Olivia | August 17th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

If any of you have been reading my blogs, you know I have said this many times. The thing is, I’ve always meant it. It holds true to say- today was my favorite trip of the season. Yes, we all know wildlife is enchanting. You never know what you’re going to see, how active they will be, what the weather is doing, or even how your fellow passengers will respond. Today, however, hit the jackpot as Captain Erick, Co-Naturalist Laura and...

Olivia | August 15th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

My favorite trip thus far.

I cannot express the realm of emotions myself, Captain Gabe, and our 19 passengers went through on our 11:00am Adventure Tour. We heard reports early in the morning that our Southern Resident Killer Whales (J Pod) had returned to Haro Strait per Lime Kiln recording their dialect through the hydrophone. With a thick bank of fog south and west of San Juan Island, we decided to head around the northern side to...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/14/19 | 1:30pm

It was a magical minke whale day!

It began with Captain Pete, Naturalist Olivia and I heading out of Friday Harbor on the Sea Lion. We boated south down through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Point lighthouse. We continued out towards the Salmon Bank, a very shallow body of water off the southern tip of San Juan Island. Here we saw something appear…

It was a minke whale! The big black back and crescent moon shaped dorsal fin emerged...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 8/14/2019 | 11:00am

This morning’s adventure whale watch and wildlife tour was simply outstanding!  Captain Gabe directed our vessel, Kestrel, southbound towards Hein Bank.  This area is a great spot for wildlife viewing!  There are a few shallow banks south of San Juan Island, rising above the deeper sea floor to about 50 feet.  These areas tend to congregate dense amounts of small schooling fish along the ledges of the bank, where they prefer to reside near...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/13/19 |

Todays trips were amazing!

It all started as Gabe and I headed south down through the San Juan Channel. We boated towards Cattle Pass and saw the beautiful lighthouse off the southern tip of San Juan.

We then stopped by Whale Rocks and watched a bunch of sea lions! These massive animals lumbered around the island and barked at each other! It was so cool to watch them walking around and sleeping in the sun. So glad that these Steller sea lions are...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/12/19 | 5:30pm

What a lovely trip!

Captain Pete and I headed out of Friday Harbor and towards hopeful reports of whales! We booked it down south through the San Juan Channel, past a beautiful lighthouse off of Cattle Point and into the open waters. We boated west towards Canadian waters. We reached Vancouver Island and neared Victoria. We came pretty close to land before we found orca whales!

Here we found a pod of four whales who I absolutely love...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/11/19 | 3:00pm

What an amazing trip!

Captain Gabe and I set out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel. We boated around the eastern tip of Speiden and towards the Cactus Islands. Here we found a bald eagle!

The eagle was devouring a huge salmon on the rocks close to the water. It was really cool watching him tear pieces away and you could literally hear him eating! But then things got interesting! Another bald eagle swooped in to...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/11/19 | 11:00am

Today was so fun!

We got incredibly lucky as Captain Gabe and I headed out of Friday Harbor and basically found a whale immediately!

We first spotted a bald eagle up in the trees near the harbor! We stopped to check him out and watch him perched up in a tree, scanning his surroundings for any fish!

Then, we joined our whale! We identified him as T65A2 swimming by himself up the east side of San Juan! And he was booking it. Swimming super fast...

Olivia | August 8th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

With a gorgeous day ahead of us, Captain Pete, Co-Naturalist Alexandria and I decided to head south down San Juan Channel towards some potential whale reports near Salmon Bank, while also staying on the look out for other possible whales and wildlife in the area. Along this route, we were seeing heaps of Harbor Porpoises popping up with those chocolate chip dorsal fins. Just as we breached the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we started...

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...