Elle | M/V Sea Lion | 8/19/2022 | 2:00PM

Today we traveled from Friday Harbor, WA to Victoria, BC and back again in search of wildlife. First we encountered Steller's sea lions at Whale Rocks, one of their favorite spots to stop and hang out as they migrate to Alaska for the summer. We were lucky this group decided to stay for a few extra months! We continued southwest until we saw blows in the distance. These turned out to be a young family of Bigg's killer whales. The mother of...

Elle | M/V Sea Lion | 8/18/2022 | 2:00PM

Today’s trip on Sea Lion took us out of Roche Harbor and up into the Canadian Gulf Islands. We stopped at a rocky reef near Spieden Island to look at some harbor seals and their pups, which are just a month or two old. As we continued up to Canada, we encountered a group of Bigg’s killer whales south of Gooch Island in the Haro Strait. We arrived just as they were finishing their hunt of a harbor porpoise, so we got to see some playful...

Elle | M/V Osprey | 8/14/2022 | 12:30 PM and 5:30 PM

Today on Osprey, we spent the day with two families of Bigg's killer whales; the T099 family and the T036 family. This was a group of ten whales, including a calf born in 2021 which still had a pinkish tinge to its eye patches (the normally white spots on the side of the whale, right behind their eyes). These whales were formerly known as transient, and each individual is given an identifying set of numbers and letters, such as T...

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...

8/13/2022 

MV Kestrel

2pm

Helena

MV Kestrel departed Friday Harbor for our afternoon tour with a fantastic view of Mount Baker off of our bow. As members of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, we are in constant communication with both American and Canadian vessels throughout the Salish Sea in regards to reports of wildlife. As we entered into San Juan Channel, we got word of orcas traveling north up the Rosario Strait. They were moving with the flooding tide quickly so we held on...

8/10/22 // MV Osprey // 12:30pm // Helena 

As we boarded MV Osprey we could hear booms of thunder in the distance. It was a chilly grey August morning as we waiting for a storm in the southern Strait of Juan de Fuca to blow east. Once we had our final numbers and confirmation of safe weather, we left Friday Harbor with our teeth chattering (okay, maybe just me because I mistakenly wore shorts!). 

The crew decided to head north up San Juan Channel as there were reports of orcas near...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | 8/9/2022 | 2:00 PM

Today was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions! We started our journey from San Juan Island and followed reports of Bigg's killer whales towards the Rosario Strait. In Obstruction Pass, we spotted an osprey! This fish-eating bird (and the namesake of one of our vessels) is rarely spotted here in the San Juans because bald eagles feed on similar prey and will chase them out of the area. Just around the corner, to our surprise, sat two adult...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | 8/9/22 | 12:30pm

There was a pleasant cool breeze in the air as we left Friday Harbor on this tuesday afternoon. It was a wonderful departure from the hot weather we’ve been experiencing. We had just received a report of Biggs Killer whales in the south and were excited to travel inter-island to get to their reported location. As we weaved through islands on our journey south, a small group of harbor porpoise surfaced quickly as we passed by the mouth of...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | 8/1/22 | 12:30

It was a picture-perfect summer day as we left Friday harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. After quickly cruising up the channel, we stopped at Flattop Island. This island was bustling with wildlife! Multiple bald eagles soared over head as harbor seals lounged along the shoreline. A solo bald eagle was perched along the shoreline with its talons dug into a carcass. We watched as the impressive raptor pulled apart the animal’s flesh with...

Haleigh | M/V Osprey | July 31, 2022 | 12:30pm

As we headed off the dock on a beautiful warm day, we received an early report of Bigg’s Orca Whales… but they were running away from us. The T37A’s were making a run for it out the Strait of Juan de fuca, towards the open ocean. The only question was, could we get to them before they escaped? Captain Gabe yelled, “Full speed ahead!”, cranked the accelerator and the quest was afoot. 

We made our way through the bottle-necked channel...