Olivia | July 24th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

It was a beautiful morning as we were able to leave the dock with a reported whale sighting. Earlier that morning, prior to the trip, Captains Brian and Sarah casually boated around to see what whales were gracing our waters when they stumbled upon a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales heading north through the San Juan Channel. Although it is never a for sure thing until we are actively looking at them, especially with marine mammals that...

Olivia | July 23rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

Starting off our evening sunset trip, Captain Erick and I headed north with our passengers through the San Juan Channel passing between Spring Passage and up to Presidents Channel on the east side of Waldron Island. This island area is a hot spot for Harbor Porpoise which did not disappoint as we saw heaps swimming about the entire way. So much so, that we continued seeing them everywhere in high volumes up until we stumbled across a T...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

This was a trip for the books! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and headed back towards where we had seen whales on our previous trip, in the Strait of Georgia. We stopped past White Rock, which is a very interesting location. It is important for both birds and harbor seals. There were lots of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, some of which had pups! There was one pup that was moving around on the rocks. It was...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Kestrel this morning! We left Friday Harbor and headed north. It was a sunny day and there were a few reports of whales in the area, so we all felt as if there were exciting times ahead! We stopped by White Rock, which is an important refuge for seabirds and harbor seals alike. We saw about thirty harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and we also saw some swimming around in the...

Olivia | July 22nd, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Despite the beautiful sunshine, Olympic mountain range silhouetting the southern horizon, and Mount Baker proudly standing above the San Juan Islands, we ended up having fairly rough seas as we headed out on our adventure. We left Friday Harbor aware of two potential whale sightings, one very far north and moving further away, or another south near Whidbey Island where the swells were about 3-4 feet in some areas of our travel. Captain...

Olivia | July 21st, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

PSA: Long Blog for an epic afternoon!

After having an incredible morning trip, Captain Gabe and I set out again to find the whales we had the opportunity to see in the morning, and potentially stumble upon some more. As we were leaving Friday Harbor, we already saw both a Bald Eagle and a Harbor Seal. We continued up towards Spieden Island and were able to observe some lazier Harbor Seals with their pups in addition to Fallow Deer...

Piper | Sunday, July 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

Today’s afternoon Classic tour aboard the M/V Sea Lion was crewed by Captain Pete, Jordan, and me! We had an awesome group of folks today with lots of families who asked some really great questions! We left the docks in Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel towards the top of San Juan Island, where we crossed to the west side of the island where a group of Bigg’s killer whales we reported to be hanging out!

When we...

Olivia | July 21st, 2019 | M/V kestrel | 11:00am

Every day is completely different and unique, especially with whales that can travel over 100 miles in a day. Today, however, they decided to make our job very easy! Just as we left Friday Harbor, and I mean barely out of the harbor, we came across the T46B’s of Bigg’s Killer Whales. They continued to hug the shoreline and travel north. Captain Gabe and I adore seeing this family because their young calf has Leucism, a condition where...

Laura C. | 7/20/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30/5:30pm

Today was a perfect day out on the water, filled with glorious wildlife!  Our first trip aboard M/V Sea Lion was wonderful, consisting of harbor seals, porpoises and Bigg’s killer whales!  An adorable harbor seal popped up on the port side of our vessel and seemed to be traveling with a mission in mind.  Not too far from this seal, we came across a bunch of seals basking along White Rock!  It is always so much fun to see these...

Piper | Saturday, July 20, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

The Salish Sea was a veritable whale soup today as Captain Gabe and I took a group of wonderful folks out to explore aboard the M/V Kestrel! We started out leaving the docks in Friday Harbor with a majestic bald eagle soaring overhead! Two more bald eagles graced our trip with their presence shortly after, another one flying past and the third eagle perched on Flattop Island, a national wildlife refuge.

Along the shores of...