harbor seal

Jordan | August 28, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Today was such fantastic day out on the water! The skies were a beautiful blue and the sun was shining as we left Roche Harbor. Captain Pete and I headed north towards Spieden Island.

Here we found some harbor seals lounging on the shoreline! There were a bunch of them taking advantage of the sunshine. There was even one seal in the water flopping around in the nearby kelp forest. He squirmed around until he flopped on...

Jordan | August 27, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Photo Credit: John Rosford

Today was a great day out on the water! The sun finally shone brightly in the sky after many days of cloudy and smoky haze. We left out of Roche Harbor as Captain Gabe and I took to the sea to find our whales. We headed south out of Mosquito Pass and down the south side of San Juan Island through the Haro Strait.

As we were searching for wildlife, we suddenly saw a blow off in the distance! We...

Jordan | August 26, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Today was a fantastic day out on the water! Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor really excited to see whales and other amazing life, when all of a sudden, we found whales!

We hadn’t even reached open waters when we spotted dorsal fins just a few feet away! Coming into harbor, these young transient whales were searching for seals among the boats. We identified these individuals as just two whales: T65A3 and...

Jordan | August 23, 2018 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 trip

Today was lovely as blue skies peaked through the clouds. Captain Sarah and I headed out of Roche Harbor towards reports of whales up in Canada!

As we reached the west side of Spieden Island we spotted a harbor seal in the water eating a salmon! It was so fun to watch him fling the fish around, trying to tear it apart to eat as seagulls swooped into the area trying to take advantage of free food!

Then we traveled further...

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...

Erick | 7/6/18 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00PM

This Friday, Captain Sarah and I headed out with a great group of humans aboard the M/V Seahawk from Roche Harbor. We headed out and headed north towards Boundary Pass. As we passed into Swanson Channel we saw a few blows in the distance. Capt. Sarah brought us closer and we saw that the blows were from two Humpback Whales. We followed beside them for awhile as they travelled south. It seemed that they were heading to the area in...

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

This Monday We headed out into the bright shiny waters of San Juan Channel. Captain Pete and I took a group of passengers south through San Juan Channel. On our way we passed Harbor Porpoises that were swimming, Bald Eagles that were soaring, and Pigeon Guillemots that were diving. We headed south past Friday Harbor and Turn Island to go see a Humpback Whale that was travelling and feeding down here. Humpback...

Last weekend was an exciting one for onlookers as three rescued San Juan County harbor seals were able to make their way back to their Salty Salish Sea home!  On Friday, September 29^th, three harbor seals were released after being in marine mammal rehabilitation for months.  All three of these harbor seals were stranded as pups, and it was an incredible experience to see them each released back into the wild, having been fully rehabilitated and deemed healthy and ready to...

[08/21/17- M/V Sea Hawk- Kelsey, Naturalist- 2:00PM]

 Happy Eclipse Day! The day felt like a holiday with people taking time from their daily activities to take a step outside and view nature doin’ its thing. We took it a step further and spent not just the morning viewing the eclipse, we also spent our afternoon watchin’ some whales!

We headed out of Roche Harbor from San Juan Island and headed just slightly northwest, and just a few minutes into the trip, we were with...

[08/18/17- M/V Sea Hawk- Kelsey, Naturalist- 2:00PM]

It was almost too easy, today! M/V Sea Hawk cruised out of Roche Harbor in search of whales and other awesome wildlife, and it only took a matter of minutes to reach the west side of Speiden Island where some transient (or mammal-eating) orcas were mingling. We had hoped to see whales, but we soon saw much more than just that! We saw whales come up RIGHT to our boat!

We had our engine off and were watching them milling...