Captain, but also our Lead Naturalist and has been here for six years observing our wildlife. If she says it was in her top 5, you know it was good! We headed out of Roche Harbor through John’s Pass and straight up to Boundary Pass. From there, we caught our first glance at some Killer Whales where we waited for them to turn around East Point...

Jordan | M/V Sea Hawk | 06/14/19 | 12:00

Today was wonderfully beautiful before we even started our trip! The sun was nice and warm and filled everyone with excitement right away. Starting out of Roche Harbor, Captain Sarah and I took our lovely group of people with us on our vessel, the Sea Hawk, and headed out to open waters.

Determined to find some wildlife, we headed deep into northern waters! We headed up past Spieden Island, past Stuart Island, and crossing into...

Piper | Saturday, June 1, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 12:00 PM

Happy June! Today was a bright and sunny day in the Salish Sea as we begin to really come into our summer season. We left the docks in Roche Harbor and pointed north past Spieden Island and into the narrow waters of John’s Pass which twists between Stuart Island and John’s Island. The small curvy channel opens into Boundary Pass which holds the border between the US and Canada! We motored across that border while...