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...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | May 29, 2022 | 12:30 pm

The island has been filling up with visitors as Memorial Day rings in the start of the summer season! Our classic whale watch was no disappointment for those coming to view some of the stand-out species found in our waters. 

Early reports had us off the dock headed straight towards the outer islands (Patos, Sucia, Matia, Clark and Barne). With gusts of winds up to 12 knots, our vessel trudged through wavy waters spraying the port...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | May 28, 2022 | 2:00 pm

One of our mantras for each of our tours is that every day is different, and every hour is different, meaning you can find wildlife anywhere and at any time. For today’s tour, this held up to be true given we had multiple families of Bigg’s Killer Whales traveling through San Juan Channel. 

The first was a family of four, the T123’s. The matriarch, Sidney, was followed along by her three offspring, T123A Stanley, T123C Lucky, and...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | May 22, 2022 | 2:00 pm

After a long winter away from the Salish Sea, I was extremely excited to depart on my first tour of the season! With no expectations, I was thrilled to be back on the water with a group of giddy guests for our Adventure tour. We departed from Friday Harbor heading South through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass. Along the starboard side of the vessel, we stopped to check out a haul out of Harbor Seals basking in the sun. Continuing...

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 / 5/19/2022 / 2:00PM

Our whale watch and wildlife tour was filled with fun adventure today!  Our vessel Kestrel headed out of Friday Harbor with the plan of looking for a humpback that was spotted north near Boundary Pass.  As we were making our way out of the harbor everyone was thrilled to hear our Captain Brian had just received a tip that orcas were spotted from land near Anacortes!  Passengers immediately got ready to pick up speed and we cruised though the...

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...

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...

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! ...