cormorants

Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | Thursday, August 8, 2019 | 2:00 PM

What an incredible trip packed full of wildlife this afternoon! We left Roche Harbor with no firm reports of whale sightings, so we decided to head toward Canadian waters and try to search for whales on our own. Whales can be anywhere throughout the Salish Sea, so we were hoping to find them as we made our way through some important wildlife refuges. We arrived at a refuge called Mandarte Rock, which is important...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Sea Hawk | 2:00 PM | Friday, July 26, 2019

It was a true wildlife adventure aboard Sea Hawk this afternoon. We began our trip heading south out of Roche Harbor, but quickly decided that the weather would suit us better if we headed north. We found ourselves across the U.S./Canadian border, headed towards a wildlife refuge known as Mandarte Rock. This wildlife refuge is not only important for seals and other pinnipeds, but for a large array of birds...

What an incredible afternoon with K Pod! The Seahawk left Roche Harbor with positive reports of our Southern Resident killer whales. On our way to the whales we headed north out of Roche Harbor towards Battleship Island. As we rounded the north side of Henry Island we got some awesome views of both the amazing diving cormorants (medium-sized black birds with long necks , who nest on the cliffs at Kellett Bluff) as well as some beautiful bald eagles in our area. Bald...

Our five hour trip took a dive into Wescott and Garrison Bay, where we ventured between darkly shaded alcoves and underneath barnacle ridden docks. Mother and baby seals played around us and cormorants perched to watch us, their wings drying in the strong winds blowing off the Haro Strait. We ate lunch under a pear tree at English Camp, then walked off our meals examining the Madrona and Iron Wood that surround Garrison Bay.  The sun showed itself on our return to Roche...

San Juan Island sea kayak wildlife update for Tuesday June 8th:

Yesterday I paddled out on our whale sanctuary 5 hour sea kayak tour. We left under blue skies but stiff breezes, and had a gorgeous day on the water. We saw and heard bald eagles, harbor seals, cormorants, black oystercatchers and more! We were down by lime kiln when we received reports that L pod was coming up island from the south, so all our fingers were tightly crossed and we waited in hope, but then the...

I paddled out for my first trip of the season today, and what a day! The weather was perfect and the wildlife certainly on display. There were so many different kinds of winter birds-- scoters, mergasers, buffleheads, cormorants, bald eagles, kingfishers, guillemots, auklets and more. The highlight of the trip for me was when two harbor porpoise surfaced behind our boats a few times. They seemed to be feeding, but moved off before we could get some really good...

Today I paddled out for a few hours with a lovely local couple who were celebrating their wedding anniversary. We started out under gray skies and were quickly paddling in the rain. Although it was November, and thus well after the tourist season was over, it was beautiful.

We identified all sorts of birds today, from the Harlequin duck's defined white markings to the soft gray spots of the Bonaparte's Gull in winter plumage. There were grebes, guilemots and...

Hege and I paddled out for a 5 hour tour this morning, and while we were hoping to see whales, we were content with a long, hard paddle and numerous bird sightings. The clouds from earlier lifted and we had bright sunny skies with us all day (my sunburned face will attest to that!). As Hege was a great novice paddler and happy to keep moving instead of examining the flora and fauna up close, we sailed around Henry Island and headed down to San Juan County Park...

Today we ventured out under gray skies and undertook a long paddle all the way down the west side of Henry Island. The pelagic cormorants which had begun nesting in the rookery there just a few days ago have disappeared-- without a trace of their presence remaining. Hopefully biologists and naturalists here on the island will share the answer with me, as I'd very much like to know where these birds have gone!

And to one of our chattiest guides, Joe Gardner, we wish...

Today I paddled out for a 5-hour tour with a lovely couple from Oklahoma. It's always a great feeling to be able to showcase the marine environment to folks who don't often see it. Plus, they loved seeing so many harbor seals up close! We hung out in the kelp beds with a few seals who kept surfacing nearby and checking us out. It's still early in the season, so they're just getting used to kayakers again!

The highlight of the day for me was paddling by the Pelagic...