Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 20th, 2020 | 13:30

On what felt like the warmest day all summer (I wore shorts for the first time!) we left the dock with a Transient Orca report, which started us of with a boat full of excitement. Heading inner island through Upright Passage, we admired the Shaw and Lopez shorelines while spotting Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, and Bald Eagles. The sun was effortlessly radiating off the water as we caught astounding views of Mount Baker as she looked...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 13th, 2020 | 11:00 Charter

Baleen whales in the sunshine, how neat is that!? Captain Brian and I started our private charter by heading south through San Juan Channel, briefly stopping in Cattle Pass to scout for Harbor Porpoise, and eventually dipping down into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Shortly after nearing Salmon Bank, a shallow area of the large waterway, we found an elusive Humpback Whale! This whale was initially averaging dives of around 7-minutes...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 5, 2020 | 17:30

They stayed! We received word that the family group of transient orcas we saw on our 1:30pm trip had started to porpoise south- fast! This made us nervous that we would not be able to have the same look at our favorite T65’s as we did previously. With our luck, they decided to stop and start milling around just south of Turn Island. Once we got on scene, we were the only boat viewing at that hour. This felt extra tranquil with the golden...

Olivia | September 28th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Sadly, today was my last Kestrel trip of the season with Captain Gabe and we decided early on that it was going to be epic. Being one of the first boats out on the water, we often must travel into areas where there haven’t been other boats in order to find potential whale sightings. We heard of a Humpback Whale near Battleship Island north of Roche Harbor, but decided to go scope out waters elsewhere due to the amount of boats...

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...

Laura C. | 8/3/2019 | M/V Kittiwake | 11:00am

We all had an outstanding day on M/V Kittiwake!  With morning reports of minke whales feeding south of Cattle Point on Hein Bank, we anxiously headed south to check out the action!  On our way we stopped along some tiny islands to see some harbor seals and their pups!  These adorable animals were enjoying the sunshine and cool ocean temperature today!  Scanning the area above, we were excited to see a bald eagle perfectly perched over all...

Laura C. | 8/2/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

Today was a prime example of marine mammal hunting specialists at work!  We made our way north on M/V Sea Lion towards Patos Island to find killer whales enjoying an afternoon meal!  Our Bigg’s killer whales closely circled a carcass and passed it around to fellow family members.  This family, the T65As, have been seen frequently throughout the summer season in the Salish Sea and are taking full advantage of our plentiful harbor seal and...

Olivia | July 30th, 219 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

This afternoon we had a full boat of wonderful passengers. Captain Gabe, Co-Naturalist Laura, and I talked about how much we loved everyone we chatted with and had such a variety of backgrounds on board. We set out north through the San Juan Channel towards Boundary Pass. We were lucky enough to leave the dock today with a potential whale report that was north of Saturna and heading southeast towards Tumbo and East Point.

On our way to...

Laura C. | M/V Sea Lion | 7/25/2019 | 1:30pm

Today was a beautiful day on the water!  Our vessel Sea Lion headed far north with morning reports of some cool whale sightings!  After a picturesque journey surrounded by Canadian mountain views and Mount Baker in the distance, we saw a dorsal fin way out in the distance.  It was the fin of a humpback whale moving sleekly through the glass calm water! 

We stayed with this humpback for quite a while and watched her take 4-5-minute dives...

Laura C. | 7/19/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Today was absolutely exquisite on M/V Kestrel!  We had such a great time observing all the diverse wildlife found in the Salish Sea!  Our Captain Gabe rounded the bend out of Friday Harbor and we already had our first sighting, a bald eagle!  This eagle looked like he/she was supervising the vessel traffic in and out of the harbor from above and took this job very seriously! 

On our way to find whales we stumbled across some harbor seals...