Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 20, 2020 | 14:00

Leaving the dock, we had a rumored report of Bigg’s Killer Whales in U.S. waters but inching closer to the Canadian border. Due to Covid-19, that border is closed not only on land, but also across the water. Therefore, after a brief stop in Cattle Pass to get the passengers on board with our game plan and be in tune with our surroundings, we headed straight to find the group of six black and white dolphins.

Upon arrival, we spotted the...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 29th, 2020 | 14:00

We started off our Wednesday Adventure Trip by setting out on a scan through our Salish Sea waters. Being part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, we are involved in a community that holds no secrets. That means, everyone involved in the PWWA divides and covers as many corners of the Salish Sea as possible and reports in what whales or other crazy wildlife has been spotted. This not only helps our guests view cetaceans, but also...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 26th, 2020 | 14:00

After having an exciting morning trip, we were already enthused for our afternoon adventure! We immediately went south towards Whale Rocks in hopes to see the Steller’s Sea Lions to which they greeted us with lots of water wrestling and face biting! Seeing the world’s largest Sea Lions brawling in our waters was exhilarating.

As we are watching Steller’s Sea Lions, we found the same Minke Whale in the channel that we saw on our trip back...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 25th, 2020 | 17:30

After seeing part of L-Pod foraging in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on our 13:30 trip, we hoped for our sunset trip that they would still be foraging down there to give our guests the same opportunity to see Southern Resident Killer Whales as we did earlier. To our humble surprise, those Orca started traveling UP the San Juan Channel! What!! I had never heard of this behavior historically and immediately our hearts were racing with...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/23/19 | 11:00am

 Today was extraordinary!

It was a little touch and go there at the start as we began our tour in the pouring rain. But, everyone really seemed determined to have a very adventurous time despite the wetness! What troopers!

Eventually, the skies lightened, and we were able to dry a bit as we sped down south through the San Juan Channel. Here we stopped to watch roosting cormorants with Cattle Point lighthouse standing beautifully in the...

Olivia | August 5th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

What a gorgeous day on the water! Captain Gabe, Co-Naturalist Jordan, and I started off by taking our passengers north through the San Juan Channel and into Boundary Pass. We had a reported Humpback Whale sighting with a possibility of multiple in the area just north of Saturna. We decided to go for it and head through Plumper Sound and up through Georgeson Pass. We found a duo of Humpback Whales traveling together, one of which was...

Olivia | August 3rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

What an evening! We had a beautiful morning with two types of Baleen Whales (still in range) which made it an exceptional trip, and by the sunset trip, we found out about some Killer Whales sightings. The only problem was that they were just out of our range and we wouldn’t be able to make it within the 3-4 hour trip, and more importantly, back before it gets dark. We knew our passengers really wanted to see them, so with a lot of...

Olivia | July 21st, 2019 | M/V kestrel | 11:00am

Every day is completely different and unique, especially with whales that can travel over 100 miles in a day. Today, however, they decided to make our job very easy! Just as we left Friday Harbor, and I mean barely out of the harbor, we came across the T46B’s of Bigg’s Killer Whales. They continued to hug the shoreline and travel north. Captain Gabe and I adore seeing this family because their young calf has Leucism, a condition where...

Erick | Tuesday, April 30, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00

What a beautiful day!! Captain Pete, Sarah, and I set out with a wonderful group of folks to look for fun wildlfie out in the Salish Sea! It was beautifully sunny and calm today as we headed north. We started by going through Spring Pass and President Channel in between Waldron and Orcas Islands. Just as we reached the eastern entrance to this channel we got to see quite a few Harbor Porpoises fishing around Point Doughty. These...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with naturalist Rachel, Captain Pete and I were ready to get out on the water on this CLEAR and sunny August day! After two long weeks of wildfire smokes in our area and no visibility, it was a treat to get to see the mountain ranges in the distance. Already looking like a good day with a report from another boat who had Humpbacks south of Cattle Pass. After boarding the boat and familiarizing our guests with the natural history of the area, we left...