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...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | July 18th, 2020 | 17:30

We initially received word that the same family group of Transient Orca we saw on our 13:30 trip was traveling south away from the island. Trying to get off the dock quickly, we were humbly surprised that they turned INTO San Juan Channel!  We headed towards Shark Reef where we first caught word that they were hunting along the shoreline. Upon arrival, they happen to be on a long dive and ended up surfacing near Big Rock off Lopez...

We left the dock again today with very little information about wildlife sightings and a fresh crew full of expectations for the day. Should we go north or south from Friday Harbor in search of wildlife? It's a question that we sweat over in the business. The Salish Sea is a big place, with animals that roam as they please, and our range limited to just a 3-4 hour time frame.

We decided to go south, as we had rumors of orcas spotted off Victoria earlier in the morning. We also had...