Yesterday, the sun was out again and the seas were calm. Early in the morning the Southern Resident Killer Whales could be heard over one of the hydrophones placed on the west side of the island, and by the time the sun came up there was a whole lot of orcas spread out along the southern shore of San Juan Island. Captain Mike, Scott, and I took a bunch of great folks on an adventure to find these orcas and of course some other amazing wildlife as whale. First we stopped to look at a...

We certainly had a cool encounter with some transient killer whales today! First off, the Kestrel is a speedy boat - no getting around it. At a max speed of around 35 knots and a typical cruising speed around 25-30, we can get places on this beauty of a vessel. Life is even better when the water is glassy calm (is this the Salish Sea or a lake?), because then we can really fly! And thank goodness for our speed, because we have a chance to check out some amazing critters out here...

Did you know that orcas live all over the world? They’re a cosmopolitan species just like us, the humans! There are ten distinct ecotypes worldwide that look similar but differ, in their behavior and their feeding habits. Here in the beautiful Salish Sea around the San Juan Islands there are two ecotypes that commonly pass through our waters! In the summer the famous Southern Residents swim through the islands in search of Chinook Salmon, but year round there is another ecotype that...

March on San Juan Island usually means lots of rain. This Saturday, though we had a small, sunny break in the rainy forecast which reminded us that summer is just around the corner. Coincidentally so are the killer whales. We turned south out of the harbor with myself, Naturalist Kev, and Captain Mike to head for some reports of Transient Killer Whales hunting in the area. Transient Killer Whales are a little different than our more famous Southern Residents.  They hunt in smaller...

Today the M/V Sea Lion had two great trips on the water- both located on the west side of San Juan Island. We left the docs with lots of questions and enthusiastic people just waiting to see some wildlife! Naturalist Chelsea and I feed on that kind of enthusiasm and love to answer all kind of questions. Among killer whales, we ended up seeing copious amounts of harbor seals, bald eagles, and even a pair of peregrine falcons!! It's rare in the parts to see the peregrine falcon since...