[06/23/2017 – M/V Kestrel – 02:00pm]

M/V Kestrel is our newest vessel in our fleet of four, and she has consistently proven to be an amazing tool over the last year of use. Going into her second summer as a part of our fleet I am excited to see how we can continue to use this incredible boat to better our guest experience. We are consistently impressed by the smoothness of the ride and just the sheer distance that we can cover on this boat.

Yesterday’s tour was a great example of...

It’s the most magical month of the year! It’s Orca Awareness Month! At San Juan Safaris we believe that every month is Orca Awareness Month, but since 2006 Washington State has officially recognized our Southern Resident Killer Whales in the month of June.

The month-long, now multi-state and international, celebration was...

[06/07/2017 – M/V Kestrel – 2:00pm]

Today’s M/V Kestrel trip was arguably one of my favorites of the season so far. We had an amazing time with two species of cetaceans and the plentiful other wildlife of the Salish Sea. Leaving Friday Harbor we took a right, heading south, through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass to check out some seals and sea lions before continuing on into Haro Strait. The water was glassy and we had multiple reports of whales in the area.

(May 7, 2017)  After a couple of weeks of hanging lefts out of Friday Harbor and heading for Canadian waters to watch transient orca, humpback, grey, and minke whales, it felt strange to bear right and run south in San Juan Channel.  Such a move often signals that our resident killer whale pods have returned to hunt salmon on the west side of the archipelago, and today was no exception.

Before we reached our destination, we stumbled upon a small pod of Dall’s porpoise.  Our...

Big Mama the humpback whale was spotted fishing with friends just north of the border today.  After marveling at her broad back, knobby head, and impressive blows, we turned around to find another adult and juvenile humpback feeding in the same vicinity.  Humpbacks are solitary beasts, but are known to congregate at productive feeding sites.  Adult whales spend their day gulping about 3,000 pounds of tiny crustaceans or schooling fish, such as sand lance, surf smelt, or herring.  A...

Captain Mike seemed antsy to board our guests and depart on the day’s safari.  The skies were dark and brooding, but there wasn’t a puff of wind and the channel outside of Friday Harbor was calm.  By the time we left the dock, the wind had cranked up and white caps busted against the bow, blurring the line between sea and surface as sheets of salt spray soaked the aft deck. 

Fortunately another captain in the whale watching fleet had sighted killer whales near Lopez Island and we...

We could not have asked for a better spring weather out on the M/V Sea lion today.  We started our day with reports of whales on the North side of Orcas Island.  On our way up to the area we spotted some harbor seals swimming in the water and some bald eagles flying up ahead. 

We arrived on scene to a pod of transient orcas formally known as the T49A’s.  This pod is made up of 4 individuals including the 31 year old matriarch and her three offspring; a 14 year old adult male, a 5...

Today the M/V Sea Lion continued its whale-viewing streak into April with two species of cetaceans! April has been good to us in terms of weather and wildlife. We left the dock under sunny skies and with great expectations!

Captain Mike, Naturalist Rachel and I left Friday Harbor and almost immediately we were lucky enough to encounter a gray whale! Gray whales are unusual visitors for us here in the San Juan Islands. This was actually only the third or fourth gray whale I have seen...

We see whales most days and they are super! But some days we have an extra special day. Today we went north and motored through some of the outer islands north of San Juan Island. We first stopped around Flattop Island to look at some really cool Harbor Porpoises surfing in the windy chop south of the island. After we checked out their silly antics we continued north and saw quite a few majestic Bald Eagles and as we approached East Point on Saturna, one of my favorite places in the...

Yesterday, the sun was out again and the seas were calm. Early in the morning the Southern Resident Killer Whales could be heard over one of the hydrophones placed on the west side of the island, and by the time the sun came up there was a whole lot of orcas spread out along the southern shore of San Juan Island. Captain Mike, Scott, and I took a bunch of great folks on an adventure to find these orcas and of course some other amazing wildlife as whale. First we stopped to look at a...