Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 04/30/2022 | 12:30pm

    Friday harbor was spooky at 12:30- it softly rained throughout the morning and was gray everywhere you looked. It was a pretty cliche Washington morning but we weren’t disheartened- it can be so much easier to spot whales without the glare of the sun bouncing off the water. A jet black dorsal fin stands out so much sharper against a white gray foggy sky too- haha perhaps this is me trying my best to make lemonade from lemons but hey! ...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion| 04/25/2022 | 1:30pm

    The day began with sun! 

Sea Lion took a left out of Friday Harbor today, up and around towards rumors of Bigg’s Killer Whales that had been spotted earlier in the morning traveling up San Juan Islands western shores. Now of course, these whales were going to remain rumors until we saw them ourselves. As we know, whales are crazy and they are absolutely wild. If they wanted to disappear, they absolutely could! 

    We were not...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 04/24/2022 | 1:30pm

    Today was crazy. Now, every day is of course, special out here- you never really know what you’re gonna get, much like a box of chocolates. But something truly wild happened on our journey today. 

    Kestrel rounded itself up and over the north side of San Juan Island and into the Haro Strait. We continued across the strait and over the US/Canadian border towards a Gray Whale that foraged off Sydney Island. This massive 45 foot whale...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 04/23/2022 | 1:30pm

    Well today was exciting, to say the least! Kestrel flew out of Friday Harbor and turned right, taking a brief moment to observe a bob of Harbor Seals (yes, the collective noun of seals is a bob. How fun!) hauled out on the rocks just beyond turn island. There must have been 30 seals on this rock, each with its own unique grey, black, speckled, or spotted coat. We continued zooming through the San Juan Channel and out past Cattle Point...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 04/14/2022 | 12:30pm

    The last few days have been insane. I love the Salish Sea for its spontaneity. Some days I’m out here on the water I feel like David Attenborough should be by my side, narrating the scene unfolding in front of me. Today was one of these days. 

When we started the tour we had no clear heading. Captain Brian and I figured we should start our search around Spieden and Stuart Islands. There tend to be several haul out sites for Harbor...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 04/12/2022 | 12:30pm

    I’m never going to forget today’s tour. 

    It’s not unusual to start a tour without any whale sightings. None of our whales are tagged and we rely on sightings and word of mouth to spot them. The fact of the matter is however, whales are here in the Salish Sea all year round, it’s just a matter of if there are individuals or vessels scanning the water to find them. Well, today we were insanely fortunate as a mere 5 minutes before...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 04/02/2022 | 1:30pm

Today was a big day! Today marked Kestrels first voyage of the 2022 season and it did not disappoint! I had forgotten how fast this vessel is- it can reach speeds of up to 40 kts (45ish mph)! It’s like flying. But boy oh boy is it also freezing. With an average water temperature of 45 degrees, the wind chill coming off the Salish Sea is no joke! But what is a little cold air when you’re hanging out with a family of Bigg’s Killer whales?

Soo...

The Day is Never Stale with a Bigg's Killer Whale

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 03/28/2022 |12:30pm

    I was beyond excited to be back on the water today, having taken the winter to spend some time back home with family in North Carolina. And let me tell you, while I love coastal North Carolina, it’s deeply unlikely that you’re going to be seeing many Killer Whales regularly over there. Needless to say, it felt absolutely phenomenal getting back out here, zooming through the islands and...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 9, 2021 | 12:00 pm

For today’s whale sightings, we didn’t have to go too far! We left Friday Harbor pointed North through San Juan Channel where we were united with a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. Within the group was T60 (Panthera) and three of her five living offspring. T60C (Yelnats) is her oldest living calf born in 2001. T60F (Tigris) and T60G (Unnamed) are her two youngest calves, born in 2012 and 2019. Two of her middle children, T60D and...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 28, 2021 | 2:00 pm

For our adventure tour, we departed from Friday Harbor with an idea of where we wanted to travel. We headed northbound, first stopping to admire some Harbor Seals hauled out on the shoreline of Skipjack Island. From there, we made the announcement to our guests of some large animals traveling around way north from where we were at, also warning of the ~30 minute travel ahead of us. With an overwhelming “YES!” from our guests, we...