Lauren | M/V Kestrel | August 30th, 2024 | 10:00am

As many of our 10:00 am Kestrel tours start, we left the dock without a firm report of whales. Luckily, we are a part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA), which is a private sightings network that includes professional whale watchers, researchers and biologists. In the morning, PWWA members will divide and conquer the different water ways and report our sightings. None of the whales we see out here are tagged, and we don’t use any kind...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 29th 2024 | 2pm | 

I knew were likely to see two different whale groups when we left the harbor on this beautiful Friday afternoon...but I not expect that we were going to see 4 different groups, totaling 13 INDIVIDUAL whales! The stars were certainly aligned. 

The first whales we encountered were of the baleen variety, humpback whales to be precise. Typically, our humpbacks are solitary as they make their way through the Salish sea along their migration route. Not...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 26th 2024 | 2PM

Aboard the M/V Kestrel on our 2pm Adventure tour, we left Friday Harbor with high spirits and turned left to zoom up San Juan Channel. We heard a rumored report of whales around Coal Island, just off shore from Sidney, BC. We quickly curved over the top of San Juan Island and made our way straight across the Canadian border. As we neared Coal Island the rain began, and quite frankly...it never stopped. This amount of participation is unusual for this...

Olivia Esqueda | M/V Kestrel | August 28th, 2024 | 2:00pm

Today was an amazing day out on the water with the family of Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T049A’s. We first started our tour off by traveling from San Juan Channel into New Channel, just north of Spieden Island, where we saw Bald Eagles, swimming Harbor Seals, and Mouflon Sheep grazing by the water. It wasn’t too long after that when we first spotted the Transient Orcas swimming around in the North Haro Strait. 

Soon after we arrived...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 26th 2024 |10AM

We took a left outside Friday Harbor and pointed north up San Juan Channel. First stop, Flattop Island, one of our national wildlife refuges. Almost immediately we laid eyes on a group of harbor seals resting on the rocky shoreline. After cruising down the north side of the island for a few moments, we noticed a full grown bald eagle perched in the trees. 

Next stop, killer whales! We took a sharp left turn and cruised through Spiedan Channel to...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | August 25th, 2024 | 2:00 pm

The morning fog had cleared, and we had firm whale reports in the region. We couldn’t ask for a more promising start to our 2:00 pm Kestrel tour. We left the dock and headed north in San Juan Channel. The original plan was to catch up with the Bigg’s Killer Whale family the T075B’s. While on transit to T075B/Pebbles and the gang, we got a report of a group of killer whales near Eastpoint. Curiosity got the best of Captain Eric and I, so to the...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | August 25th, 2024 | 10:00 am

As our 10:00 am Kestrel tour rolled out of Friday Harbor and into foggy San Juan Channel, we decided to head south to follow up on some shore reports that came in earlier this morning. By the time we entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we could see blows in the distance. It was a pair of humpback whales! Most of the time we encounter humpbacks in the Salish Sea they’re solitary, so getting to see two swimming together was a treat. After getting...

A lot can change in the span of a few hours out here in the Salish Sea. By the time our 2:00 tour came around the weather had cleared up, the sun was out, and more whales had been spotted in the region! Like our morning tour, Kestrel flew north. This time however, we continued past Spieden island, up and over the US/Canadian border and towards South Pender island where reports of Biggs Killer whales sparked a few hour before. 

Initial reports consisted of 6-7 whales but boy were we in for a...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 23rd, 2024 | 10:00 am 

Today's 10am trip really put the adventure in Adventure Whale Watch as we departed Friday Harbor in a mix of rain and fog! We began our search for wildlife by heading north along San Juan Island, turning southwest to explore Mosquito Pass and eventually the west side of the island. Despite the rain and cold conditions, we enjoyed the views of Lime Kiln Light House and pushed on towards Salmon and Hein Banks. While these areas did bring flat...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | 9/26/2022 | 2:00PM

On today's Adventure Tour, we headed South out of Friday Harbor to look for wildlife. Just south of the harbor, we encountered a haul-out of harbor seals in San Juan Channel on some small rocky islands. The harbor seal population has grown significantly over the last few decades. At over 40,000 individuals in the Salish Sea, their population is at carrying capacity. This happened because of restoration efforts on eel grass, a critical habitat...