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...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | September 21st, 2024 | 2:00 pm

The T049 matriline owned the inter-island zone today. Reports were coming in with members from this famous family along multiple sides of Lopez Island. T049C was headed north in San Juan Channel, T049A1 was heading south in Rosario Strait and the rest of the T049A1’s (minus T049A2/Jude) were hanging out in Thatcher Pass! Captain Eric and I were excited to get on the water for this T049 family affair, but where to begin? T049C/Nielson made that...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | August 23rd, 2024 | 12:30pm 

Our 12:30 Classic Tour departed Friday Harbor with the hopes of catching up with some old friends. We had heard reports that the T018’s might be in the area. The T018’s are a fan favorite Bigg’s Killer Whale family in this region, most notably because of T019B/Galiano. Galiano is a 29-year-old male killer whale, and he has one of the largest dorsal fins in the population. When male killer whales are fully grown, their dorsal fins are on average a...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | 9/26/2022 | 2:00PM

On today's Adventure Tour, we headed South out of Friday Harbor to look for wildlife. Just south of the harbor, we encountered a haul-out of harbor seals in San Juan Channel on some small rocky islands. The harbor seal population has grown significantly over the last few decades. At over 40,000 individuals in the Salish Sea, their population is at carrying capacity. This happened because of restoration efforts on eel grass, a critical habitat...

Elle | M/V Osprey | 9/25/2022 | 12:30PM

Today on our vessel, M/V Osprey, we headed south to search for a humpback whale. As we headed down San Juan Channel, we got some quick looks at five-foot harbor porpoises on both sides of our boat. In Cattle Pass, right next to Cattle Point Lighthouse, Goose Island is home to a colony of double-crested cormorants. These diving birds have built stick-nests where they lay their eggs and hatch their chicks. We headed down past the southern tip of...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | 9/24/2022 | 2:00PM

Today's adventure tour started in Friday Harbor. From there, we headed south in San Juan Channel. We made our first stop at Goose Island in Cattle Pass. This island is surrounded by bull kelp, an essential part of the ecosystem here in the Salish Sea, and one of the fastest growing organisms on earth. Attop the island sat dozens of stick nests made by double-crested cormorants. After some great looks at these deep-diving birds, we prepared for...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 7/28/2022 | 10:00 AM

I’ve had a lot of epic whale encounters during my time working for San Juan Safaris, and today I was blessed with yet another first! What happened you may ask? Our 10:00 am Adventure Tour took a trip to a pectoral playground!  

M/V Kestrel started the morning by taking a right out of Friday Harbor and heading south down San Juan Channel. Before heading into the strait, we made a quick stop at Goose Island. Goose Island is known for its...

7/9/2022

Helena

MV Kestrel

2pm

The adventure tour this afternoon went north up San Juan Channel, through Speiden Channel and off the western coast of Stuart Island where we encountered not one but two Humpback Whales! This duo was actually a mother and her calf and the two were taking long (10-ish minute) dives heading south in the Haro Strait. 

The population of humpbacks migrating to the Salish Sea every summer are coming to their feeding grounds here. They will eat up to 3,000...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 6.3.2022 | 2:00 PM

Grey skies and wet exposure suits were in our future today as M/V Kestrel left the dock for our Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour. Despite the rain, I was in fantastic spirits after captain Eric told me where we were going… One of my favorite Bigg’s killer whale families, the T065A’s were spotted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! This curious bunch is always a delight to observe. This family of six was reported to be traveling alongside...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 05/01/2022 | 1:30pm

    Today was kinda perfect. Before we even began suiting up a group of Killer Whales had been picked up in the Juan de Fuca and were angled straight up towards the San Juans. We hadn’t even touched water and it was already shaping up to be a great day!

    We stopped first at Goose Island and scoped out the Glaucus Gulls, Double Crested and Pelagic Cormorants that rested on the rocks steep sides. 

    We continued onward and it didn’t take...