Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with Cpt. Pete, naturalist Erick and I were excited to get on the water on this beautiful day with a report of orcas almost within our reach. Eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed we took off hopeful to get to see these animals.

As of earlier, only one whale sighting from way up north had been reported. With no other reports in our area, we quickly headed up the San Juan Channel with plans to take Boundary Pass into the Strait...

August 16- M/V Kestrel - 10:00 am

For our first trip out on the water we headed out towards British Columbia to go and find some orca whales.  We went up to Saturna Island to find a group of transient orcas called the T2C’s.  This particular day our guests were very lucky to get a great look at some of our mammal eating orcas.  Not only do we always want to find whales on our trips we also always try to highlight other wildlife in the area as well.  Harbor seals are definetly are...

[Thursday, 8/9/18, 5:30PM, M/V Sea Lion]

On our sunset tour on Thursday we left with a smaller group to go find some wonderful wildlife later in the day. We headed out during my favorite time during the summer. A few hours before sunset when the sky is turning all golden and orange. M/V Sea Lion took us south through San Juan Channel through Cattle Pass. We took a quick stop to see some Harbor Seals on Whale Rocks. These blubbery friends are the most common marine mammals in the...

Jordan | August 5, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

Today was such a great day out on the water! The Kestrel headed out from Friday Harbor and traveled south down through the San Juan Channel. Then, Captain Mike and I traveled west towards the Canadian border and towards Vancouver Island. As we grew closer to the city of Victoria we found our whales!

In fact, we saw a fantastic pod of Bigg’s (transient) whales, the T18s, who were in the process of hunting a harbor seal! Within this...

Leaving the harbor with a full boat Captain Mike, Alexandria and myself were excited to get out on the water and see what orcas were hanging around the San Juan Channel! It’s really a treat and a weight off our shoulders when the whales are right outside the harbor since sometimes we must travel two hours to even catch up to them! With high spirits, we headed North up the channel hugging the east side of San Juan island. About two miles up the coast, we saw some faint spouts coming...

Jordan | July 19, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

Our afternoon trip may have started with a bit of delay but the amazing whales that we saw were well worth the wait! As 2:00 rolled around, the sun came out and the skies cleared and it became a truly beautiful and warm Washington afternoon. Captain Mike and I received several reports of whales around the San Juan islands so we were excited to take our Kestrel vessel and explore the area.

First, we headed down the San Juan Channel and...

Jordan | July 15, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

What a fantastic day out on the water! The trip started out very warm on the docks but as we got going and we created our own wind with the cold sea air surrounding us, people were grateful to have their adventure suits to keep them warm. Captain Mike and I decided to head down south through the San Juan Channel and stopped by Whale Rocks to see the harbor seals hanging out in the sun! It’s very important for the seals to get as much...

Jordan | July 15, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00

Today’s trip was so great! The morning was lucky to have a clear sky with no clouds and a shining sun. We had a great group of people really excited to go on an adventure! Captain Mike and I heard multiple reports of whales so we decided to take our speedy boat down through the San Juan Channel. Before we headed too far south, we stopped by Whale Rocks and visit the harbor seals that were lounging close to the surface of the water, soaking...

On a sunny and perfect summer day on San Juan Island like today, everyone was eager to get out on the water. As we headed up the San Juan Channel, the wind started to pick up and we were already getting a break from the summer heat on land. We had heard the same group of orcas we had seen yesterday was hanging out around the same area- North West tip of Stuart Island and around the Canadian Gulf Islands. This has been interesting to observe lately because these animals can travel and...

Jordan | July 8, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 & 2:00 trips

For both trips today, Captain Gabe and I hopped on the Kestrel and booked it up north to find some whales!

On our first trip, the whales were far northwest within the Strait of Georgia so we boated as fast as possible towards that direction. Along the way, we found a huge pod of harbor porpoises! There were about fifty porpoises all around our boat! This rarely happens so it was great to witness. Once we reached the far depths...