Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to work together on this rare rainy day in July on the San Juan Islands. During the summer, the islands stay dry and we usually don’t see rain until mid-September again! Without any whale reports in the area yet this morning, we decided to head North up the San Juan Channel and see what we could find. On the way up, we came close to the West side of Orcas and cut through the inside of Yellow island scanning the waters in that...

Today was a gorgeous morning on M/V Kestrel!

We took to the waters this morning at 10am in search of whales!  Captain Mike had gotten a report of Transient Orcas up North near Tumbo Island!  Luckily Kestrel is a incredible vessel- the boat equivalent of a well bread race horse shall we say? Captain Mike and myself, along with our incredible guests were up for the adventure and we headed north! 

On our way we were treated to some adorable harbor porpoise views as they frolicked in San...

Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and I were ready for our day trip on a beautiful and sunny Tuesday. With almost a full boat, the guests and us were ready to see some whales! Captain Gabe had reports of Transient Orcas up near the Gulf Islands in Canada and headed towards us. This group had apparently cruised by Friday Harbor and up the San Juan Channel earlier that morning. It would take us about an hour to get up there, so we headed up the channel with no time to lose. How much...

Jordan | June 21, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00

The day boasted a brilliant sunshine but also a bombardment of wind. And with wind comes waves which made today quite the adventure! Captain Mike took our boat up north through the San Juan Channel to Boundary Pass in between Waldron and Stuart islands.  

Off of Turn Point on Stuart we found a group of Bigg’s orca whales! In fact, we caught these T65As amidst a hunting session! Diving erratically and swimming all around through the huge...

A Look Back At Our Fantastic Trip

[Naturalist Alexandria – 09/20/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

Our energetic group boarded Sea Lion on a crisp September afternoon, ready to explore the water surrounding San Juan Island to see what wildlife we could find!   We ventured north and began our search for some awesome wild life! 

 

Not long after leaving the harbor we were treated to some quick glances of a playful harbor porpoise frolicking in the waves as well as a harbor seal creating a...

When a Captain decides to take the Sea Lion up North into Boundary Pass and beyond, I'm always hopeful. We left with reports of a Humpback near East Point on Saturna Island, which is what we aimed for leaving the dock. We got to see a lot more.

 

Meandering up North our guests were treated to Steller Sea Lions, Bald Eagles, and a lot of Harbor Porpoise en-route to where other companies are currently watching the Humpback. When we arrived on scene, we quickly determined this...

Another beautiful summer day here in the San Juan Islands, not a cloud in the sky and we able to spy some amazing views of Mount Baker as well. Our 1:30pm departure left with reports of whales up north, traveling north, and we caught up to the group in Boundary Pass pretty much on the border of US and Canada. There was a large group of K pod traveling close together and some members of Jpod inshore foraging. We were able to get some great looks at the  J14s Slick, Mike, Alki, and...

After the amazing encounters that we had yesterday, I wasn't sure the trip today would be able to compare, but boy was I wrong! When we first headed out, we had an awesome surprise: a  juvenile humpback surface a couple hundred yards in the distance by Roche Harbor. It went about feeding and showing us lovely fluke patterns. The Humpback ended up circumnavigating San Juan Island. These whales can eat up to two ton of food a day! It didn't take us long before the M/V Kittiwake was...

Today was a beautiful day all around with sunny sky's, nice people, L-Pod, and lot's of wildlife! The M/V Sea Lion headed North today towards Turn Point (the most Northwestern part of the continental U.S.) where we had reports of some Southern Resident Orcas. I couldn't contain my delight when I told guests we had reports of these Orcas especially since it is rather late in September and they are still around!

On our way out we say some steller sea lions surfaced right in front of...

M/V Kittiwake departed with positive reports of Resident Orcas! Our 13 guests and myself were very excited due to the fact they have been gone for a few days. Captain Mike headed straight to the Orcas that were heading north in Boundary Pass. Once we got on scene we could see all the blows and lots of splashing, right away I knew we had a playful group. We were right in the middle of Boundary Pass when the Orcas decided to split. At that moment we had a large adult male surface near...