Naturalist Erick | Saturday, October 5, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | Noon

Saturday started in a pretty typical Pacific Northwest way. Rain and low hanging clouds fell and scraped the tops of the evergreen hills of the San Juan Islands. As Capt. Pete and I got ready to take a full boat out to search for the exciting wildlife of the Salish Sea blue skies started to appear and the sun came out! We motored north through San Juan Channel and started our journey at White Rock. Here we saw a...

Piper | Thursday, September 26, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

Wowza! Today was an epic day in the Salish Sea; Captain Gabe and I took an awesome group of people out on our Adventure boat, armed against the wind in exposure suits. We left the docks and headed north into San Juan Channel, eventually arriving at White Rock where a haul-out of harbor seals was scooching itself across low-lying rocks. Just north of there Gabe was glancing out at a giant gathering of birds, a great sign...

Laura C. / M/V Sea Lion / 8/18/2019 / 1:30 pm

Today was an awesome trip aboard M/V Sea Lion!  The windy atmosphere produced a bustling Salish Sea, filled with waves and wildlife!  We headed towards Middle Bank and found J 16s moving southwest at about 7-8 knots!  The J16s are a three-generation matriline apart of J Pod, consisting of 6 matrilines!  Today, was watched this family of four cruising with the rolling seas!  We saw J26, aka “Mike”, sporting his tall dorsal fin and towering...

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...

Laura C. | M/V Kestrel | 8/14/2019 | 11:00am

This morning’s adventure whale watch and wildlife tour was simply outstanding!  Captain Gabe directed our vessel, Kestrel, southbound towards Hein Bank.  This area is a great spot for wildlife viewing!  There are a few shallow banks south of San Juan Island, rising above the deeper sea floor to about 50 feet.  These areas tend to congregate dense amounts of small schooling fish along the ledges of the bank, where they prefer to reside near...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, August 10, 2019 | 11:00 AM 

The rain didn't stop our wildlife sightings this morning! We left Friday Harbor with no firm whale reports, so we decided to head south to see if we could find anything for ourselves. We stopped past a neat place called Whale Rocks. All around us we could see evidence of upwelling, and there was even a baitball nearby! A baitball is when birds are gathered at the surface of the water because of the presence of baitfish...

Piper | Thursday, August 8, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

This morning the skies in the San Juan Islands started out quite gray, which in my opinion makes for wonderful sighting weather, and that proved true today! As Captain Gabe and I got the Kestrel off the docks and out of the marina, a report of Bigg’s killer whales ran across the radio! They were all the way down by the Olympic Peninsula, so we hung a right and headed south through San Juan Channel.

When we reached Cattle Point...

M/V Sea Lion | Naturalist Erin | 1:30 PM | Thursday, August 1, 2019

What a fabulous trip aboard the M/V Sea Lion. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we decided to head towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca to see if we could find any whales feeding. We left out of Friday Harbor and right away we encountered some upwelling currents. The currents in the Salish Sea are fueled by the rise and fall of the tides, so they can be pretty intense. They help to bring food to the water's...

Piper | Saturday, August 3, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 PM

On this beautiful Saturday afternoon in the San Juan Islands, Captain Gabe, naturalist Olivia, and I took a lovely group of people out to scan for whales and wildlife! We headed south into San Juan Channel after leaving the marina and just before we got to Cattle Pass we spotted a couple groups of harbor porpoises swimming around the boat!

We continued south of San Juan Island into the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we came upon...

Laura C. | 8/3/2019 | M/V Kittiwake | 11:00am

We all had an outstanding day on M/V Kittiwake!  With morning reports of minke whales feeding south of Cattle Point on Hein Bank, we anxiously headed south to check out the action!  On our way we stopped along some tiny islands to see some harbor seals and their pups!  These adorable animals were enjoying the sunshine and cool ocean temperature today!  Scanning the area above, we were excited to see a bald eagle perfectly perched over all...