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Boeing Seattle agrees to restore Duwamish fish, bird habitat.
Boeing Seattle will restore fish habitat along the Duwamish Waterway and pay $2 million to settle allegations that decades of airplane manufacturing helped pollute the waterway with oil and other toxic substances.

By Craig Welch

Seattle Times environment reporter

Boeing will restore fish habitat along the Duwamish Waterway and pay $2 million to settle allegations that decades of airplane manufacturing helped pollute the...

It is GORGEOUS here this morning. We will be pulling away from the docks at 1:00 from now until October 2.  June 12 starts our additional "Sunset Orca Whale Watching Tour" at 5:30 pm. At that time of the year it stays light until 10 PM.

No official orca report YET today, but J pod of orca whales have been in the area recently, so we are feeling pretty good about today's tour.

Stay tuned for the naturalists report this evening. Over and out for now, Colleen

The weather was beautiful- sunny AND warm. Unfortunately, there was a raging wind. We had to cancel our trip and the ferries were either canceled or delayed. The weather tomorrow looks much better and we are running our scheduled 1pm trip.

Naturalist, Lauren Sands

What a first day back on the job! This is my third season working for San Juan Safaris. At the beginning of every season I can't wait to get back out on the water. Today was my first day back on the boat and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect welcome back! We departed Friday Harbor having heard word that the Southern Resident Killer Whales were off the coast of Victoria headed eastbound. Captain Craig informed me that rough seas might make an encounter with the orcas a no-go...

Plan a visit to San Juan Island this spring for a weekend filled with farm and food activities. This first annual event will include more than 15 farms and island restaurants serving locally-grown foods. Visitors can experience everything from the farmers' market and farm tours, to cooking classes and wine releases, to educational farming workshops. For a detailed list of activities, dates and times, click here. Just contact the listed farms and restaurants directly to book...

We had a small group today. Only 3 families and it felt like a private charter. I love our small groups even when the days are gray because I can connect to everyone and give people individualized attention. One family from Seattle had two adorable and well behaved girls.

We traveled north, past Speiden Island to Stuart Island. We timidly stuck our nose into Haro Strait along the west side of San Juan Island because we'd heard that the waves were building. They were so large off the...

Hello intrepid adventurers! As you know, some days are good, some days are bad and some are hard to define. Is it automatically a bad day if there are no orcas? What if there are whales or eagles or porpoises or just really lovely weather? What if you miss the ferry that you really wanted to be on, but you now get to explore the town of Friday Harbor and have dinner overlooking the water? There are many subtle shades of grey that make of the content of a day and therefore define...

We had a last minute private charter today. I was scheduled to laminate, type and answer phones from 8am to 5pm, when in the middle of the afternoon, a man called wanting to charter the boat. His family from Denmark had been delayed an extra week in the states, not able to make it home because of the ash over Europe. The Icelandic that volcano grounded all planes. A lovely family, they enjoyed talking amongst themselves, and translating the stories and facts to their grandmother. The...

You never can tell how a day will turn out. Even ones that seem to have the least number of prospects can turn out to be the most exciting. As was the case yesterday. With Capt. Craig driving the M/V Sea Lion, Capt. Jeff motoring along in the M/V Kittiwake and Nancy, Lauren and me crewing, we headed off on a northern wildlife tour. As we neared Spieden Island though our plans changed drastically with the receipt of a report of transient orcas outside of Victoria Harbor. Away we...

The whale road that is. Well, world's largest dolphin road to be exact. That is right, today we saw orcas! A small pod of transient orcas was spotted on the east side of Lopez Island near a reef called Bird Rock. When we arrived on scene it was to find two males and 3-4 female transient orcas in an active feeding pattern. We did not get to see any confirmed kills, but they were definitely an active bunch with lots of diving and not much time spent at the surface. We were able...