Erick | Friday, May 10, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00AM

Out here as the weather is getting sunnier and warmer, we are starting to run our Adventure Tours aboard M/V Kestrel. Captain Gabe and I took an excited, adventurous group out to find all the amazing creatures in the Salish Sea. We started by going north on the flat, calm waters of San Juan Channel. We made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island to see the group of Steller Sea Lions gathered out there. They were sleepily...

Sarah | 05/05/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Today was an amazing day on the water! We are seeing an incredible diversity of killer whales in our waters these days and today was no different!

We left Friday harbor and headed south through San Juan Channel, passing Griffin Bay and the south end of Lopez Island. In Cattle Pass we stopped at Whale Rocks to check out a group of Steller’s sea lions, hauled out near a group of harbor seals. It was really interesting to be able to compare the...

[Sarah | 05/04/2019 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am and 2:00pm]

Today’s two adventure tours were super special. We got to spend the whole day exploring the Salish Sea looking for all sorts of wildlife and enjoy some incredible spring weather.

Our 10:00am trip left the dock with a rumor of killer whales around the Strait of Georgia. Reported by some fisherman, there were no commercial whale watch boats with the orcas, so we had to go on a search pattern to find them. We motored up north...

[Sarah | 05/03/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

We had an incredible day on the water today from Friday Harbor. This time of year the we say that the chances of seeing orcas are 50-60%, but we have been having a spectacular early season seeing whales on over 80% of our trips. Though it doesn’t happen every day, before we even left the dock we had a report of some killer whales close by in San Juan Channel!

Captain Brian, Captain Erick, and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor...

[Sarah | 04/29/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Today was yet another spectacular day out on the water in the San Juan Islands. We had amazing weather for a super long trip to find killer whales, and it was worth every moment on the water! Captain Pete and I decided to head south out of Friday harbor and, boy, did it pay off!

We travelled south through San Juan Channel and Griffin Bay popping out of Cattle Pass into the wide expanse of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The sky was a bright...

Piper | 04/28/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

I'm back for another season on San Juan Island and what a great day to kick off the summer aboard the M/V Sea Lion! Captain Pete and I were onboard with a great group of folks today, the sun was shining bright, and the wind had relaxed after a very breezy Saturday. We started off the day with a report of orcas near Sucia Island so when we left Friday Harbor we headed north through San Juan Channel. Just before entering President Channel we...

[Sarah | 04/24/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm]

Springtime in the San Juans is absolutely magical. The Salish Sea is in flux and there is such an interesting mix of our overwintering wildlife still lingering and some of our summertime species just arriving to our nutrient-rich waters. These conditions make the spring one of my favorite times to be on the water as the ecosystem is so incredibly dynamic and you just never know what you’ll see or where you’ll end up.

We started our tour...

Erick | Sunday, April 21, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

Happy Easter everyone! Today we had a fantastic trip. Captain Pete, Ryder, and I headed out with a full boat on a beautiful sunny day! He headed north through San Juan Channel and then through President Channel following up on a report of orcas near Sucia and Matia Islands just north of Orcas Island. Once we got nearer to Sucia and Patos Islands we started to see the blows! We soon identified them as part of J pod! J pod, probably...

Erick | Saturday, April, 20, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 

Happy Earth Day! 

This was a sunny Earth Day out in the San Juan Islands. Captain Pete, Alex, and myself took a large group out to celebrate the day and find some other great denizens of Earth out there. We headed north through San Juan Channel and into President Channel where we had a few Bald Eagles soar above us. After we passed Waldron Island we stopped by Bare Island to look at the Harbor Seals that were trying to escape...

Erick | Monday, April 15, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

The Spring BLOOM has arrived! Noooo I don’t mean all the wildflowers blooming on all the prairies around the islands (well, they are blooming too). I’m talking about the phytoplankton and zooplankton! Every spring once daylight hours hit a certain threshold and there are enough nutrients floating around the phytoplankton re populate exponentially thereby feeding the zooplankton and eventually the whole ecosystem! Your can see...