Elle | M/V Sea Lion | 9/19/2022 | 1:30PM

Today’s Classic Tour took us way up into Canada’s Gulf Islands. We followed reports of orca whales north out of Friday Harbor and caught up to them between Saturna Island and South Pender Island. We watched as two mammal-eating Bigg’s killer whales circled the petite Blunden Island, hunting harbor seals. While we didn’t witness a kill on today’s trip, we got a glimpse of some of the stealthy, yet aggressive hunting tactics employed by those...

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...

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...

This morning’s adventure on MV Kestrel was filled with beautiful wildlife and stunning views of the Gulf Islands here in the Salish Sea. We began our journey north out of Friday Harbor and up San Juan Channel towards Boundary Pass. Our first stop was White Rock where we spotted some Harbor Seals hauled out along the shoreline. Our harbor seal population is considered to be at carrying capacity, hovering around 40,000 individuals total, which is the...

June 19th, 2022

Helena Wiatrowski

2pm Kestrel

What an afternoon the Kestrel crew had! Today the sun was on our side, allowing for great visibility of a variety of wildlife and flora along the rocky coastlines of the San Juans. We jetted north out of Friday Harbor past Boundary Pass and found a Bigg’s Killer Whale family pod, the T123’s, along the southernmost tip of South Pender Island. This family consists of four individuals:

• Sidney (T123; F; b.~1985)
• Stanley (T123A; M; b. 2000)...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 08/16/2021 2:00pm

Nturalist Haleigh and I joined captain Pete on the boat with our excited guests and headed out to see what we could find around the Salish Sea.

We headed north and crossed the border into Canada. Here we found Orcas!! Beautifully swimming around off the coast of Pender Island, we watched in awe as they searched for any prey that could be hiding within the rocks. It felt like a whole different world as we appreciated being able to boat in...

Piper | Thursday, May 23, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 12:00 PM

The M/V Kestrel left the docks of Friday Harbor today at noon with me, an awesome group of guests, and the wonderful Captain Gabe. We headed north into San Juan Channel and before we could even get to speed, we spotted a bald eagle perched in some trees on Point Caution! Watching this eagle scan the waters of the channel was a great start to the trip! We picked up the pace and made it to the Wasp Islands where we came across a...

We often tell guests that Killer Whales can travel 100 miles in a day, a point of reference for the potential for viewing them in this immense archipelago. As we left Friday Harbor we were witness to how far a group can travel. The morning reports had the J2 Matriline somewhere on the South end of San Juan Island but we were headed for the East entrance to Active Pass, about 50 miles away from where they'd started.

Personally heading up through the similar, but just slightly...