Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 6.3.2022 | 2:00 PM

Grey skies and wet exposure suits were in our future today as M/V Kestrel left the dock for our Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour. Despite the rain, I was in fantastic spirits after captain Eric told me where we were going… One of my favorite Bigg’s killer whale families, the T065A’s were spotted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! This curious bunch is always a delight to observe. This family of six was reported to be traveling alongside...

MV Osprey- Naturalist Alexandria- Monday, June 21st, 202- 12:30

We had a wonderful time today onboard MV Osprey. As we boarded onto this vessel we knew it was going to be a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and as far as Washington standards go it was a warm toasty day, and the thought of being out on the water was the perfect plan for the day. As we boarded onto the vessel we left the dock with naturalists Laura, Maxx and Alexandria. 

As we headed down San Juan channel we were...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Monday, September 9, 2019 | 3:00 PM

Words cannot describe what an absolutely wonderful trip we had aboard the M/V Kestrel today. We left Friday Harbor and headed south in pursuit of some great whale reports. It started to rain on us as we saw Cattle Pass coming into view, but it didn't discourage us at all. It rained off and on throughout the whole trip, but the sea state was miraculous. It was so flat that it looked like we were gliding through glass. At one...

Erick | Tuesday, April 9, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

It was raining in the morning here, but by the time we were taking our lovely passengers out to go find some exciting wildlife the sun had come out on another glorious spring day. Captain Brian, Alexandria, and myself took this group aboard M/V Sea Lion north through San Juan Channel. We made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island to view the smorgasbord of pinnipeds hauled out there. On the sunbaked rocky shore there...

[Thursday, 5/31/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Noon - Naturalist Erick]

On Thursday, the grey morning broke into a sunny afternoon. Captain Mike and I took a wonderful group of folks out to search for wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north once again through San Juan Channel and Spieden Channel and eventually ended up in Haro Strait. Here, we saw several blows in the distance and as we approached we could see the black fins rising and going down into the water. It was a fairly large group...

[Friday - 3/9/18 - 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

Banking on Wildlife

            These past few days we have had a great streak of weather that is making it really feel like spring up here in the islands. Bright, calm, sunny days with a light breeze and a small rain shower in the afternoon. The plants and animals are starting to notice too. Some of our overwintering birds are starting to head back up north and even a few flowers have started to bloom! This Friday was...

On Friday we went up north! We started our daily search for cetaceans by heading up near Flattop Island to both look at some Harbor Seals and Bald Eagles on this Federally protected island and also look in several different channels to see if any whales could be spotted. None yet so we headed east now through one of my favorite channels in the islands, President Channel! It runs between Orcas and Waldron Island so our journey east was framed by steep wooded slopes on Orcas and...

I don’t know if y’all remember the ‘90’s but I sure do. The biggest thing and maybe one of the more unfortunate things that I do remember are, of course, frosted tips. You probably remember these and have a general idea about how they are engineered into hair. You may even no be experiencing a wave of nostalgia as an NSYNC song plays in your head. But what you probably don’t know is that some marine mammals are still really into the ‘90’s…

            We started off this Sunday trip...

Today Captain Brian and I left the dock under perfectly Pacific Northwest cloudy skies with a boat full of passengers who, as usual, were excited to see the wildlife of the Salish Sea.

Captain Brian and I were particularly excited as well because we had heard reports of something that has been lacking in this area for over a week now: Southern Resident Killer Wlhales! The fish-eaters were spotted heading back into the San Juan Islands after spending some time in Northern British...

Salmon Bank was the place to be today. We headed south out of Friday Harbor, prepared for rain but pleasantly surprised that it stopped just as we left our boat slip. Along our way we stopped to view a large group of harbor seals hauled out. A few gave us a demonstration of how phocids, true seals, move around on land without being able to rotate their hind flippers under their body by scooting off the rocks into the water. Continuing south, we slowed by Goose Island to watch and...