Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 09/05/19 | 11:00am

The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, random dogs were barking in the distance; it was looking like a great start to our whale watch!

Captain Gabe and I took our new friends out of Friday Harbor on the Kestrel. We headed down south through the San Juan Channel towards Cattle Point.

Along the way we stopped to watch a big bait ball! Swarms of birds were pecking at the surface of the water and diving down to catch fish that were balled...

Olivia | August 29th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

Today was such a breezy day on the water, both literally and figuratively. We started off by [barely] traveling south to find Bigg’s Killer Whales near Pear Point. From there, they turned north and were able to view them all the way back to Friday Harbor. As soon as we found them, we also saw Harbor Porpoises that were frantically fleeing the other way, including a full leap out of the water which is rare for porpoises.  This...

Olivia | August 26th, 2019 | M/V Kittiwake | 3:00pm

This afternoon, Captain Gabe, our 10 passengers, and I set out on M/V Kittiwake to find whales that were close by! Leaving Friday Harbor, we immediately found a large bait ball that is always a good sign of marine mammals in the area. We headed south down San Juan Channel and found the same family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales from this morning- the T99’s- between Griffin Bay and Cattle Point. They were swimming southwest pointed...

Olivia | August 26th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

What a fun morning on the water! Captain Gabe received reports of several whales nearby, so we set out south through San Juan Channel. With our whales just south of Lopez Island, we decided to stop at Whale Rocks and check out the largest sea lions in the world- Steller’s Sea Lions! There were heaps of them bellowing over the water, swimming along the shoreline of this mini island, and snoozing in the sunshine. We also acquired some...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/25/19 | 11:00am

We saw so much wildlife today!

Captain Gabe and I boated out of Friday Harbor on the Kestrel and headed south down through the San Juan Channel.

We stopped by huge rocks sitting in the middle of the channel and found Steller sea lions! These massive bouldering creatures crawled around the island, finding places to collapse for a nap.  Others swam in the water, diving between stalks of a bull kelp forest! Really amazing to see the huge animals...

Olivia | August 23rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 6:15pm Private Charter

This evening was absolutely gorgeous for hosting a private charter on our M/V Sea Lion. With 45 people in attendance this evening for a wedding the following day, we set up all the catered food and drinks ready to set sail into the sunset. Luckily, we had a small family group just outside the harbor- the T46B1 Bigg’s Killer Whale family group! This...

Olivia | August 19th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

We had such an incredible morning trip that reassured us for an epic afternoon one as well! The T49A’s had traveled up and down the channel since we previously viewed them, and this time came right to Friday Harbor! We didn’t even have the chance to speed up and slowly motored under 7kts to go see them. We mentally prepared our passengers for one quick view before we left and came back later, wanting to reduce the number of vessels in...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/19/19 | 1:30pm

Wow! We saw so much wildlife today! Hope everyone knew how lucky we were to see all that we did!

As soon as Captain Pete, Naturalist Piper and I left Friday Harbor, we boated about 5 minutes north and found orca whales immediately! Amazing! Typically, we travel far and wide to see the whales!

These transient (Bigg’s) killer whales were travelling around San Juan Channel but erratically changing directions every few minutes! They really kept...

Olivia | August 17th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

If any of you have been reading my blogs, you know I have said this many times. The thing is, I’ve always meant it. It holds true to say- today was my favorite trip of the season. Yes, we all know wildlife is enchanting. You never know what you’re going to see, how active they will be, what the weather is doing, or even how your fellow passengers will respond. Today, however, hit the jackpot as Captain Erick, Co-Naturalist Laura and...

Olivia | August 14th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

For our evening sunset, we received reports of Humpback Whales heading north through Swanson Channel in Canadian waters. Because of the far distance pushing our 3 to 4 hour time frame, Captain Pete and I agreed to head straight for that area in hopes to see whales before the sun set. We traveled north through San Juan Channel, dipped into Spieden Channel watching the exotic sheep and deer peak out into the southern side of Spieden...