Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 24th, 2020 | 14:00

“No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”

-David Attenborough

I do not even know where to begin with writing tonight’s blog. I have been a naturalist in New Zealand and the San Juan Islands for a total of 4 years now and have never had such a profoundly spectacular trip as I did this afternoon. We left the dock with no reports of orca in the area and decided to go see...

Erick | M/V Sea Lion | Wednesday, July 15, 2020 | 1:30PM

            It is very much feeling like summer now. Capt. Pete and I took a group out on a beautiful, warm sunny day here in the San Juans. Now, it definitely was not hot especially once we got out on the water. We started going by going south through San Juan Channel and into Haro Strait. There had been a report of groups of orcas off the southwestern coast of San Juan Island. We soon saw blows a few miles offshore on False...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | JUly 14, 2020 | 13:30

Every moment of our trip was a picture-perfect day out on the water. From the minute we left the dock we were graced with sharp views of Mount Baker [volcano] towering over the islands, a full bodied Mount Rainier [volcano] greeting us in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, as well as the entirety of the Olympic Mountain Range silhouetting the South.

We took a sneak peek at some Harbor Seals hauled out near Turn Island before spotting Harbor...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 7/13/2020 | 1:30 PM

M/V Sea Lion rocked it today in the Rosario Strait!  We left the dock with reports of a humpback whale south of San Juan Island and a potential orca whale sighting near Point Roberts in the Strait of Georgia from this morning.  Our captain and I discussed our tactic and decided to steam north in hopes of getting to see something black and white today.  Passengers were fully behind this notion and eagerly scanned with their binoculars across...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 12th, 2020 | 14:00

Talk about an adventure trip! It was so fun on our zodiac today in the sunshine and big waves down south of San Juan Island. Before then, we stopped and observed Harbor Seals hauled out basking in the sun near Turn Island.  This was a chill way to start the trip before our guests became troopers as we had to go a bit slower than normal after we crossed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca due to the high swells. Just north of South Beach, we...

Laura | M/V Sea Lion | 7/11/2020 | 1:30 PM

Waking up this morning with rainy skies was no deterrent to visitors of San Juan Island to come on a whale watch, as marine mammals obviously love the water!  Passengers were happy as clams to board M/V Sea Lion with high hopes for the day and I was thrilled to hear reports of whales booming on the radio in our bridge!  We headed south through San Juan Channel and curved over towards Salmon Bank.  Captain Pete was in communication with other...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | July 10, 2020 | 2:00pm

Wohoo! Another beautiful day out in the San Juans! It felt a little bit like summer out there in the Salish Sea but there was still a cool breeze coming from the south. Capt. Brian and I took an excited group out on M/V Kestrel to go find some wildlife! We first headed east and soon saw a blow out near Lopez Island! As we got closer, we saw that it was Humpback Whale headed south! We watched this giant whale swim quickly towards Cattle...

It rained again today… That’s okay though even though it feels like our summer here sometimes is constantly loading, the rain means that there is plenty of water for the salmon, and snow that falls high up in the mountains will last longer as reserves for the rivers that run through the northwest. And anyway, the rain must end sometime! Today it cleared up around noon right in time for our 1:30PM Whale watch trip aboard M/V Sea Lion! Capt. Pete was driving, and we took a great group...

Today we had another trip on our adventure boat, M/V Kestrel! It was another stunning summer day in the San Juan Islands. We had blue skies, calm seas, and a light breeze. Capt. Brian and I took a group of guests out to go search for some amazing wildlife in the Salish Sea! There had been reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales on the west side of San Juan Island and a report of some Bigg’s (Transient) Killer Whales east of us in Rosario Strait. These types are both orcas but have...