Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Mike, Alexandria and myself were excited to get out on the water and see what orcas were hanging around the San Juan Channel! It’s really a treat and a weight off our shoulders when the whales are right outside the harbor since sometimes we must travel two hours to even catch up to them! With high spirits, we headed North up the channel hugging the east side of San Juan island. About two miles up the coast, we saw some faint spouts coming...

Jordan | July 27, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 10:00 & 2:00 trips

Today was another long and but successful day out on the water with our whales!

On our first trip, there were multiple reports of whales around the San Juan Island. Captain Gabe and I set out of Friday Harbor to find some wildlife! We headed south through the San Juan Channel, through Cattle Pass. We found the Southern Resident whales off the southeast side of San Juan Island. Here we found the J17s and J19s who were perusing...

Aboard Kestrel, Captain Gabe, myself and a full boat of excited guests, headed out for our second trip of the day! We had reports of Transients orcas down south and were curious to see what group of whales were present. We had been with a group of Southern Resident Orca earlier that morning and now were hoping to encounter some other killer whales! It’s crazy to think that in just one day, we can see two different ecotypes of killer whales in the inland waters!!

We headed down the...

Jordan | July 22, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip

Today was one of the warmest days of the summer which made the trip all the more enjoyable as the cool sea air made our boat perfectly pleasant. Captain Gabe and I heard reports of whales toward the north end of San Juan Island heading south through the Haro Strait.

So, we set out south down the San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass, past Cattle Point lighthouse and up the west side of San Juan Island. But, before we reached the...

Jordan | July 19, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

Our afternoon trip may have started with a bit of delay but the amazing whales that we saw were well worth the wait! As 2:00 rolled around, the sun came out and the skies cleared and it became a truly beautiful and warm Washington afternoon. Captain Mike and I received several reports of whales around the San Juan islands so we were excited to take our Kestrel vessel and explore the area.

First, we headed down the San Juan Channel and...

Jordan | July 15, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

What a fantastic day out on the water! The trip started out very warm on the docks but as we got going and we created our own wind with the cold sea air surrounding us, people were grateful to have their adventure suits to keep them warm. Captain Mike and I decided to head down south through the San Juan Channel and stopped by Whale Rocks to see the harbor seals hanging out in the sun! It’s very important for the seals to get as much...

Jordan | July 15, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00

Today’s trip was so great! The morning was lucky to have a clear sky with no clouds and a shining sun. We had a great group of people really excited to go on an adventure! Captain Mike and I heard multiple reports of whales so we decided to take our speedy boat down through the San Juan Channel. Before we headed too far south, we stopped by Whale Rocks and visit the harbor seals that were lounging close to the surface of the water, soaking...

Jordan | July 14, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00

Today was a spectacular day full of so many displays of the beauty of nature. Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel past Cattle Point and dropped by the Whale Rocks to check out some seals! They were super cute flopping around on the rocks.

Then we voyaged into the Salmon Bank. Here we boated around the shallow waters until we found a minke whale! Minke whales are the smallest baleen whale in the world! We like to...

Captain Mike, Naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to be on the water on this VERY hot summer day. We had not heard of any reports in our area yet this morning, so we were a little anxious leaving the harbor with a full boat of hopeful guests. Some other boats had found a humpback on the West side of San Juan Island, but we were hoping that we would be able to find our own whales, so we headed up North towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. The whole way up the channel, our eyes were...

[Tuesday, 6/27/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 5:30PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Tuesday, Captain Mike and myself were on our own with a smaller group of guests on the sunset tour - aka my favorite tour. We went south through San Juan Channel and Cattle Pass to eventually head towards the southern end of Rosario Strait. We were pointed in this direction to look for a Humpback Whale that we had seen during the afternoon trip. On our way there we stopped at Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass to look at the...