Kelly | M/V Kestrel | 5/30/22 | 2:00pm |
It was overcast and a bit foggy as we suited up in our exposure suits and prepared for our Adventure tour on the M/V Kestrel! This exciting tour operates on our smallest and fastest vessel in the fleet, a zodiac style ridged inflatable that allows us to zip around the islands and maximize our chance of wildlife sightings during this 3–4-hour excursion.
As we slowly puttered out of Friday Harbor, almost instantly we were greeted by a perched...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | 5.29.2022 | 5:30 PM

It is finally sunset season here at San Juan Safaris and I couldn’t be more excited! Sunset trips are my absolute favorite... Nothing beats watching whales with a setting sky as your backdrop. Memorial Day weekend went out with a bang with a visit from a frequent Bigg’s Killer Whale family, the T075B’s!

As we left Friday Harbor on M/V Sea Lion, we weren’t sure what our 5:30 pm trip was going to bring. The whale reports from earlier in the...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 05/21/2022 | 2:00pm

    Today was pretty perfect! The sun was out, the sea was glass and guests were stoked. We swiftly left Friday Harbor and rounded up north through the San Juan Channel where we then stopped at Flattop Island. We sat there spinning for several minutes in the upwelling, admiring the island that poked itself out of the water. 

    Suddenly a blow! A Humpback whale appeared off our bow surfacing every few minutes to take a deep, fresh breath...

Laura / M/V Kestrel / 5/17/2022 / 2:00PM

Today was an outstanding whale day on M/V Kestrel!  We left the dock headed north with a rumor of Bigg’s killer whales near South Pender Island.  The seas were beautiful, and we had a fun ride past Boundary Pass and into Canadian waters.  On the way to these orcas a passenger spotted a distant blow in the area northwest of Gooch and Comet Island!  We immediately went over to check it out and arrived just in time to find Big Mama and her...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 05/13/2022 | 2:00pm

    Today was pretty dang close to perfect. It kicked off strongly as a good hour before Kestrel untied from the jetty, two bull Bigg's Killer Whales passed directly in front of Friday Harbor. I could see their tall six ft dorsal fins cut the surface of the water through my binoculars here at the office. 

    When we left the harbor for our adventure tour, we decided to save the whales for last. We opted instead to start by heading out into...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | May 6th, 2022 | 12:30pm

Leaving the dock at the start of a trip is not only normal for the shoulder season, but for peak season as well. With no whales tagged in these waters, everything is found on visual sight. Today we left the dock and decided to take a chance heading north while other vessels in the Pacific Whale Watch Association were searching down south. This worked in our favor because about 20 minutes into our trip, another vessel spotted not one...

Maxx K | M/V Sea Lion | 05/05/2022 | 12:30pm

    It was a cold and dreary Cinco de Mayo! Skies were gray and absolutely everything was sopping wet yet there were whales to be seen so Sea Lion moseyed out of Friday Harbor and off towards a report of whales inter island. 

    We didn't make many pit stops on our journey there, instead opting to wrap Sea Lion down and around the northern tip of Lopez and into Orcas’s Eastsound. At this point the rain was horizontal. No one shall be dry...

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...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | 5.1.2022 | 12:30 PM 

It was a magnificent May morning, filled with a warm breeze and sunny skies. It was my first trip of the year where I really felt like spring was upon us. None of the crew even wore jackets out there today!

We left the dock with word that there was a group of Bigg’s killer whales south near Hein Bank. We made a stop at Whale Rocks to view some noisy Steller’s Sea Lions and went on our way.

Once on scene, there wasn’t a single dull moment...

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! ...