Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 07/01/19 | 11:00 am

Happy Canada Day!! Today was absolutely gorgeous as the sun glistened high in the sky and warmed the Washington air.

Captain Pete and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor towards the north. Immediately, we received multiple reports of whales throughout the northern American Islands. Excited, we headed that direction.

Along the way, we stopped by White Rocks. Here, we saw so many seals! These harbor seals were literally laying on top of...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/27/19 | 5:30pm

What a gorgeous day out on the water! Although the clouds floated low towards the island, it didn’t take away any beauty from the surrounding islands. Captain Pete and I took the Sea Lion out of Friday Harbor for our sunset tour. We headed north through the San Juan Channel towards a report of wildlife up in Canada! We crossed under the southern bank of Speiden Island when we spotted our first animals!

On rocks close to the waters edge, we...

M/V Kestrel | Naturalist Alexandria | 11AM | June 24th, 2019

What a great day out on the water it was!  When we initially boarded on M/V Kestrel we had no firm reports to work off of, but by the time we had gotten everyone boarded and pushed ourselves off the dock, Captain Gabe and Captain Pete received word of an orca sighting off of Matia Island!

Matia Island is north of Orcas Island so we took a left after leaving Friday Harbor and headed north up San Juan Channel.  We stopped and...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/13/19 | 12:00pm

Today started as a beautiful day in Friday Harbor! The sun was shining, and it truly felt like one of the first real summer day here in the San Juan Islands. Captain Sarah, Naturalist Erick, Naturalist Laura and I took our beautiful boat, the Sea Lion, out for a day of adventure! We were incredibly lucky to hear multiple reports of whales. So, we set out to find whales, excited for what the day had to offer.

We headed northeast through...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | June 11, 2019 | 5:30 PM

What an awesome evening tour we had today!  We were with orcas earlier today for our noon tour, but had heard on the radio once we got back that the orcas we were had headed out of the area by the time we were ready for our sunset trip.  This is always possible, one time of day for a trip isn’t better than the other, but our whales here can swim over 100 miles in one day, so it is always possible that we have them for one...

Jordan| M/V Kestrel | 06/09/19 | 11:00

As we got everyone suited up, excitement filled the air. Eventually everyone headed down and met with Captain Gabe by the Kestrel and we headed out of Friday Harbor. We heard reports coming from Canadian waters so we sped down the San Juan Channel and towards Cattle Pass.

Here we stopped by a huge rock jutting out of the water where we spotted some Steller sealions! These 12 foot long and 2400 pound animals lumbered around and barked at each...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 06/01/19 | 3:00 pm

As we set out of Friday Harbor on our second trip of the day, everyone was really excited and ready for an amazing adventure to come. Captain Gabe and I took the Kestrel and sped off towards the north and right to Speiden Island.

Right away we saw a gorgeous bald eagle! It was beautiful perching high in the trees close to the shoreline.

But then as we continued, we found more animals! The adorable harbor seals! One of them was hilarious as he...

Jordan | May 25, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 trip What a fantastic trip out in the San Juan Islands! Captain Gabe and I took the Kestrel and sped out to adventure with our wonderfully excited guests.   We headed north through the San Juan Channel and spotted something beautiful right away! Bald eagles! Two gorgeous birds were seen soaring then perching on a tree on Spieden Island! You could definitely tell these birds were a mated pair. And Bald eagles mate for life!   Then we saw tons...

M/V Kestrel |Saturday, May 19th | Naturalist Alexandria | 11:00 AM

Today was an awesome day!  When we started our trip we didn’t have any firm reports to work off of, but we knew we were one of the first boats hitting the water so we were optimistic!  Captain Gabe and myself decided to head north up through San Juan Channel.   This ended up being a great call, because as we started heading up Captain Gabe got word on the radio that there were some big black and white things that had...

Erick | Friday, May 17, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00AM

 

Captain Gabe and I had an early trip on this day. It started out as cloudy, but you could see some blue skies poking out up there as well. We left with a full boat and headed north to see what we could find. We made our first stop at Flattop Island to look at a bunch of Harbor Seals sunning themselves on the rocky shoreline. They were all huddled on the eastern side since it seems seals hate to be in the wind, so they avoid it at...