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Transient Killer Whales in the San Juan Islands; PC: Frederick Dowell

Rare Bigg's Killer Whales in the San Juan Islands

 

Olivia | August 7th, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

What a fun trip we had today out of Roche Harbor! While leaving the northern side of San Juan Island, we immediately saw a Harbor Seal swimming around by the docks. With a nearly full boat, Captain Erick and I started heading east through Spieden Channel and south down the San Juan Channel in search of some Bigg’s Killer Whales that were reported earlier by the Lopez Ferry Dock. As we were heading to the southern side of Shaw Island, we heard an...

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Bigg's Killer Whales near White Rock

Colorful Killer Whales in the Strait of Georgia

Olivia | July 29th, 2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

Captain Erick and I started off our trip with the best group we could have asked for on board. We had 7 passengers who were incredibly humble and excited to be on the water with this gorgeous sunny day. We had a reported Orca sighting that had started off down by Lopez Island earlier that morning, the T65A’s (minus T65A2), that were now just south of Saturna Island heading north towards East Point and into the Strait of Georgia. We knew right away...

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Wildlife Adventure in Haro Strait and Beyond!

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...

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T46B's and a wide array of wildlife!

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...

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Wildlife Adventure Complete with Humpback Whales!

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 PM | Tuesday, July 9, 2019

What an incredible adventure aboard the M/V Sea Hawk! The sun was shining and the ocean was calm. It was a perfect day to be out on the water. We left the harbor and headed north toward East Point. We were destined for Canadian waters, where we heard that there were some humpback whales! We took a beautiful route through Johns Pass, where we saw a bald eagle resting on top of a flagpole. It was looking quite majestic...

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T99's and T36A's socializing near Lummi Island!

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | Friday, June 28, 2019 | 2:00 PM

Today's trip was absolutely amazing. We left Roche Harbor and the sun was shining brightly. There were some orca reports pretty far north, and we decided to go towards the reports to try to get some looks at them. We went around the east side of Spieden Island and headed towards Flattop Island. At Flattop Island, we got some great looks at harbor seals that  were hauled out on the rocks. We also saw three bald eagles...

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Bigg's Killer Whales Near Turn Point!

Bigg's Killer Whales Seen Near Turn Point!

Laura C. | 6-25-2019 | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00pm

Today was a beautiful, calm and sunny day out on the water!  Captain Sarah took the helm of M/V Sea Hawk as we made our voyage north towards Turn Point.  As we emerged from Roche Harbor it only took us minutes to find our first species of the day, majestic bald eagles!  There were at least 5-6 eagles on treetops and soaring over a nearby island.  One junior passenger Gavin had an "eagle eye" and was our avian spotter for the...

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San Juan Island Killer Whale

Top 10 Animals to See in the Wild on and Around San Juan Island

The Salish Sea is considered one of the most productive waters in the world, comprising of over 172 named islands not including the many more smaller islands that appear with the fluxing tide. The Pacific Ocean filters in and around the islands every day with the tide and is heavily dependent on nutrients cycling through the water. Nutrients flow off the islands and the mainland and get stirred up in areas of upwelling off the sea floor which provides a lush plankton population. In turn, the...

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Bigg's Orcas

Literal Tons of Whales: 3 Families of Bigg's Orcas and 2 Humpback Whales

[Saturday, 5/26/18 - M/V Seahawk - 3:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

 

This Memorial Day Weekend we got a little taste of summer. The sun was out it was a little bit warm for May and we have a lot of trips going out. On Saturday afternoon Captain Pete and I took Seahawk out with a great group of folks to go on another search of the Salish Sea for some interesting creatures. We first crossed Spieden Channel and scurried through the skinny Johns Pass and took looks out into Boundary. As we approached Sandy...

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Steller Sea Lion Swimming

A Steller Morning - Steller Sea Lions come to check us out while they fished

[Friday, 5/18/18 - M/V Seahawk - 10:00 - Naturalist Erick]

 

This morning Captain Pete and I took a wonderful charter group that was here on island for a beautiful wedding. We headed out with a full boat and started our search. We exited Mosquito Pass into Haro Strait and started heading north. We headed around the northside of Henry Island into Spieden Channel. We made our first stop at Sentinel Rocks to look at a colony of Harbor Seals lying on the rocks there. They...

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