Maxx | M/V Kestrel | August 31st 2024 | 2:00pm

Kestrel’s second tour of the day was incredible. The family of three Bigg’s Killer whales, the T018s, continued thy journey around Lopez and had now made their way up to Orcas islands eastern coastline. We found them by the Peapod islands and were almost immediately greeted with a spy hop (when a whale propels its face vertically out of the water) as birds buzzed around them. I only assume that this family was once again, feeding.

The T018s are...

Maxx | M/V Kestrel | August 31st 2024 | 10:00am

A loose rumor of whales ignited our tour today- s share based report as we left the harbor claimed a small family had been spotted over Salmon bank, south of San Juan Island. We have a heading. 

Kestrel flew south through the San Juan Channel, stopping only briefly at Goose Island to admire a small haul out of Harbor seals and of course all the incredible pelagic birds that call this tiny island home. Double Crested cormorants sunned themselves atop...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | September 1st, 2024 | 2:00 pm

Our afternoon trip left Friday Harbor in great spirits, ready to search for more whales and wildlife! Based on the sightings of the morning trip, we had an idea of where we wanted to go, so we turned north up San Juan Channel towards Waldron Island. We got some great looks at some harbor seals along the way, which was the perfect prep for the killer whales we were nearing! We quickly caught up with the Bigg’s/Transient Killer Whales...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | September 1st, 2024 | 10:00 am

Today’s morning adventure whale watch started the month off with another great trip! As one of the first boats out on the water, we began our trip in full search mode with a few rumors to the north. We traveled up San Juan Channel, stopping to view a group of harbor seals hauled out on a small island and harbor porpoises swimming nearby. This is always a great sign of our productive ecosystem, and made us even more excited at the chance...

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...