Olivia | September 11th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm Private Charter

This afternoon we had a private charter of two book on, which was an absolute delight. These folks were so excited just to be on the water checking out the gorgeous scenery of our many islands. We decided to wave at the Humpback Whale still hanging out in the channel from earlier in the season and attempt to go find something black and white and moving away from us. We boated north through San Juan Channel, cutting...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 09/07/19 | 11:00am

What a lovely day today! Although the clouds hid the sun, everyone shone with hopes of finding whales!

Captain Gabe and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel. Luckily, we heard reports of some whales up in Canadian waters, so we booked it in that direction.

Before heading too far, we found a huge bald eagle posing on a channel marker! He was perched so we could all see a great view of his entire...

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...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/07/19 | 5:30pm

This sunset tour turned into one of my favorite tours yet!

It all started with Captain Pete, Naturalist Laura and I heading out of Friday Harbor. We couldn’t believe our luck! Immediately, we heard reports of orca whales literally swimming 15 minutes away from us!

We jaunted over to Jone’s Island and found the orcas right away! This amazing orca pod consists of T18 (grandma of the group and one of the oldest females in the region, estimated...

Olivia | July 25th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

Captain Pete and I headed out this afternoon on a search for whales in our area. We decided to head north through the San Juan Channel and stop at White Rocks to catch a view of our Harbor Porpoises and their pups as they napped and swam near the water’s edge. After chatting about these small Pinnipeds, we continued on through Boundary Pass heading around East Point towards the northern side of Saturna Island.

Along our route, Mount...

Olivia | June 27, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Our morning trip out on M/V Kestrel definitely started off as an adventure as we were getting everyone suited up in the rain. Despite the June showers, we wore smiling faces as we set out to find the whales we received word about. We traveled north through the San Juan Channel and made a pit stop at Flattop Island to look at some Harbor Seals who were napping on the coastline. Things heated up fast as we then saw a bunch of Pigeon...

[08/19/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 1:30PM]

We had quite some luck today! We had some transient, or mammal-eating, orcas juuust off the north end of San Juan Island near Henry Island just as we were departing Friday Harbor. We had them easily within reach, and we decided to take our time to see them by detouring around some of the special islands here in the San Juans.

We first visited Flattop Island, where we spotted bunches of harbor seals hauled out on the shorelines and...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 7/29/17, 1:30PM]

Yesterday Captain Gabe, Kelsey, and I headed out with a boat full of great folks to go look for some marine wildlife outside of Friday Harbor. We started by going north through San Juan Channel and soon into Presidents Channel between Orcas and Waldron Islands. We then saw a blow in the distance!

It was a pretty big blow, and as we approached we saw that it was a Humpback Whale! It was swimming towards us so we turned around a...

It’s not often that we get to choose between viewing Bigg’s Killer Whales or Southern Resident Killer Whales on the same trip. That was the case today. I wish we could spread out this luck for the guests who didn’t get to see any killer whales on their trip. For a time during peak summer, we were striking out trip after trip, at a time when killer whale sightings should have been at their peak. That unpredictability is part of the fun of viewing killer whales in the wild.

So what did...

Today’s tour was a bit different than usual, yet so refreshing! With no whale reports since the night before, we took our tour to the inner islands.

Sure the San Juan Islands are home to one of the most charismatic animals in the world, the Killer Whale, but that is not the only thing that makes them beautiful. Often times the inner beauties of these islands are overlooked, but today we allowed our guests to discover these beauties. We toured along Flattop Island, the Cactus Islands...