Olivia | M/V Osprey | August 21st, 2024 | 12:30pm

Summer season out here in the San Juan Islands is considered peak season, bringing in the opportunity to see potentially two ecotypes of Killer Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, and Gray Whales. While statistics continually reflect on that, every day is a brand-new adventure on where or what type of whale it is we are going to see. Starting off August, we had a bit of a Killer Whale lull in the Salish Sea, where Pacific Whale Watch...

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...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 9/19/2022 | 2:00 PM 

“The Boys,” “The Punks,” “The Brothers…” Bigg’s Killer Whales T060D “Onca” and T060E “Lynx” have many nicknames. Normally found traveling together, these sprouting boys are an industry wide favorite to observe. 18-year-old Onca born in 2004, and 14-year-old Lynx born in 2008 still have a lot of growing to do. Young males go through a stage known as sprouting, where their dorsal fin starts to shoot up and they begin to grow into the massive...

Elle | M/V Sea Lion | 9/16/2022 | 1:30PM

Today, Bigg's killer whales swam right past Friday Harbor as they hunted harbor seals. Three big males put on a show for the Washington State Ferry, Chelan. Some of the lucky passengers on that ferry joined us on our vessel, Sea Lion and got a second look at a different family of orcas later in the afternoon. By the time we left Friday Harbor, those big males had headed south into rough, windy seas. We headed north and caught up to a group of...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 9/3/2022 | 2:00 PM

Labor Day weekend is upon us, and Friday Harbor is looking just as crazy and beautiful as ever! Our 2:00 pm Adventure Tour was totally sold out. With 20 guests aboard, Captain Eric and I zipped out of Friday Harbor and took a left into San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to Green Point, which is the southeastern tip of the infamous Spieden or “Safari” Island. We viewed several Mouflon Sheep grazing on grass before heading over to Flattop...

8/14/2022

MV Kestrel

10am

Helena

There is something very special about morning whale watch tours. The cool breeze off of San Juan Channel hitting our faces snapped us out of our last morning grogginess. Most days we are one of the first boats out on the water, leaving it up to our eyes and patience to see what we can find!

Our first stop was at the Pea Pod Islands in the Rosario Strait where we found dozens of harbor seals hauled out along this rocky island shoreline. It was a...

Elle | M/V Osprey | 7/29/2022 | 12:30 PM

Today was a lucky day! Just about 15 minutes after leaving Friday Harbor and heading north, we encountered a group of Bigg’s killer whales, and turned around to accompany them south. We spent some time watching this majestic family, the T37As travelling through San Juan Channel. The whales followed a bait ball, a big group of fish under the surface which attracts tons of birds and smaller marine mammals like seals and porpoises which are prey...

We didn’t have to go too far to see amazing wildlife today! We started out of Friday Harbor heading North through San Juan Channel, making our way through Spring Pass in between Jones Island and Orcas Island. We got really great views of a bald eagle resting in an exposed dead tree surrounded by beautiful red Madrona’s. We continued North to search around a known harbor seal haul out spot, hoping to find the top predators that eat them (hint hint). The seals were nestled low on the...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | 6/14/2022 |12:30PM

Captain Erick and I left the dock with a smaller group today. It’s always refreshing to have a boat with only a few folks, as it gives you the perfect opportunity to better connect with your guests. With only 8 passengers aboard, M/V Sea Lion cruised out of Friday Harbor for a quick San Juan Channel crossing right into Upright Channel. We hugged the coast of Lopez Island before puttering around Ram Island into Lopez pass. While in Lopez...

Elle | M/V Osprey | July 8, 2022 |12:30PM

Today we made our way up to Canada following reports of a family of Bigg’s killer whales near Saturna Island. On our journey, we got to see a few harbor porpoises pop up in the San Juan Channel. We found a group of seven orca whales towards the eastern end of Saturna Island. They were hugging the shoreline, allowing us to admire the contrast between the pale color of their 10ft tall exhalations and the dark rocks and trees behind them. The...