Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 06/23/19 | 11:00am
 

The day started with clouds floating low in the sky. It wasn’t the typical overcast but somehow much more beautiful as they hid the distant mountains. Captain Gabe and I took the Kestrel out of Friday Harbor and headed north through the San Juan Channel.

We sped towards this beautiful island called Flattop and stopped along its shoreline. Here we found a bald eagle perched high in a tree, its white head glowing in the light. Then we saw...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 06/06/19 | 11:00am

As the sun shone bright overhead and the Salish sea beckoned us to join her, Captain Brian, Naturalist Sarah and I set out towards promising reports of humpback whales up north. But then, almost immediately, we got a brand new report of orca whales off in the Rosario Strait!

Filled with excitement, we headed south down through the San Juan Channel. As we neared Cattle Pass off the southern point of San Juan, we spotted a crazy battle in the...

It was the warmest evening we had so far this season and the sunset tour was just about to kick off with some reports of killer whales East of Orcas Island. We didn’t yet know what group of whales were over there, but we decided to head that way and find out! The wind was amazingly warm and most of the guests were gladly sitting at the vow. We had some excited guests and even a birthday on board! We decided to head towards Rosario Strait going up Upright Channel and then through...

07/02/17, Lauren Fritz, M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris, 1:30 and 5:30 pm Tours

What a magical day of Bigg's Killer Whales! We encountered several different family pods on the east side of Orcas Island today, over in Rosario Strait. We enjoyed some breathtaking views of the T36's and a number of other Transients. My favorite part? Seeing the massive males rise up above the surface with their huge wavering dorsal fins. It's absolutely humbling. 

The whales were busy hunting and...

[Sunday, May 28, 2017 -- M/V Sea Lion -- 12:00pm and 5:30pm tours]

On Sunday we had an incredible demonstration of the strength and power of killer whales. We often throw out the stat that killer whales can travel over 100 miles a day, and we saw that fist hand from one of my very favorite families of whales.

On our afternoon trip we went headed south out of Friday Harbor through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass. Under blue skies we had wonderful wildlife sightings of Steller’s...

It's not a pretty fact, but it's science: killer whales are among the world's most contaminated marine mammals. 

How is this possible? What toxins are the orcas dealing with? What are scientists looking at, and how can we help?

It comes down to PCB's, or polychlorinated biphenyls. These are a type of POP, "persistant organic pollutant," that first originated at the start of the last century and are commonly found in the Puget Sound. They were used for a good part of 70 years in...

For all you conservation-minded folk out there, we've got wind of some exciting news from San Francisco! The city has unanimously voted to ban the sale of any and all styrofoam (aka polystyrene) products by 2017. But why is this such a big deal, you ask? It's a HUGE deal! Styrofoam causes all sorts of environmental problems, and if we can prevent it from even being produced, we'd be taking another step towards the health of our beautiful planet. Styrofoam is a petroleum-based plastic...

Ever heard of a rorqual? Try saying that word ten times fast! Rorquals are the largest group of baleen whales, and even include the largest known mammal on Earth, the blue whale (those fellas can reach up to 200 tons - WOW). But what exactly is a baleen whale? There's some basic facts that can help you organize your thought process when you're comparing an odontocete (toothed whale) with a mysticete (baleen whale). Mysticetes have two blowholes. They're filter feeders. And they can...

What do Orca Naturalists in the San Juan Islands Actually Do?

“So, what do you do for work?” Anytime that I travel, or really any time that I find myself talking to a stranger, the "career" question always comes up.

“I am a marine naturalist, with a primary focus on killer whales or orcas, in the...

Long trek to get to the whales today. Earlier reports had transient, our marine mammal-eating orcas, near Captains Pass heading Northeast towards Active Pass. By the time M/V Sea Lion got there from Friday Harbor the whales were at the mouth of Active Pass. Although this was a long trip to the transients, it was also well worth it! Traveling through the Canadian Gulf Islands is always a favorite of our staff and passengers, because of the sheer cliffsides and the narrow passages...