Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | October 13, 2024 | 12:30 pm

October weather can be tricky out here in the Salish Sea. Luckily for our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour last Sunday, we were granted calm seas and sunny skies. Although the elements can sometimes prove tricky, Fall is a spectacular time to come whale watching in the San Juan Islands. Not only do we still regularly see killer whales, but we start to get a massive influx of migrating humpbacks as well. By October, most of the humpback whales...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 8/12/2019 | 11:00am

Today was such a wonderful day out on the water!  M/V Kestrel headed to Flattop Island for our first stop to appreciate the diverse wildlife in the area!  There, we found some harbor porpoises, harbor seals and bald eagles!  A harbor seal was making a lot of noise and vocalizations as a large congregation of animals basked along the rocks.  It is weaning season for a lot of youngsters and some may be calling out for their mothers, as they...

To be born into the world a baitfish would be an especially cruel fate. Baitfish such as herring, sand lance, and surf smelt form the base of the food chain, performing a critical, albeit brief function in the Salish Sea ecosystem.

Schools of these forage fish were being discovered and plundered all across the shallow banks south of San Juan Island today. Gulls attacked the schools from above while rhinoceros auklets picked them off from below, returning from their dives with a...