Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Kestrel this morning! We left Friday Harbor and headed north. It was a sunny day and there were a few reports of whales in the area, so we all felt as if there were exciting times ahead! We stopped by White Rock, which is an important refuge for seabirds and harbor seals alike. We saw about thirty harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and we also saw some swimming around in the...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Monday, July 15, 2019 | 1:30 PM

What an incredible trip aboard the M/V Sea Lion today! The sun was shining and the water was smooth. Not only did we have an amazing boat ride, but we saw an abundance of wildlife! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and went toward Canada. There were some reports of orcas in the Strait of Georgia, so we headed in that direction. As we got to East Point, we saw a humpback whale blow in the distance. The whale went down for a dive...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Saturday, July 6, 2019

Our afternoon trip on Kestrel today was dream-like! We left Friday Harbor and headed south toward Cattle Point! Once we arrived at Cattle Point, we got a beautiful view of the lighthouse, and then we swung past Whale Rocks. There were harbor seals hauled out on Whale Rocks, and some of them were swimming around in the water. We also saw 4 Steller's sea lions swimming around in the water. They were swimming altogether, and we got...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Saturday, July 6, 2019

What an amazing trip aboard Kestrel this morning! We started our trip heading north out of Friday Harbor. We found out that members of the critically endangered Southern Resident population were travelling from Canada into U.S. waters! We headed toward Waldron Island and saw the orcas inshore towards Saturna Island. They were members of J pod. The Southern Residents haven't been back into the inland waters of the Salish Sea for a...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, June 30, 2019 | 11:00 AM

Today was an awesome day on M/V Kestrel. We began the trip heading north out of Friday Harbor, as there were some reports of orcas in that direction. It was gorgeous out on the water. The sun was shining and the water was calm. We got to stop at White Rock, which is right by Flattop Island. There were about twenty seals hauled out on the rocks, and there were at least five bald eagles resting on the rocks as well! Some of the...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, June 22, 2019 | 11:00 AM

It was a truly adventurous trip aboard the M/V Kestrel this morning. We began our trip heading north out of Friday Harbor. There were some orca reports in the Strait of Georgia, and we figured we would give it a shot to try and see them. On our way there, we stopped at Flattop Island. We saw lots of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, some of which were heading into the water. We then went around the island and saw at least 6...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 7, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a phenomenal day it was out in the Salish Sea! We saw so many different types of wildlife, and the sun decided to show itself as well! We began our trip heading south toward Cattle Point. When we got to Cattle Point, we got some great views of Cattle Point lighthouse. Then we attracted our attention toward Whale Rocks, where there were Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the rocks and swimming in the water around them. There...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, June 2, 2019 | 3:00 PM

Today was an adventurous day aboard the M/V Kestrel. We began the trip with a decision of which way we wanted to go, as there were reports of great wildlife in many directions. We decided to head towards Victoria, because there were some promising reports of orcas that way. On the way, we went through some coastal upwelling, which was very fun, and then we got into some awesome waves. As I said, it was a grand adventure!

Once we...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, May 31, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Today was a day packed full of amazing wildlife viewing! It was a sunny, beautiful day out on the water. We began our day heading north out of Friday Harbor, getting some gorgeous views of Spieden Island. We ended up on the western side of Stuart Island, watching a juvenile humpback whale. It was taking very short dives and only spending a few moments at the surface. It showed its beautiful fluke to us as we left. We also got an...

color:black">Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, May 26, 2019 | 12:00 PM

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start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;
text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px"> font-family:">What a fantastic trip we had on a beautifully sunny day! It began with harbor porpoises. These tiny toothed whales were travelling through President Channel as we made our way to where there were some orca reports. Everyone was excited to see them. As we travelled into the area where we knew there were some orcas, it took us some time to figure out where they were. Then we saw tall blows and tall dorsal fins in the...