[Sunday, 10/7/18, Noon - M/V Kestrel - Erick]

This Sunday was another classic Pacific Northwest fall day. The water was glassy calm, the rain came down in a calm almost imperceptible drizzle, and the evergreen forest canopy scraped the low hanging clouds. Capt. Brian and I headed out with a great group from all over the world on M/V Kestrel to find some amazing animals out in the Salish Sea! We headed north and very soon found a group of Orcas around Green Point off of Spieden Island...

[Saturday, 10/6/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Erick]

This Saturday, Captain Mike, Rachel, and I took a full crew of passengers out on M/V Sea Lion on a beautiful fall day! We headed out on this sunny afternoon and started going south. We made our first stop at Turn Rocks just on the other side of Turn Island. Here we saw our first marine mammals, some Harbor Seals! There was a bunch of them sunning themselves on the rocks. These little rock sausages are so adorable and sleepily looked back...

October 5- M/V Sea Lion- 12 PM

Today we left Friday Harbor with the report of orcas just off the South West side of San Juan Island.  We cruised around the area and found some harbor seals and Steller’s sea lions.  we then continued around the island and found the whales just off shore from Lime Kiln lighthouse.  We watched as the two transient families spread out looking for food.  We got to spend a lot of time with the whales and then decided to circumnavigate San Juan Island.

Our...

[M/V Sea Lion Noon Thursday 10/4/18]

Since it is October there are less trips, crisp breezes, and great fall weather. Captain Mike, Alexandria, and I took a great, full boat out with us on M/V Sea Lion. Today was bright and crisp. We headed south against the tide and went through Cattle Pass. We passed Cattle Point Lighthouse and headed southwest past Salmon Bank and pointed towards Hein Bank down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. As we approached the bank we started to see blows off in...

Piper | 09/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

Today began as a blustery September Saturday on San Juan Island. Captains Gabe and Sarah and I hopped aboard the M/V Sea Lion with a great group of adventurers and off into the Salish Sea we went! We didn't have to go very far today, though, because we'd barely finished watching a bald eagle soar off Point Caution before we were watching a group of Bigg's killer whales meander down San Juan Channel! This group of orcas was identified based...

September 27- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

We had an eventful day out on the water!  We got a report of some transient orcas down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  We headed that way to hopefully get a look at them.  It was a bit of a drive but well worth the travel.  When we got on scene the orcas started hunting a few Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions are the largest species of sea lion in the world at a whopping 2500 pounds.  We watched as two matriarchal groups worked together to...

Sarah | 09/27/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am Charter

We had a marvelous morning out on the water with a private charter. We love getting private groups out on the boats because we can tailor the trip to exactly what the group wants! On Thursday that meant whales!

Captain Gabe and I loaded up our guests and headed left out of Friday Harbor, pointing north for Canadian waters. M/V Kestrel is an amazing tool for whale watching, because no matter where we have reports of whales, we can...

Captain Mike, Sarah, and myself took out a wonderful group aboard M/V Sea Lion to look for the wide array of wildlife that we have the opportunity to watch in the Salish Sea in September. We took our group south through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass. We made our first stop mid channel in between San Juan and Lopez Islands to look at a Steller Sea Lion that had just surfaced! It was our first marine mammal of the day! This adult male had just returned to the surface after...

Sarah | 09/21/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 01:00pm

We had an amazing day on the water, traveling further south than Captain Mike and I had ever taken one of our boats before, and most importantly, saw killer whales! When we left Friday Harbor we had no reports of killer whales in the area, but days on the water can change moment by moment.

Leaving Friday Harbor, our plan was originally to head north past Shaw and Orcas Islands, up towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. When we have no reports...

Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/20/2018 | 02:00pm

Today we enjoyed an amazing trip spent surrounded by wildlife and the beautiful scenery of the San Juan Islands. Even though we had a bit of rain throughout the day it did not deter our sightings!

We left Friday harbor and headed across San Juan Channel towards Shaw Island. Someone had reported a possible whale tucked into one of the many coves along the shoreline. Half way across the channel… POOF! A minke whale materialized out of the...