Piper | Friday, September 13, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria, and I headed out of Friday Harbor on the Sea Lion with an awesome group of people. We headed south into San Juan Channel and upon reaching Cattle Pass we had an awesome view of Cattle Point Lighthouse with the cloud-ringed Olympic Peninsula in the background, but our attention was drawn more towards the rock outcropping on the other side of the boat because there lied a haul-out of...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Saturday, August 31, 2019

It was such a beautiful afternoon in the Salish Sea! We headed south out of Friday Harbor and travelled through some very active upwelling zones. Upwelling is caused when water runs into structures that are above and below the surface. We especially see upwelling when the tide is either ebbing or flowing. The tide was flowing, so there were some areas of whitewater that were pretty intense! It is magnificent to be able to see...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Saturday, August 31, 2019

Today was an absolutely phenomenal day full of breaching and surface-active behaviors! We headed south out of Friday Harbor with the sun shining and the water calm. We made our way down to Cattle Point. At Cattle Point, we saw some upwelling happening around us. It was incredible! We then went over to Whale Rocks, which had Steller sea lions hauled out on them and swimming around them! They are massive animals, weighing up to...

Jordan | M/V Kittiwake | 08/30/19 | 3:00pm

What a lovely day! Captain Gabe and I sped down through the San Juan Channel, out of Friday Harbor, and past Cattle Point lighthouse, towards the open waters of hope.

The sun had finally come out and the water looked dazzling as it shimmered in the sunlight. We boated and boated following the coast of San Juan and further out towards the Olympic Peninsula.

Then, we found orcas! But, not just any orcas, the southern resident orca whales! This...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/28/19 | 1:30pm

What a great trip!

Captain Pete, Naturalist Laura and I headed out of Friday Harbor and south down through the San Juan Channel and out into open waters. We passed by Cattle Point lighthouse and towards the Olympic Peninsula, scanning the glassy water for any signs of whales.

We passed by harbor porpoises bursting through the water with their tiny fins and swarms of sea birds everywhere!

Suddenly, Captain Pete caught word of some whale...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, August 23, 2019 | 1:30 PM 

It was an incredible trip watching whales in the Salish Sea today! We began our trip heading south out of Friday Harbor, as we had some very promising reports of Bigg's killer whales around Smith Island. We headed through the San Juan Channel and went through Cattle Pass, where we got an excellent view of Cattle Point lighthouse! We then went into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which was abundant with wildlife. On our way toward...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Friday, August 16, 2019 | 3:00 PM

What an incredible afternoon of viewing wild animals in the Salish Sea! We left south out of Friday Harbor and headed toward a report of a large family of killer whales near Victoria. We went through San Juan Channel and rounded past Cattle Point lighthouse, which marks the southernmost point on San Juan Island! We entered into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the weather was absolutely beautiful! The seas were calm and the sun was...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/14/19 | 1:30pm

It was a magical minke whale day!

It began with Captain Pete, Naturalist Olivia and I heading out of Friday Harbor on the Sea Lion. We boated south down through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Point lighthouse. We continued out towards the Salmon Bank, a very shallow body of water off the southern tip of San Juan Island. Here we saw something appear…

It was a minke whale! The big black back and crescent moon shaped dorsal fin emerged...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 8/14/2019 | 11:00am

This morning’s adventure whale watch and wildlife tour was simply outstanding!  Captain Gabe directed our vessel, Kestrel, southbound towards Hein Bank.  This area is a great spot for wildlife viewing!  There are a few shallow banks south of San Juan Island, rising above the deeper sea floor to about 50 feet.  These areas tend to congregate dense amounts of small schooling fish along the ledges of the bank, where they prefer to reside near...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, August 10, 2019 | 11:00 AM 

The rain didn't stop our wildlife sightings this morning! We left Friday Harbor with no firm whale reports, so we decided to head south to see if we could find anything for ourselves. We stopped past a neat place called Whale Rocks. All around us we could see evidence of upwelling, and there was even a baitball nearby! A baitball is when birds are gathered at the surface of the water because of the presence of baitfish...