[Sarah – 05/26/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 10:00am]

I love starting my mornings with a piping hot cup of coffee and looking at early whale reports. Sipping on my stiff mug of black coffee, I knew we were in for a treat on our morning trip on M/V Kestrel from Friday Harbor. One of my very favorite families of killer whales was in the area, and pretty close!

Captain Mike and I loaded up our group of enthusiastic guests and headed south out of the mouth of the harbor, looking for wildlife. We...

[Naturalist Sarah – 06/12/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 10:00am]

The whale watching has been great lately! We are entering what local naturalists are calling the “new normal.” The diversity of our ecosystem is shifting, and we are seeing that reflected most notably in our local orca populations. With a drop in our local salmon population we are seeing less and less of our Southern Resident killer whales in our inland waterways. Traditionally we expect to see members of J, K & L Pods from...

[Saturday, 6/9/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Saturday we headed out for another wonderful wildlife filled trip in the San Juan Islands. Captain Mike and I took a lovely group of folks out on M/V Kestrel into the bright, sunny, and calm day. We went south along the Shaw Island shoreline and took an inter-island route to near Obstruction Island. As you pause and san the horizon here it looks like you’re trapped in between Orcas, Shaw, Lopez, and Blakely Islands...

[Monday, 6/4/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Monday, Captain Gabe and I took M/V Kestrel with a smaller group of folks out to look for amazing wildlife out in the Salish Sea. We headed south down San Juan Channel. We made our first stop at Whale Rocks situated at the entrance to San Juan Channel This entrance called Cattle Pass is a very small channel with a lot of shallow areas so as the tide moves in and out the currents rip through here often causing white water...

Friday, June 1, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 PM

What. A. Day! Captain Gabe, myself, and our guests headed out of Friday Harbor this afternoon to a report of whales on the southeast corner of Lopez Island. We started off by heading south through San Juan Channel, stopping at a haul-out of harbor seals which were especially well-camouflaged to resemble the outcropping of rock on which they were resting. We continued south until we reached Whale Rocks where we spotted a sea otter which was...

[Sunday, 5/27/18 - M/V Kestrel - 6:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On our evening trip on M/V Kestrel we got to enjoy the long, slow sunset over the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I first headed towards the north side of Stewart Island. We soon saw blows closely following the shoreline. It was a group of Bigg’s Orcas traveling along the island. These are the orcas that prey on marine mammals  and this family that we were seeing is one that we have been seeing a few times the past few days...

[Sunday, 5/27/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday was another beautiful, sunny day during Memorial Day Weekend. Captain Mike and I headed out on M/V Kestrel to go find some super cool creatures to watch and learn about. We went north first towards Flattop Island and made a quick stop there to look at some Harbor Seals that were sunning themselves on rocky shoreline. There was a ton of them resting there and a few blinked their sleepy eyes back at us. Then a...

Wednesday, May 23rd | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 PM

This afternoon, Captain Gabe and I assisted our guests aboard the M/V Kestrel and set out to find some whales! With only second-hand reports we headed north to check things out. We arrived off Jones Island and slowed to nearly a stop. Scanning the waters, we found a small pod of harbor porpoise frolicking nearby! We moved west toward Green Point on Spieden Island and found a couple of Steller sea lions soaking up the sun.

Continuing our...

[Saturday, 5/19/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

For our afternoon trip, Captain Gabe and I took Kestrel north once again. We stopped to see some great Harbor Porpoises swimming in the rips off of Green Point! Next, we headed through Boundary Pass and stopped at East Point to look at all the super cool Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, and Bonaparte’s Gulls resting, swimming, and feeding in this dynamic area called Boiling Reef. We continued up north along the Belle...

[Saturday, 5/19/18 - M/V Kestrel - 10:00AM - Naturalist Erick]

This Saturday, Captain Gabe and I took an early morning group out to go search for fun wildlife in the Salish Sea. Aboard Kestrel in our exposure suits we jetted off at around 26 kts to start our search. We headed north in San Juan Channel and made our first stop at Green Point. This normally is a favorite haul-out for Steller Sea Lions during the winter months but as we are quickly approaching summertime most of them...