Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Gabe and I were excited to get on the water with two great reports already within our reach. Headed out the harbor, we decided to go south towards Victoria, where a report of transients, not yet ID’ed, had been picked up. Taking the challenge and curious to see who these animals were, we quickly went down San Juan Channel. 

As we exited the channel through Cattle Pass, we made a pit stop at Whale rocks to greet our Steller Sea lions and even got...

Leaving the harbor aboard Kestrel with Captain Gabe headed North to check out some transient orcas in our area. Although a bit rainy out, the visibility was good and the sun was already trying its best to shine through. Out of the harbor, we headed north up San Juan channel to later get to Spieden channel where the sighting currently was.  

A smooth ride up to spieden channel, when arriving on scene we could see some dorsal fins hugging spieden island in the distance. Covered by...

[Friday, 9/7/18, M/V Kestrel]

On Friday, Captain Mike and I took a group out to look for some amazing wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north towards the outer islands of the San Juan Islands. As we cruised north we saw a lot of Harbor Porpoises darting through the eddies around Green Point. Next, we headed further north. We headed around East Point where there is a a large number of pinnipeds! Pinnipeds are the seals, sea lions, and walruses of the world. Here we only have seals...

[Sarah | 09/03/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 02:00pm]

Yesterday’s Adventure Whale Watch was a great reminder of why I love September so much out here in the San Juans. We had so much wildlife to look for and had great encounters with whales!

We started our afternoon heading north out of Friday Harbor through San Juan Channel. We pointed for a few wildlife hot spots at Green Point on Spieden Island and then around Sentinel Island. We found harbor porpoises, harbor seals, and even some bald...

[Sarah | M/V Kestrel | 09/01/2018 | 10:00am & 02:00pm]

September is here!! My favorite month in the San Juan Islands!! Saturday’s tours on Kestrel did not disappoint, with great wildlife sightings on both tours.

10:00am Adventure Tour

On our morning departure we left the harbor and headed north towards an early report of orcas pushing north. As we crossed Boundary Pass we were treated to sweeping views before we crossed the border and entered the (equally beautiful) Canadian Gulf...

Guests aboard Kestrel along with Cpt. Mike and I were excited to get on the water with a report of transient orcas already moving East from us. About an hour travel time for us to get on scene with these whales, Mike and I were eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed. 

As of earlier, the day had been calm and sunny but now the wind was starting to pick up and the clouds were starting to show up. On our way over to these whales, we crossed San Juan Channel to take...

August 19- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 am

We left Friday Harbor and headed South West towards Canada where there was a report of some transient orcas.  On our way down to Victoria we got to see some harbor seals and some Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions spend the majority of the summer on the coast or up in Alaska for their breeding season, but some have started to return!  We then went and saw a mother-son pair of transient orcas resting near Victoria.  We then got another report of...

August 24- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 am

We left the dock at Friday Harbor and East towards a report of a few transient orcas near Anacortes.  As we cruised along we kept an eye out for some other wildlife and came across some harbor porpoise and a bald eagle. We made it to the report of orcas on the North side of Cypress Island. It was the sibling pair of T65A3, who is 11 years old, and T65A4, who is 7 years old.  These two siblings have been hanging out on their own for a few days.  This...

Jordan | August 22, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

Today was such a good day! Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel towards reports of transient whales near the Olympic Peninsula. We first stopped by Whale Rocks and saw some Steller sea lions on the rocks! It was really fun to see these massive animals lounging and enjoying the sun streaming through the cloudy skies. There were also harbor seals sitting nearby flopping around.

Then we sped off further south...

Jordan | August 22, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 trip

This morning started off really crazily amazing! Captain Gabe and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed south down through the San Juan Channel and almost immediately found a Steller sea lion eating a skate! Skates are a species of fish that are related to rays. So, the sea lion was splashing around at the surface, throwing around this flat floppy fish and ripping it apart! It was so exciting to witness the circle of life at work...