[Naturalist Sarah – 09/30/2017 – M/V Kestrel –  02:00pm]

Saturday was a beautiful illustration of the varying weather conditions we can experience here in the Pacific Northwest. On M/V Kestrel, wearing Mustang Survival Suits, we keep you prepared for the huge swings in weather conditions we can receive in the Fall and Spring! As we prepared to leave, we experience a deluge of rain, which weakened into a slight on and off drizzle as the trip progressed.

Heading south from Friday...

[Naturalist Sarah – 09/24/2017 – M/V Kestrel – 02:00pm]

When I think of perfect whale watch days I think about getting to see a wide range of wildlife and beautiful sunny weather. Usually September provides both of these opportunities!

Cruising the San Juans

Sunday was an amazing day out on the water. We left Friday Harbor with several reports of whales all around the San Juan Islands. On such a fast boat, we had our choice of whales! Captain Gabe and I decided to take our M/V...

9/24/2017 – M/V Sea Lion—Noon

On this sunny Sunday afternoon the M/V Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor and headed north, exploring the east coast of San Juan Island. Continuing on, we ventured through Boundary Pass and into Canadian waters, but no passports were needed for our visit today! Motoring into the Trincomali Channel we passed by a number of the Southern Gulf Islands and there’s no better a backdrop for the exciting sighting of Southern Resident Killer Whales for which we were...

[09/12/17- M/V Sea Lion- Kelsey, Naturalist- 12:00PM]

Boy, was today foggy! As we left Friday Harbor on M/V Sea Lion, the day was overcast, but visibility was great! Then juuuust as we hit Cattle Point on the south side of San Juan Island, we hit a wall of fog in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. But, that wasn’t going to dampen our spirits! We were determined to find orca whales.

We were talking with boats out on the water who were with Southern resident killer whales, but we even had to...

[Naturalist Sarah C. 9/3/17 M/V Sea Lion 1:30pm departure]

Transient orcas have been spotted in the dozens around the San Juans this week. It's not always the case that we get to choose which whale sighting we pursue on our daily departures from Friday Harbor. With multiple families spotted within our range, we chose a company favorite for today's adventure - the T65A's.

Orcas, as a species, are matriarchal, meaning that the oldest female in a family group is in charge. For...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel, 8/28/17, 2:00PM]

            It was Captain Gabe and me again today, going out there to have a bunch of fun with folks aboard the Kestrel. We started on a longer than usual trip heading south, then west towards Victoria and Vancouver Island. We headed there and went further west, beyond Race Rocks – the furthest point south along Vancouver Island. We almost made it to Sooke when we saw the group of Transient (Bigg’s) Orcas that we were looking for...

[Naturalist Erick, M/V Sea Lion, 8/20/17, 1:30PM]

            On Sunday, Captain Mike, Rachel, and I started on another super exciting wildlife and whale tour. We headed east towards some reports of Transient Orcas (the ones that eat marine mammals) and soon spotted them swimming south around Matia Island. It was the T065A’s! This is a pretty spectacular family of Transient Orcas, and one of my favorites. I have seen them hunt so many different prey in so many different ways. They...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Sea Lion, 8/19/17, 5:30PM]

The evening trips aboard the Sea Lion are my absolute favorite. We are coming up on the last week of them, but each time I go on one, it’s just so much more relaxing, there usually are less boats on the water, and less folks on the boat. Oh yeah, and the lighting is just spectacular. This evening we started out by heading north. We stopped at one of our favorite places, Flattop Island, to look at some Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel, 8/18/17, 2:00PM]

            For our second Friday trip, Captain Mike and I took a bunch of folks out. We started by going to see some of the Harbor Seals that like to hang out on the rocks and in the water around Flattop Island. Flattop Island is one of the smaller islands in the archipelago that is managed by the Bureau of Land Management or U.S. Fish and Wildlife that is preserved for wildlife and no humans are allowed on it. We saw at least...

[Naturalist Erick D., M/V Kestrel,  8/18/17, 10:00AM]

Finally Friday! On this day Captain Mike and I headed out on an wildlife adventure with just a few folks in the morning. One of the families (matrilines) of Orcas (Killer Whales) that we had been seeing the past few weeks was spotted pretty close from land. We zipped over to Harney Channel in between Orcas and Shaw Islands. There they were tranquilly swimming along the Shaw Island shoreline. This particular family of Orcas was...