M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Naturalist Alexandria | June 14th, 2019

What a fantastic day today turned out to be!  We loaded onto M/V Kestrel, excited for the day ahead!  We met Captain Gabe down on the dock and eagerly boarded onto the vessel.  As we headed out we didn’t have any firms reports to go off of, but Captain Gabe had heard a rumor over the radio of a family of orcas that was spotted off the West Side of San Juan Island.

We headed south down San Juan Channel to see if we...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, June 9th

Today was a great day!  We all met up at the office and got our group of 14 together for this trip.  It was an awesome mix of people, and though we are coast guard approved for 49 people we only had 14 people on board so everyone had ample space to move around and enjoy making it feel like they were on their own boat to some extent. 

As we hit the water we started heading out, making a left hand turn and working our way up north...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | 11:00 AM

Today was an absolutely wonderful day out on the water. We left the harbor and the sun was shining! Within seven minutes of leaving the harbor, we came across a pod of killer whales. This is not a common occurence, so the crew was equally as excited as the passengers. The whales were diving in a zig-zagging pattern, there was some circling behavior by some of the younger whales, and there were lots of birds in the area. It was...

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...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/02/19 | 12:00

Today Captain Erick and I took the Sea Lion out of Friday Harbor for a wonderful cruise around the islands. We, first, headed north through the San Juan Channel and passed the eastern tip of Speiden Island.

Then, we made a pitstop at Flattop Island! This beautiful national wildlife reserve hosted various birds flying overhead and a few harbor seals laying on the protected rocks. There was even one seal swimming gracefully through the water...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Saturday, June 1, 2019 | 12:00 PM

Today was an excellent day out on the water! The afternoon was seeming like it was going to be a beautiful, sunny one, so spirits were high amongst everyone. We left Friday Harbor and travelled north. We saw many harbor porpoises as we travelled north. They were abundant as we made our way toward East Point.

At East Point, we saw evidence of strong tidal currents and upwelling. It was neat to see. Near East Point we got our...

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...

Erin | Monday, May 20, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 p.m.

Today was incredible. It began with some sightings of harbor seals as we departed from Friday Harbor. They were swimming through the water as we cruised past them. We travelled north toward President Channel, and we saw some harbor porpoises and harbor seals along the way. Everybody became quite good at spotting harbor porpoises as the trip went on. Their small, chocolate chip-shaped dorsal fins became stars of the show at...

M/V Sea Lion | Friday, May 18th | Naturalist Alexandria | 2:00 PM

What a great day we had today!  As we were heading out of harbor we decided we were going to head south and see what we could find.  When we hit the water with no firm reports, all the captains are in constant communication with each other, and work together to decide where each boat is heading, all in an effort to ensure that we scan as many areas as possible looking for whales and wildlife.

We decided to head south...