Piper | Tuesday, August 20, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

Leaving the docks in Friday Harbor today, Captain Pete, naturalist Erin, and I had a few options for whale sightings, which is always an awesome way to start the day! We decided to head north in San Juan Channel and hang a left in Spieden Channel where we spotted a few super cute harbor porpoises swimming along, likely unaware of the group of Bigg’s killer whales swimming just ahead!

We arrived on scene shortly after with the...

Olivia | August 19th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

We had such an incredible morning trip that reassured us for an epic afternoon one as well! The T49A’s had traveled up and down the channel since we previously viewed them, and this time came right to Friday Harbor! We didn’t even have the chance to speed up and slowly motored under 7kts to go see them. We mentally prepared our passengers for one quick view before we left and came back later, wanting to reduce the number of vessels in...

Olivia | August 19th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

 The whales made our job look so easy today since there was absolutely no build up when we found them right out of Friday Harbor! The only thing we had a chance to see prior was a Bald Eagle soaring above the pines while I was giving my animal sighting chat to our passengers. The T49A’s were milling south in the San Juan Channel and we were able to view them for a wee bit before splitting off and checking out more wildlife. We do our...

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...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Friday, August 16, 2019 | 11:00 AM 

It was an incredible trip this afternoon out of Friday Harbor. As soon as we left the harbor, we saw a bald eagle flying towards the treeline. It was awesome to see its 6 foot wingpsan! We saw it land in one of the trees at the very top, and then we continued on our way toward a report of some Bigg's killer whales. The whales were closeby to where we were, so we spent some time searching for other wildlife on the way. We went...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/13/19 |

Todays trips were amazing!

It all started as Gabe and I headed south down through the San Juan Channel. We boated towards Cattle Pass and saw the beautiful lighthouse off the southern tip of San Juan.

We then stopped by Whale Rocks and watched a bunch of sea lions! These massive animals lumbered around the island and barked at each other! It was so cool to watch them walking around and sleeping in the sun. So glad that these Steller sea lions are...

Piper | Tuesday, August 13, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

The M/V Sea Lion left the docks in Friday Harbor today carrying some lovely guests along with Captain Pete, Erin, and myself! We left the marina and headed south through San Juan Channel to meet up with a group of Bigg’s orcas that were traveling south near Admiralty Inlet. This group of killer whales were marine mammal-eating and they consisted of many generations of the same family tree, broken up into two pods of five...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Monday, August 13, 2019 | 1:30 PM

It was an absolutely wonderful trip in the Salish Sea today. We left the harbor with numerous reports of large whales in the area, so we headed towards them. We made our through the San Juan Channel and into Spieden Channel. We crossed into Haro Strait and towards Gooch Island, where we soon saw a large blow in the distance. When we got closer, we saw that it was a humpback whale. The whale was taking really short dives and not...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 8/12/2019 | 11:00am

Today was such a wonderful day out on the water!  M/V Kestrel headed to Flattop Island for our first stop to appreciate the diverse wildlife in the area!  There, we found some harbor porpoises, harbor seals and bald eagles!  A harbor seal was making a lot of noise and vocalizations as a large congregation of animals basked along the rocks.  It is weaning season for a lot of youngsters and some may be calling out for their mothers, as they...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, August 11, 2019 | 5:30 PM 

It was a lovely evening in the Salish Sea. We began our trip not knowing which direction we wanted to head. There were whales either very southeast of us or far northwest of us. Captain Erick decided to head in the northwest direction, where there was a report of a lone killer whale. We headed up the San Juan Channel, which was quite calm. We were able to see harbor porpoises popping up around us throughout the channel. They...