Today was a great day on the M/V Kestrel, full of fun learning experiences for both the guests and myself.  We had reports of humpback whales just off of East Point in the Strait of Georgia.  We sped up that way in a quick effort to get to the sighting.  We quickly reached the whales and watched as a humpback mom and juvenile pair surfaced slowly in, what appeared to be, no directional pattern.  We continued to watch as the pair went through dive sequences and showed off their tail...

If you are looking for a good day, look to visit Friday Harbor (literally- the harbor). On today’s trip, we encountered a humpback whale within 10 minutes of leaving the dock! We watched the whale fluke and dive on numerous occasions, but we soon departed in search of other wildlife for the remainder of the trip. There were more sights to be had on such a clear and beautiful day!

We cruised through the islands with the Olympic Mountain range, the Cascade Mountain range, and Mount...

It started oout as a beautiful, calm day in Friday Harbor with a boatload of excited guests. We jaunted to the west side of San Juan Island in search of 2 humpback whales. We entered the scene and alas! Two black humps of whales rose above the waterline under 15-foot exhalations. The water was smooth as glass, and each ripple from the whales could be seen around them. These whales were exceptional at showing us their flukes, with their undersides displaying individual characteristic...

M/V Sea Lion had yet another amazing early-season trip on May 17th, highlighted by numerous wildlife species. Leaving the dock we headed north from Friday Harbor and were treated to almost immediate viewing of bald eagle and other local bird species. As we move closer and closer to summer the diversity of seabirds is starting to shift away from our dipping and diving ducks, towards more of our murre and murrelet populations. Just one of the many seasonal changes we see in the...

Today in the Salish Sea, the Sea Lion departed North of Friday Harbor from San Juan Island in search of wildlife for Mother’s Day. The sky was scattered with clouds, but the day was quiet and beautiful. Harbor seals were quickly spotted bobbing in the waters outside of the harbor, and sea birds darted into the waters alongside the boat. Into the trip, Stellar’s sea lions were spotted basking (and arguing) on a rocky outcrop jutting from the water’s surface. Being the largest sea lion...

We were lucky enough to leave the dock with reports of transient orca’s south of San Juan Island.  We knew we were going to need to go a little further today than usual but the reports were still in our reach and we wanted to make sure we gave our guests the best trip we could in our power.  As we headed down San Juan Channel past the Southern tip of San Juan Island we enjoyed the beautiful view of the surrounding Northern Cascade mountains as well as the Olympic mountains and the...

It’s a bit rainy here today in the Pacific Northwest (good one, right?) but that didn’t stop our guests from being excited and enthusiastic about looking for wildlife.  We left Friday Harbor with no whale reports, not uncommon for this time of year.  We decided to head North toward the Canadian Gulf Islands.  As we were traveling we came across some harbor porpoise in the larger channels.  As we continued along our search route we came across a number of bald eagles, both perched and...

Today we left Friday Harbor with no immediate reports of whales in the area.  But, as whale and wildlife watching goes, there was ample opportunity for a great day on the water.  As we started heading North to survey for whales we got the report of a humpback whale in Boundary Pass just South of the Canadian Gulf Islands.  As we headed up to that area we saw multiple bald eagles in flight as well as harbor seals and harbor porpoises.  We made it to the area of the reported humpback...

Today Captain Pete, Kayak Guide Jordan and I headed out on another tour on the M/V Sea Lion. We have been having some excellent weather lately, and it has been a true pleasure to be out on the water. Leaving Friday Harbor we headed North through San Juan Channel towards Spieden Island.

In Spieden channel we had an awesome encounter with some foraging Steller’s sea lions. There were at least twenty of the huge pinnipeds in the water! The animals were surfacing around the very active...

We had a wintery day out on the water on Monday. Captain Mike and I headed north into Canadian waters on the search for whales and wildlife! We saw many bald eagles scattered trough the evergreen trees and enjoyed looking for harbor seals hauled out on the shores. We motored around Spieden and Flattop Islands, marveling at how beautiful the greenery of the islands looked under the low clouds.

We continued on our search pattern north into Boundary Pass, crossing over the large...