(06/10/2017 - Kestrel 2pm Departure)

Yesterday I said that our trip was a once in a lifetime experience and one for the books.  Well today’s trip was a repeat!  We had an amazing day out on the water full of some of the best wildlife viewing in my time out on the water.  We were lucky enough to have a day where there were transient orcas right outside of Friday Harbor.  We left our dock and watched the T2C’S looking for food for about 30 minutes.  The T2C’s are a pod of 5 whales...

Yesterday the Kestrel left the dock heading West towards the city of Sydney, which is located on Vancouver Island.  That’s right, we were headed for Canada!  A lot of guests ask about whether or not we are able to travel into Canadian waters for whale watching and the answer is yes!  As long as we do not dock our boat we are welcome to motor into the Canadian Gulf Islands.  Captain Brian had reports of transient orcas traveling North next to the city of Sydney.  We watched as 4 orcas...

It's finally arrived, our first official start-of-the-season sunset Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour! With the week preceding us featuring gray skies and chilly northwest temperatures, today provided us with a much-needed temperate evening to usher in the summer season here in the San Juans. Clear skies, glassy-calm waters, and the best visibility of all of our surrounding mountain ranges yet, all this perfect sunset tour needed was some spectacular wildlife.

We headed out of the dock...

Today we left Friday Harbor with no immediate reports of whales in the area.  But, as whale and wildlife watching goes, there was ample opportunity for a great day on the water.  As we started heading North to survey for whales we got the report of a humpback whale in Boundary Pass just South of the Canadian Gulf Islands.  As we headed up to that area we saw multiple bald eagles in flight as well as harbor seals and harbor porpoises.  We made it to the area of the reported humpback...

We had a wonderful early spring day out on the water. Gray skies and a little Pacific Northwest liquid sunshine never stop us from finding wildlife and having a great time. With nine hearty souls aboard the M/V Sea Lion left Friday harbor and headed North.

We spotted harbor porpoises on our way up towards Spieden Island, getting some looks at their well-camouflaged backs and dorsal fins in the small waves.  As we reached Green Point Captain Mike and I were delighted to find some...

We see whales most days and they are super! But some days we have an extra special day. Today we went north and motored through some of the outer islands north of San Juan Island. We first stopped around Flattop Island to look at some really cool Harbor Porpoises surfing in the windy chop south of the island. After we checked out their silly antics we continued north and saw quite a few majestic Bald Eagles and as we approached East Point on Saturna, one of my favorite places in the...

It’s the end of August folks, and that means beautiful vaguely fall days mixed in with sunny days, and less daylight, but not less whales! Yesterday Captain Mike, Sarah C., and I headed north to eventually loop around the north side of San Juan Island to go look at the Southern Resident Orcas. These are the fish eating ones, the ones you probably know the most about, and also the most endangered currently. Since they mainly eat salmon, and this year has been a historically low salmon...

Yesterday, Captain Pete, Sarah Cutting, and I set off on a classic Pacific Northwest day full of low hanging clouds, mist scarping the trees, and that filtered light that makes all the green in western Washington sing. We started off north and scooted by Flattop Island to look at some Harbor Seals lounging on the rocks and swimming in the kelp beds around this federally protected island. Next we headed further north towards Saturna Island in Canada, right where two major waterways...

A new paper has come out indicating that Orcas’ evolution has been partially driven by culture. There are ten ecotypes worldwide. They each have different prey, look a little bit different, but most importantly their behavior differs between each ecotype as well. This stems from the fact that many of their behaviors are learned behaviors including hunting methods, communication, and socialization activities. The distinct ecotypes have developed different forms of a lot of these...

Yesterday was another beautiful spring day in the San Juan Islands. The sun was shining and there were reports of whales before we left the dock, an unusual occurrence for this time of year, but I feel like I have been saying that a lot in the past weeks!

            We headed north up through San Juan Channel hugging the shoreline, motoring past scenic Roche Harbor and around Battleship Island. We marveled at how it is starting to feel and look a lot like summer, while watching...