Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | May 22, 2022 | 2:00 pm

After a long winter away from the Salish Sea, I was extremely excited to depart on my first tour of the season! With no expectations, I was thrilled to be back on the water with a group of giddy guests for our Adventure tour. We departed from Friday Harbor heading South through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass. Along the starboard side of the vessel, we stopped to check out a haul out of Harbor Seals basking in the sun. Continuing...

Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion with Captain Pete and naturalist Eric, I️ was excited to be on the water on such a sunny August day after a couple of foggy ones. There was a report of a humpback not too far away from us, so we decided to head that direction. 

Headed up north towards Waldron Island, we took a left out of the harbor into San Juan Channel. The guests were enthusiastic and many seemed very interested to learn about the conservation efforts being carried out...

Fourth of July on San Juan Island is like no other. Hundreds of people flee the city life to head to this little island to experience the parades, fireworks, picnics, fun runs, and various other festivities that are offered on the July 4th weekend. Both Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor have an impressive array of events for the entire family to enjoy. Some favorites? The log-rolling and donut eating contests are a favorite in Roche! Even if you choose not to participate in the powdered...

San Juan Island has seen just about every type of weather in the last week. Currently, it is everyone's favorite: blue skies and sunny! We are hoping this weather lasts. All of the sunshine is making it feel like summer is right around the corner. We are already gearing up for the season and taking many reservations for 2014.

While we have not seen orcas recently, there was a Grey whale that popped into Puget Sound to say "hello" earlier this week.  Grey whales are baleen whales, or...

It was a beautiful day today as Captain Chris, Captain Brian, the guests, and I headed out on of Friday Harbor on the Kittiwake. With not a breath of wind, and a robins egg blue sky, summer is finally here! We found a Minke Hein Bank and had some great views as it surfaced. After spending time with the Minke, we headed closer to shore to find some Bald Eagles and Harbor Seals, and we were not disappointed! We had a great look at the eagle nest on Long Island, near the south end...

As we cruised south through San Juan Channel, Captain Mike, Naturalist Caitlin, and myself couldn't help but notice how calm it was on the water! Even though the tides are extreme today because of the summer solstice, the water was calm as could be. As we continued into the Strait of Juan De Fuca, we found a cluster of sea birds, which usually leads to Minke whales! This theory did not lead us astray, as we saw several Minkes right over Salmon Bank!

After some looks at Minke whales...