Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 21, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Of the wildlife we see in the Salish Sea, about half of our summer inhabitants are migratory. Animals like Humpback whales, Gray whales, and Minke whales spend their summers here feeding due to the prey abundance. The other half of residential animals can be expected around the sea year round. One of those residential animals are our Bigg’s Killer Whales. Though their population ranges from the southern part of the Salish Sea all...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 09/21/2021 | 1:30pm

    Today was awesome. 

Not only did I get to work with Abby and Gabe on Sea Lion, we got to watch an incredible family of whales actively hunting and killing what I assumed to be a harbor seal! 

    We left Friday Harbor on a mission: whales had been spotted north of us off of Sucia Island. It was going to take us a little while to get there but the journey was beautiful and full of great chats. As we rounded the northern tip of Orcas...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/20/2021 | 2:00pm

    Today’s tour was a naturalist's dream. When Solan pulled Kestrel out of Friday Harbor we turned northward. A family of unidentified Bigg’s Killer Whales had been reported off the south side of Saturna Island. We had our heading and off we went! 

    We stopped briefly to check out a Bald Eagle, perfectly poised on a small sign post on Jones Island. From there we moved north towards White Rock to admire some Harbor Seals and cormorants...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 20, 2021 | 1:30 pm

For our classic whale watching excursion, we decided to travel north through the San Juan Channel. Reports of some killer whales were far up north towards Saturna Island, meaning we needed to make a straight shot there. We passed by Jones Island, Spieden Island, and eventually Waldron Island, leaving Saturna straight off of our bow. As we neared closer, we caught sight of some exhalations! 

These Bigg’s Killer Whales were...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 19, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Our adventure tour took place on one of the beautiful, crisps fall days in the San Juan Islands. With calm conditions in the channels, we directed our boat towards a report of killer whales westbound. One our way, we stopped by a haul-out of Steller’s Sea Lions roaring at one another and playing in the kelp forest alongside the rocks. We continued west and saw spouts from afar. As we arrived, Captain Solan slowed our vessel down...

September 18th, 2021

Abby | M/V Kestrel | 2pm | 9/18/2021

Captain Solan and I zoomed south in San Juan Channel, cumulonimbus clouds rising steadily in front of Mount Baker. We headed over to Goose Island where double-crested cormorants stood atop their haystack-style nests and glaucous gulls screeched loudly at the prospect of an opportunistic snack. Harbor seals, or “rock sausages,” lazily laid on the shoreline, intermittently raising an eye at our presence. A large bull kelp...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/16/2021 | 2:00pm

    Kestrel flew out of Friday harbor with purpose this morning: a family of Bigg’s Killer whales had been reported passing through Deception Pass State Park and were now traveling across the Juan De Fuca. We stopped briefly at goose island to observe the cormorants that sat proudly over their neatly stacked nests. A harbor seal passed at the water's edge, diving to forage amongst the Bull Kelp forest that sat between us and the bird Island...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 16, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Family ties are incredibly important for many animals. Staying connected with your relatives is a way for information and culture to be passed down. For killer whales, older relatives act as a necessary resource for learning how to be an orca in the environment. Today, we witnessed the head matriarch of the T18 matriline, Esperanza, traveling with her youngest grandson, T19C Spouter. The two had split off from Esperanza’s...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 15, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Today’s adventure tour was a blast! We left Friday Harbor headed southbound through the San Juan Channel. We stopped to hear the sounds of Pelagic Cormorants and California Gulls nesting on Goose Island and then followed the smells of Steller’s Sea Lions across the channel to Whale Rocks. One curious sea lion was jetting through the kelp and jumping up and out of the water like a missile! Others were hauled out on the rocks with...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | 2pm | 9/9/2021

Captain Solan and I slipped out of the harbor, deliberately cruising south through San Juan Channel to spot many different species, including:

• Steller Sea Lions
• Harbor Seals
• Double-Crested Cormorants
• Pelagic Cormorants
• Glaucous-Winged Gulls
• Marbled Murrelets
• Pigeon Guillemots

As we were viewing a large congregation of birds feasting on a bait ball, Solan and I received word of a family of Biggs (transient) killer whales heading north through...