Laura / M/V Sea Lion / 3/12/2022 / 12:30 PM

Today was an adventurous day out on the water!  The spring air was quite chilly, but the overcast skies made excellent viewing conditions to seek out exhalations.  M/V Sea Lion headed northbound out of Friday Harbor and spotted a bald eagle right around Pt. Caution at the harbor’s entrance.  We continued to Spieden Island and had an awesome sea lion encounter by Green Point!  Steller sea lions were diving near the kelp beds, and we saw five...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 5, 2021 | 12:00 pm

It’s peak Humpback Whale watching season in the Salish Sea! Our Humpbacks are incredibly special because in the 1900’s, they were entirely whaled out of the area. Due to the increase in bait fish over the last couple of decades, more Humpbacks are returning each summer season. Females that return occasionally bring their calves back with them, teaching those young cetaceans that the Salish Sea is a viable feeding ground. With this...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/20/2021 | 2:00pm

    Today’s tour was a naturalist's dream. When Solan pulled Kestrel out of Friday Harbor we turned northward. A family of unidentified Bigg’s Killer Whales had been reported off the south side of Saturna Island. We had our heading and off we went! 

    We stopped briefly to check out a Bald Eagle, perfectly poised on a small sign post on Jones Island. From there we moved north towards White Rock to admire some Harbor Seals and cormorants...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 20, 2021 | 1:30 pm

For our classic whale watching excursion, we decided to travel north through the San Juan Channel. Reports of some killer whales were far up north towards Saturna Island, meaning we needed to make a straight shot there. We passed by Jones Island, Spieden Island, and eventually Waldron Island, leaving Saturna straight off of our bow. As we neared closer, we caught sight of some exhalations! 

These Bigg’s Killer Whales were...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 06/01/2021 | 2:00

I woke up this morning with one of those unexpected, unwarranted gut feelings that today was going to be awesome. Today we were going to see something really special. And that we did. 

We set out of Friday Harbor heading north. Like days prior, we were getting reports of whales off Saturna Island, hugging the US/Canadian border. 

Now historically, because of the Right of Free Passage, this would be absolutely no stress. However, given the...

Olivia | M/V Osprey | May 30th, 2021 | 12:30pm

Our sunny Sunday started off with heaps of Pigeon Guillemots exploring the inner Friday Harbor as we slowly made our way out of the hustle and bustle of the holiday traffic. Scouting out reports from multiple directions around the San Juan Islands, we made the decision to head north up San Juan Channel in the direction of the outer islands!

We were able to pass not only more Pigeon Guillemots, but also Rhinoceros Auklets, a variety of...

Jordan | Kestrel | 05/29/2021

What a beautiful day out on the water!

Captain Brian and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor and and headed north through the San Juan Channel. We heard whispers of whales up north so we boated towards the Canadian boarder. Weaving between islands, we emerged near Waldron Island. He continued further as we boated into open waters near Patos Island!

Here we saw blows! It was a humpback whale!! The beautiful black back arched out of the water as she...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | Septmeber 28th, 2020 | 13:00

Today was probably the clearest day we have had in over a month. No clouds were to be found in the blue, sunny skies and our old friend Mount Baker stood tall waving hello after a few weeks sitting behind clouds, smoke, and lots of fog. It was already setting out to be a gorgeous, fall day out boating in the San Juan Islands with a little twist of summer on top. Our migrating Humpback Whales have spent most of the summer foraging...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/11/19 | 11:00am

Today was so fun!

We got incredibly lucky as Captain Gabe and I headed out of Friday Harbor and basically found a whale immediately!

We first spotted a bald eagle up in the trees near the harbor! We stopped to check him out and watch him perched up in a tree, scanning his surroundings for any fish!

Then, we joined our whale! We identified him as T65A2 swimming by himself up the east side of San Juan! And he was booking it. Swimming super fast...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/05/19 | 5:30pm

What a gorgeous day out on the water! Captain Gabe and I started our journey out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel. We continued up towards Canadian waters as we passed through President’s Channel in between Orcas Island and Waldron Island. We boated up around East Point, off of Saturna Island in Canada and further into the Strait of Georgia.

The waters were perfectly still as we spotted our first blow off in...