What an adventurous tour today!

Captain Gabe, Naturalist Laura and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed down south through the San Juan Channel. It was clear skies until we reached the southern tip of San Juan, catching a glimpse of the Cattle Point lighthouse before running straight into a wall of fog.

This fog bank was really thick as we entered the open body of water. So, I could only allude to the Olympic mountains hiding behind the clouds. We travelled southwest as we boated...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 09/14/19 | 12:00pm

Today was unlike any day I’ve had in the San Juan’s!

Captain Pete, Naturalist Olivia and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed down south through the San Juan Channel on the lookout for any wildlife.

We reached the southern point of San Juan and admired the beautiful Cattle Point lighthouse.

Continuing out into open waters, we found a humpback whale! As we approached, the humpback slapped its tail against the surface of the water...

Olivia | September 12th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What a great day near San Juan Island! Captain Gabe, Co-Naturalist Piper and I headed south through the San Juan Channel to aim for the Strait of Juan de Fuca in hopes of seeing potential whale sightings. We made a stop at Whale Rocks where we were able to view [and listen] to heaps of Steller’s Sea Lions! Loving these large Pinnipeds, it was so great to hear their deep bellows and watch them snooze, play, and swim in the high...

Jordan | M/V Kittiwake | 08/30/19 | 3:00pm

What a lovely day! Captain Gabe and I sped down through the San Juan Channel, out of Friday Harbor, and past Cattle Point lighthouse, towards the open waters of hope.

The sun had finally come out and the water looked dazzling as it shimmered in the sunlight. We boated and boated following the coast of San Juan and further out towards the Olympic Peninsula.

Then, we found orcas! But, not just any orcas, the southern resident orca whales! This...

Jordan | M/V Kittiwake | 08/30/19 | 11:00am

What a fantastic day out on the water! Captain Gabe and I took the Kittiwake and 10 of our new best friends out of Friday Harbor and south towards hopeful reports of whales.

We knew it was cloudy but wow, once we reached Cattle Point, it turned into one giant wall of fog! We could barely see anything! I was pretty amazed by the odd phenomenon as we boated slowly and avoided other boats on our radar. Then, we burst through the fog into the...

Olivia | August 19th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

We had such an incredible morning trip that reassured us for an epic afternoon one as well! The T49A’s had traveled up and down the channel since we previously viewed them, and this time came right to Friday Harbor! We didn’t even have the chance to speed up and slowly motored under 7kts to go see them. We mentally prepared our passengers for one quick view before we left and came back later, wanting to reduce the number of vessels in...

Olivia | August 19th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

 The whales made our job look so easy today since there was absolutely no build up when we found them right out of Friday Harbor! The only thing we had a chance to see prior was a Bald Eagle soaring above the pines while I was giving my animal sighting chat to our passengers. The T49A’s were milling south in the San Juan Channel and we were able to view them for a wee bit before splitting off and checking out more wildlife. We do our...

Olivia | August 15th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

My favorite trip thus far.

I cannot express the realm of emotions myself, Captain Gabe, and our 19 passengers went through on our 11:00am Adventure Tour. We heard reports early in the morning that our Southern Resident Killer Whales (J Pod) had returned to Haro Strait per Lime Kiln recording their dialect through the hydrophone. With a thick bank of fog south and west of San Juan Island, we decided to head around the northern side to...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/14/19 | 1:30pm

It was a magical minke whale day!

It began with Captain Pete, Naturalist Olivia and I heading out of Friday Harbor on the Sea Lion. We boated south down through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Point lighthouse. We continued out towards the Salmon Bank, a very shallow body of water off the southern tip of San Juan Island. Here we saw something appear…

It was a minke whale! The big black back and crescent moon shaped dorsal fin emerged...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/13/19 |

Todays trips were amazing!

It all started as Gabe and I headed south down through the San Juan Channel. We boated towards Cattle Pass and saw the beautiful lighthouse off the southern tip of San Juan.

We then stopped by Whale Rocks and watched a bunch of sea lions! These massive animals lumbered around the island and barked at each other! It was so cool to watch them walking around and sleeping in the sun. So glad that these Steller sea lions are...