[Sarah C. 8/6/17 5:30 Sea Lion]

Smoky skies continue to haunt the San Juans this week, giving us an eerie backdrop to our whale watches. Paired with the setting sun, the persistent smoke makes for an overwhelmingly orange-pink atmosphere that permeates the sea, sky, and wildlife. And while we hope for a prompt resolution to the forest fires in British Columbia, we can't help but observe in awe their effects on our daily sunset whale watches from Friday Harbor.

We left the dock today with hopes of...

[Sarah M – 08/03/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 01:30pm & 05:30pm]

Yesterday the M/V Sea Lion had another pair of great trips in the Salish Sea. Even though we are still experiencing smoky conditions, the wildlife sightings have been off the charts amazing and unaffected by the atmospheric conditions.

01:30pm Afternoon Classic Whale Watch

Wildlife

On our afternoon trip we left Friday Harbor and headed south towards Cattle Pass, encountering harbor porpoise and harbor seals as we cruised...

[7/31/17 2pm Kestrel]

Today's whale watch on the M/V Kestrel took us all the way out to Anacortes, where a group of killer whales had been reported before we left the dock. We pushed off the dock and motored out of Friday Harbor with 75 degree weather and clear, sunny skies. Our route took us through small, scenic inter-island passageways, where we had the opportunity to observe a whole host of non-whale wildlife along the way.

Our first stop was at the north end of Lopez Island, where a bald...

[7/6/17- M/V Kittiwake- 11:00AM Charter]

If you’re reading this and have already been out to the San Juan Islands, then I might be stating the obvious, but this area is STUNNING. And, today was no exception! Sunny and 75, we chugged out of Friday Harbor from San Juan Island to see what we could see.

The trip was off to a great start as we approached Speiden Island and saw some bald eagles. There was a single individual who was perched on a treetop, but behind it in the sky were about...

[07/01/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 1:30pm & 5:30pm]

We had a magical day on the M/V Sea Lion that again taught us about the importance of not worrying if there is no report of orcas as we leave the dock. Killer whales can travel 100 miles a day at speeds over 35 miles per hour. This means that reports literally change minute by minute and you can never write off a day based on the reports leaving the dock.

Since we had no reports we left Friday Harbor on our 1:30 trip with the...

[06/23/2017 – M/V Kestrel – 02:00pm]

M/V Kestrel is our newest vessel in our fleet of four, and she has consistently proven to be an amazing tool over the last year of use. Going into her second summer as a part of our fleet I am excited to see how we can continue to use this incredible boat to better our guest experience. We are consistently impressed by the smoothness of the ride and just the sheer distance that we can cover on this boat.

Yesterday’s tour was a great example of...

[2017/06/19 ~ M/V Kestrel, 1000 and 1400 departures]

It was humpback mania in the Salish Sea today. Not only did the M/V Kestrel see four different humpbacks, but our other vessels also humpbacks! Altogether, we estimate that San Juan Safaris saw six different humpbacks today. That may not sound like much, but the Salish Sea is home to a relatively small population of humpbacks, estimated at 45 individuals last year. So, really, we saw 11% of our humpback whale population today. That...

[06/10/2017 ~ M/V Sea Lion 1200 Departure]

One of the biggest challenges of whale watching is in the name itself: you're watching WHALES. Wild animals, who can travel 100 miles per day easy, who spend the majority of their lives underwater where we can't see them. Untrained, unpredictable, wild animals. This also happens to be the fun of whale watching. You're watching WHALES! Wild whales that are on their own schedule and doing their natural whale behaviors while you just look on in...

[06/03/2017 - M/V Sea Lion - 12pm]

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You could fill a book with everything that we know about orcas and their social structure. You could also fill a book with everything we don't know about them. Why do they breach? What are they talking about down...

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...