Fog, Steller Sea Lions and a Squirrley Family of Bigg’s Killer Whales

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 03/29/2022 | 12:30pm

    Today’s tour was wild. Sea Lion pulled out of Friday Harbor and veered south. Whale watching runs on rumors. Someone thinks they might have seen a blow on the horizon. They tell a friend. The friend tells a friend and before you know it we can confirm a congregation of five killer whales slowly making their way along the southern banks of Lopez island.

Naturally we...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 1, 2021 | 12:00 pm

It’s not super common to find whales right outside of the harbor, but when it happens it is incredibly special! Today was that day. We found two Humpback Whales traveling South through the San Juan Channel. Each surfacing was powerful, with a 15 foot exhalation releasing a plume of misty water into the air. The two humpbacks were traveling close alongside one another. At one point as they dove, one tail fluked while the other half...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 22, 2021 | 1:30 pm

Today’s encounter with our Bigg’s Killer Whales was spectacular. After a long journey through San Juan Channel towards a chain of islands known as the outer islands, we saw the whale watching vessels in the distance! Rounding the west side of Sucia Island is where we first saw some spouts from a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. This family seemed to be actively hunting and devouring a freshly-caught harbor seal. As they finished...

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...

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...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/11/2021 | 2:00pm

Today was the day I had been anticipating when I moved up to Washington: chilly, rainy, grey. While it was really only sprinkling throughout our trip we were being thoroughly blasted by water as Kestrel flew through the Salish Sea. This is, after all, the adventure tour!

    We made our first stop at Whale Rocks to check out some Steller Sea Lions. On grey days like today I find they tend to chill out on the rocks, as there isn’t much sun...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/10/2021 | 2:00pm

    Kestrel raced through the San Juan Channel and swiftly popped out into the open Juan de Fuca. Now we’re full steam ahead. A popular family of six whales had been spotted hard south just north of Port Williams but getting there would mean 50 minutes of high speed flying. Fortunately, this is exactly what Kestrel was made for so Captain Eric and I were stoked. 

    When we finally arrived on scene, we were greeted by one whale: T065A3,...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 09/04/2021 | 1:30pm

    Today was another grey day. It felt like 7:00pm all afternoon as the sun never seemed to be able to creep out from behind the clouds. Yet still, the seas were flat calm, glassy. These are perfect whale spotting conditions and myself and our boatful of guests were hyped to get out there and see what we could find. 

    There was only one whale report this morning: a family called the T100s that were currently foraging just south of Hein...