Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, June 26th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Our first stop today on our Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife tour was to Goose Island, to observe a slew of harbor seals and several different bird species. Today we had an insanely low tide, -3.1 to be exact. We have a massive tidal flux here in the San Juans, at times up to 13 feet! This means that at different times of day there is actually a different amount of islands that make up the Archipelago. At low tide, there are 743 island...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, June 21st, 2025 | 2:00 PM

The Coastal Bigg’s population is estimated to have around 380 to 400 individuals. Of these individuals, we see about 150 of them pretty frequently in the inter-islands of the Salish Sea. The rest of the population spends most of their time in southeast Alaska or on the west coast of Vancouver Island. As time goes on, some families change up their habits and will start frequenting different regions. My first season working with San Juan...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, June 22nd 2025 | 2:00 PM

June-uary was in full force as we left Friday Harbor and took a right in San Juan Channel. The sky was an overcast grey but that certainly didn't stop the wildlife from making an appearance! Our first stop was a small rocky area just off San Juan's eastern shoreline. These rocks were crawling with harbor seals. We have around 300 of these known harbor seal haul out areas in the San Juan's. Having a fused pelvis does come with limitations...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Saturday, June 7th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Today I had one of the most rewarding days of my career. I got to finally meet one of the whales I got to nickname! Each whale in the Coastal Biggs population gets an alphanumeric designation, along with a nickname. For the alphanumeric designation, each family gets a number and then it goes back-and-forth between letter and number based on lineage. For example, in this family of whales, the matriarch's designation is T036B. Which means...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel| Tuesday, May 27th 2025 | 2pm

It's days like to today that truly feel like the Salish Sea is just teaming with marine life. We were treated to almost non-stop wildlife on today's Adventure Tour. We took a right out of Friday Harbor only to instantly have a guest point out a bald eagle on Turn Island. We quickly realized there were 3 bald eagles in the area, two adults and one juvenile.  One of the adults was right on the waters edge, picking away at a fish with his razor sharp...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Friday, May 25th 2025 | 2pm

The weather was nearly perfect as we took a right out of Friday Harbor and pointed south. Our first wildlife encounter of the day was a humpback whale just off Salmon Bank. In just the past week, humpbacks sighting have become more and more frequent! This is exactly the time of year they began making their way into the Salish Sea from their winter breading grounds in either Hawaii or Mexico. This humpback was likely feeding here at salmon bank, a...

Olivia Esqueda | May 11th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

It was a fun adventure out on the water today heading southwest almost all the way to Deception Pass, which bridges Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands! We were able to find the T100s, a matriline of Bigg’s Killer Whales. While this matriarch has a few other calves, this afternoon we saw T100 [Hutchins, female born in 1979] traveling with two of her calves, T100C [Laurel, male born in 2022] and T100F [Estrella, born in 2014]. We watched as they...

Kelly | M/V Sea Lion | April 4th, 2025 | 12:30pm

Spring is here! The weather was absolutely perfect as we left Friday Harbor and turned left down San Juan Channel. As we made our way through Cattle Pass (the narrow passage between San Juan and Lopez Island) we admired the various wildlife around us. This area is extremely productive due to a process known as upwelling. Upwelling occurs when you have an uneven sea floor mixed with a strong current/tidal exchange. This creates a ramp effect...

Olivia Esqueda | M/V Sea Lion | September 28th, 2024| 12:30pm

Saturday out on the water was SO fun! We headed south through San Juan Channel making a brief stop at Goose Island where we saw Harbor Seals, Double Crested Cormorants and Pelagic Cormorants before passing Cattle Point Lighthouse and exploring the Strait of Juan de Fuca. After transiting past heaps of Surf Scoters, we came across a large bait ball where we were able to see one of the few Minke Whales in the Salish Sea. However, we...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | September 3rd, 2024 | 12:30pm

We are officially running our daily classic tours aboard M/V Sea Lion which tends to be a favorite vessel of our naturalist staff. Starting off the day, it sure felt like fall as we headed south into the fog. After a brief stop at Goose Island to check out some Harbor Seals thermoregulating on the shoreline, Double Crested Cormorants nesting on top of the island, and Pelagic Cormorants drying out their wings, we headed into the Strait of Juan...