[Wednesday, 6/13/18 - M/V Kestrel - 10:00AM - Naturalist Erick]

Today we had another ‘June-ary’ day as the morning started out with rain but broke to a delightful sunny day. Captain Mike and I took a smaller group of folks out to search for all the fun morning critters out in the Salish Sea. We headed north through San Juan and Spieden Channels until we made it to the other side of Boundary Pass near South Pender Island. Here there was a large group of Bigg’s Orcas feeding and...

[Saturday, 6/9/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Saturday we headed out for another wonderful wildlife filled trip in the San Juan Islands. Captain Mike and I took a lovely group of folks out on M/V Kestrel into the bright, sunny, and calm day. We went south along the Shaw Island shoreline and took an inter-island route to near Obstruction Island. As you pause and san the horizon here it looks like you’re trapped in between Orcas, Shaw, Lopez, and Blakely Islands...

[Thursday, 6/7/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick] T100’s

On Thursday we got a little break in what locals call our “June-uary” weather. After a sunny warm stint in May, June often comes here and reminds us that it is still spring. Captain Mike, myself, and one of our brand new Naturalists, Mariana, took a great group of folks out to look for more fun springtime wildlife! We headed up north in between the outer islands of the San Juan Archipelago. We made our first stop...

[Monday, 6/4/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Monday, Captain Gabe and I took M/V Kestrel with a smaller group of folks out to look for amazing wildlife out in the Salish Sea. We headed south down San Juan Channel. We made our first stop at Whale Rocks situated at the entrance to San Juan Channel This entrance called Cattle Pass is a very small channel with a lot of shallow areas so as the tide moves in and out the currents rip through here often causing white water...

[Thursday, 5/31/18 - M/V Sea Lion - Noon - Naturalist Erick]

On Thursday, the grey morning broke into a sunny afternoon. Captain Mike and I took a wonderful group of folks out to search for wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north once again through San Juan Channel and Spieden Channel and eventually ended up in Haro Strait. Here, we saw several blows in the distance and as we approached we could see the black fins rising and going down into the water. It was a fairly large group...

[Sunday, 5/27/18 - M/V Kestrel - 6:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

On our evening trip on M/V Kestrel we got to enjoy the long, slow sunset over the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I first headed towards the north side of Stewart Island. We soon saw blows closely following the shoreline. It was a group of Bigg’s Orcas traveling along the island. These are the orcas that prey on marine mammals  and this family that we were seeing is one that we have been seeing a few times the past few days...

[Sunday, 5/13/18 - M/V Kestrel - 1:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

Happy Mothers’ Day!

This Sunday, Captain Brian and I left Friday Harbor looking for all the wonderful whales and wildlife out here. We started out by going north through San Juan Channel and made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island to check out the remaining Steller Sea Lions resting on the point. There were a group of about 20 adult male Steller Sea Lions wrestling and growling at each other. These amazing...

[Friday, 5/11/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

It’s sunny weather here again in the San Juan Islands and it’s definitely starting to feel like summer. On Friday before Mother's’ Day Captain Pete and I took a smaller group out to look for exciting animals. We headed north to look in some of the usual places that we see prey for the larger species of whales that travel through our area. We started out looking at some Harbor Seals at Flattop Island. This whole island is...

[Sunday – 4/8/18 – 12:00 – M/V Sea Lion – Naturalist Erick]

            This Sunday was another cloudy and misty day here in the Pacific Northwest. Captain Brian, Rachael, and I headed out with a group of excited passengers. We headed north to go in search of whales and other exciting wildlife as well as avoid some of the spring winds that were blowing out of the south. We made it all the way up to Swanson Channel. Just around Moat Point we started to see some blows in the distance...