Abby | Kestrel | 5/30/2021

Today we had the A/B Team; Abby the naturalist (me!) and Captain Brian. It was 10am and looking like a typical northwestern island day; dew sat in circular mounds atop blades of grass, while deer pranced about the island in the morning fog. We left the harbor in Kestrel, without the slightest bit of indication on where we’d begin our journey. We headed South through San Juan Channel and cut across Cattle Point into the Haro Strait. Finally, a friendly...

Erick | M/V Sea Lion | Saturday, September 19, 2020 | 1:00 PM

The skies finally cleared today when Captain Sarah and I ventured out to search for wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed south after getting reports that the Southern Residents had been spotted near the southern end of San Juan Island! As we headed down, we made a stop at Whale Rocks to look at the Steller Sea Lions and the Harbor Seals. After looking at those growly pinnipeds we continued on our way and headed...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | Wednesday, September 9, 2020 | 2:00PM

September is here! This is one of my favorite months here. Things slow down quickly after Labor Day and the weather seemingly steels itself for the coming autumn. Captain Brian and I took a group out on M/V Kestrel on this warm and calm Wednesday. We headed inter-island to head towards a report of Orcas in between Whidbey Island and the mainland. We cruised in between Lopez and Blakely Islands, crossed Rosario Strait and...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | August 15, 2020 | 2:00PM

It was another super beautiful, sunny day out here in the San Juan Islands. Capt. Brian and I took a group out to go searching for some of our exciting local wildlife. We started by going south through San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass! We made a stop at Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. Here we saw about a dozen huge Steller Sea Lions. Some were rolling around in the water, while others were asleep on the rocks and dozing off in the...

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...

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...

Sunday June 22, 2020

Happy Father’s Day to everyone! We know it is technically supposed to be summer these days but up here in the PNW summer seems to have a slow start. We left Friday Harbor on a little bit of an overcast day, but as we left and headed north the weather started to clear. We headed up towards Flattop Island where we got to see some sleepy Harbor Seals sunning themselves on the rocky coastline. As we passed them two Bald Eagles popped into view in one of the Douglas...

Naturalist Erick | Sunday, October 13, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | Noon

We couldn’t ask for better fall weather today when Capt. Pete and I took a full group out to go search for wildlife in the Salish Sea.  We started out by heading east through Upright Channel and through the small passage between Obstruction Island and Blakely Island called Peavine Pass. We had heard earlier of reports of some orcas in Rosario Strait and were looking for them. There they were heading north towards...

Naturalist Erick | Saturday, October 5, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | Noon

Saturday started in a pretty typical Pacific Northwest way. Rain and low hanging clouds fell and scraped the tops of the evergreen hills of the San Juan Islands. As Capt. Pete and I got ready to take a full boat out to search for the exciting wildlife of the Salish Sea blue skies started to appear and the sun came out! We motored north through San Juan Channel and started our journey at White Rock. Here we saw a...

Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/26/2019 | 12:00pm

September continues to impress with great weather and amazing wildlife. Today we left Friday Harbor under blue skies, enjoying some early fall sun and warmth on land. As we motored out of the harbor we were all commenting that we were happy to have our warm layers as the temperature dropped with wind chill off of the water.

Captain Erick steered M/V Sea Lion north through San Juan Channel towards a report of some killer whales in Rosario...