Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 24th, 2020 | 14:00

“No one will protect what they don’t care about; and no one will care about what they have never experienced.”

-David Attenborough

I do not even know where to begin with writing tonight’s blog. I have been a naturalist in New Zealand and the San Juan Islands for a total of 4 years now and have never had such a profoundly spectacular trip as I did this afternoon. We left the dock with no reports of orca in the area and decided to go see...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 24th, 2020 | 10:00

We started off the trip by being one of the first boats out on the water for the day. That being said, we decided to start the trip by scanning some major bodies of water such as the Haro Strait. These tend to be hot spots for larger cetaceans and a great place to start. Additionally, we left the dock with a shore report of a potential Humpback Whale north of Lime Kiln Lighthouse. Unable to find this rumored Baleen Whale, we headed north...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | June 28, 2020 | 13:30

Today as quite the adventure, and a well needed one at that! We started off the trip with the fastest introduction speech of wildlife and the Salish Sea that I have done to date. The reason for the rushed speeches as we set off was because there were whale sightings far away and heading north. Captain Pete was anxious to start our travels as soon as possible in order to give our guests that black and white glimpse they were itching to...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | June 28, 2020 | 13:30

Today as quite the adventure, and a well needed one at that! We started off the trip with the fastest introduction speech of wildlife and the Salish Sea that I have done to date. The reason for the rushed speeches as we set off was because there were whale sightings far away and heading north. Captain Pete was anxious to start our travels as soon as possible in order to give our guests that black and white glimpse they were itching to...

Laura C. | M/V Sea Lion | 11/24/2019 | 12:00pm

Sunshine radiated throughout the Salish Sea today!  The seas were beautiful, surrounded by crisp clean air that provided miles of visibility.  We headed north in the San Juan Channel, through President’s Channel and past Patos Island into the Strait of Georgia.  Patos Island is home to a bald eagle’s nest, and it was a great first stopping point to larger wildlife, as their nests can weigh up to 1 ton each!  Passengers assisted in a...

Olivia | September 28th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Sadly, today was my last Kestrel trip of the season with Captain Gabe and we decided early on that it was going to be epic. Being one of the first boats out on the water, we often must travel into areas where there haven’t been other boats in order to find potential whale sightings. We heard of a Humpback Whale near Battleship Island north of Roche Harbor, but decided to go scope out waters elsewhere due to the amount of boats...

Olivia | September 23rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 11:00am

We started off our Classic Whale Watch trip by heading north through San Juan Channel into Boundary Pass and up through Plumper Sound. As we boated along, we saw Harbor Seals and Harbor Porpoises swimming around in the rain. Once we started to turn into Georgesons Passage, we spotted a big Bald Eagle perched up at the top of a pine scanning the water horizon! Not only that, but about two minutes later we saw a Great Blue Heron...

Olivia | September 22nd, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

We started off our Adventure Trip by heading north through Spieden Island. To our surprise, the entire island was so lush green in just a matter of one week with the amount of rain we have gotten. We looked at Mouflon Sheep for quite a bit before heading into Haro Strait to check out the body of water to see if any whales were around. After that we headed north through John’s Pass where we saw heaps of Harbor Seals floating around...

Olivia | September 11th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm Private Charter

This afternoon we had a private charter of two book on, which was an absolute delight. These folks were so excited just to be on the water checking out the gorgeous scenery of our many islands. We decided to wave at the Humpback Whale still hanging out in the channel from earlier in the season and attempt to go find something black and white and moving away from us. We boated north through San Juan Channel, cutting...

Olivia | September 8th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What a fun day Captain Sarah and I had with all our passengers on M/V Sea Lion! We started off the trip by heading north where we immediately began seeing Harbor Porpoises rounding San Juan Island through Spieden Channel. After taking a quick stop at Spieden Island to see Bald Eagles, Harbor Seals, and heaps of Mouflon Sheep, we continued towards Stuart Island where we ran into our solo Bigg’s Killer Whale, T49A3! This goofy...