Southern Resident Killer Whale

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...

Laura | M/V Sea Hawk | 7/10/2020 | 12:00pm

The weather was sunny and gorgeous today as we left Roche Harbor on M/V Sea Hawk!  Captain Sarah steered our boat through Mosquito Pass and we headed quickly down the west side of San Juan Island as there were reports of J Pod in the area!  Passengers were thrilled to hear that they may have the opportunity to see this particular family of orcas, since there are only 22 members left in all!  J Pod members are Southern Resident...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 2/29/2020 |12:00pm

This is the first blog of the season and what a wonderful Leap Year!  We were so excited to announce J Pod was in the area this morning!  Calls of Southern Resident killer whales were heard on the Lime Kiln hydrophone and excited pedestrians caught glimpses of the pod by the County Park! M/V Sea Lion, Captain Pete and I were so exuberant to leave the dock and head out to the Salish Sea!  With a full boat of passengers sporting...

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...

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...

Jordan | August 1, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Today was a great day for the Sea Hawk! It was a sunny day with a crisp breeze and Captain Sarah and I heard reports of whales up in Canada so we headed north. We passed by Spieden, alongside Waldron, across Boundary Pass and up towards East Point off of Saturna Island.

Here we found J pod! J pod is one of only three Southern Resident pods that are found within the San Juan islands. Here we found them traveling south from...

Jordan | July 31, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

It was quite the windy day out on the water today! Starting in the north end of San Juan Island out of Roche Harbor, Captain Pete and I headed south down the west side of the island to look for whales! It was pretty rough traveling in the Sea Hawk against white capping waves, but my guests enjoyed the roller coaster ride!

As we approached the south point of San Juan just outside of the Salmon Bank, we found our whales! In...

Jordan | July 25, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Today was a great “hump day” Wednesday out on the water! As Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor, we immediately began to see wildlife! There were massive salmon right in the harbor jumping and splashing about. Then, we saw a harbor seal with her pup swimming right next to the boat, peering up at our excited guests!

Soon after our first nature sightings, it didn’t take long until we found our whales! We found the...