harbor seal

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 | Saturday, Septemer 7, 2019 | 2:00 PM

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Sea Hawk today! We headed north out of Roche Harbor in pursuit of a report of killer whales near Waldron Island. We went through Johns Pass, which is a lovely area in between Johns and Stuart islands. We couldn't get over how calm the sea was around us. It was a perfect day to be out on the water. After going through Johns Pass, we found ourselves in Boundary Pass. This is...

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...

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | Wednesday, August 14, 2019 | 2:00 PM

It was a day to remember in the Salish Sea. We began our trip with no firm reports of whales in the area, but some vague reports of humpback whales very far south of San Juan Island. We were originally going to head in that direction, so we headed west out of Roche Harbor. We were cruising along the west side of San Juan Island when our Captain Erick spotted two large blows in the distance! We had found some...

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | Thursday, August 8, 2019 | 2:00 PM

What an incredible trip packed full of wildlife this afternoon! We left Roche Harbor with no firm reports of whale sightings, so we decided to head toward Canadian waters and try to search for whales on our own. Whales can be anywhere throughout the Salish Sea, so we were hoping to find them as we made our way through some important wildlife refuges. We arrived at a refuge called Mandarte Rock, which is important...

Laura C. | M/V Sea Hawk | 7/27/2019 | 2:00pm

We had such a wonderful time aboard M/V Sea Hawk today!  Our vessel was filled with family fun including beautiful seas and interesting wildlife!  Junior naturalist, Conrad, was thrilled to be out on the water and maintained solid enthusiasm for all wildlife seen throughout the trip!  Our vessel headed north and we saw so many cool pelagic bird species along the way, including rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemonts, double...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 PM | Friday, July 26, 2019

It was a true wildlife adventure aboard Sea Hawk this afternoon. We began our trip heading south out of Roche Harbor, but quickly decided that the weather would suit us better if we headed north. We found ourselves across the U.S./Canadian border, headed towards a wildlife refuge known as Mandarte Rock. This wildlife refuge is not only important for seals and other pinnipeds, but for a large array of birds...

Laura C. | M/V Sea Hawk | 7/23/2019 | 2:00pm

M/V Sea Hawk, a retired wooden fishing vessel, made a perfect whale watching platform for today’s wildlife tour!  We had an epic whale watch that had a once in a lifetime wildlife views!  Captain Sarah headed north towards Swanson Channel and we were so excited to see immediate breaching activity once we approached the scene!  The 124As were showing off their impressive acrobatic skills, complete with tail breaching, lob...

M/V Sea Hawk | Sunday, July 21, 2019 | 1:00 PM | Naturalist Erin

It was a beaufitul day aboard the M/V Sea Hawk in the Salish Sea. It was sunny, the water was calm, and there was an abundance of wildlife! We began heading out of Roche Harbor and going across San Juan Channel towards the south side of Spieden Island. On our way there, we saw lots of harbor seals hauled out on some rocks! There were some that were resting and warming up on the rocks, and there were some...

Jordan | M/V Sea Hawk | 07/20/19 | 2:00pm

What a beautiful day out on the water!

Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor and boated towards Speiden Island to start our journey.

This very special island has herds of exotic sheep and deer still roaming the island! They were imported here in the 70’s and still meander throughout the forests and grassy hills. It’s always very cool when we pass by and see foreign animals in Washington!

We continued up across the San...