Jordan | July 1, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

On this second trip of the day, we were really lucky that it stopped raining and the sun came out! Captain Mike and I were happy to hear of whales up in Canada, so we sped off north. We wound through Canadian islands until we hit Vancouver Island, then headed north along the west side of Salt Spring Island.

And then we found a pod of whales! We recognized them as the T65As! As one of my favorite pods, they have a tiny baby who is only a...

Jordan | July 1, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 trip

 The morning was a not-so-sunny morning as the drizzling rain sprinkled across the calm waters of Friday Harbor. Captain Mike and I were excited for the day, nevertheless, and embraced the wetness with open spirits of adventure!

As we headed out, we spotted bald eagles right away! Perched high in a tree, they didn’t seem to mind the rain as they overlooked the harbor. Then Mike caught wind of some whales up in Canada! So, we decided to...

Naturalist Sarah | 06/22/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 02:00pm

M/V Kestrel is such an incredible conservation tool and education platform. Every time I am scheduled for a day working on its open air decks I’m excited about the potential for encountering a plethora of wildlife to share with our guests. On Friday it was no exception… we were able to cover a lot of ground and see more wildlife than a conventional whale watch boat in our 3-4 allotted time.

We started our afternoon cruise by...

Naturalist Sarah | 06/22/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am

What a whirlwind of a trip! Leaving Friday Harbor, Captain gabe and I had no reports of orcas… not unusual for our morning trips! Since we work with a spotting network spread out through the region, usually our sightings start rolling in as boats leave their harbors. We decided to leave our slip and head north through President’s Channel towards what we call the Outer Islands of the San Juans: Patos, Matia, and Sucia Islands...

Our 2pm trip today aboard M/V Kestrel was truly one for the books!  From the beginning I suspected that this was going to be a great day!  We had beautiful weather and a fantastic group- everyone was smiling, excited to get going, and of course even participated in the obligatory laughing at my jokes- like I said it was the Dream Team and Dream Trip from the get go….

But no one have fully prepared for what a fantastic trip it would prove to be!  As we headed out we knew that we were...

Today was a gorgeous morning on M/V Kestrel!

We took to the waters this morning at 10am in search of whales!  Captain Mike had gotten a report of Transient Orcas up North near Tumbo Island!  Luckily Kestrel is a incredible vessel- the boat equivalent of a well bread race horse shall we say? Captain Mike and myself, along with our incredible guests were up for the adventure and we headed north! 

On our way we were treated to some adorable harbor porpoise views as they frolicked in San...

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of transient orcas in the southern part of Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Townsend.  We headed south of San Juan Island and came across the T137’s, a family of four mammal eating whales.  When we first arrived we saw the whales enjoying some prey-sharing time.  This is after whales have completed a kill and move on to tearing the carcass apart and sharing it among the family members.  We were also lucky enough to see some surface social...

Guests aboard M/V Kestrel were treated to a fantastic day on the water yesterday, as Transient Orca pods T49A’s and T65A’s all hung out swimming around the south park of Spieden Island.  We saw lot’s of tail lobs from these oras, and even some breaches by some of the smaller kiddo orcas! 

We started out the trip suiting up in our very fashionable exposure suits, and heading down to board M/V Kestrel.  After Captain Gabe talked to us about safety and Kestrel we boarded and began out...

Captain Mike, our excited guests, and I took off down the San Juan Channel on a peaceful Saturday afternoon. Firstly, Captain Mike went through the inside of Turn Island and came out at a harbor seal haul out to observe some seals who happened to have some pups with them! We then continued down the channel and as we approached Cattle Pass, with surprisingly calm waters, we saw some sea lions posted up on Whale rocks. Some of these sea lions were busy cooling off in the water and...

Today we left Friday Harbor with no reports of whales in the area, which is not an uncommon way to start our day.  Just as we were exiting the harbor we got a report of some transient orcas about 10 minutes away from us.  We came across the T137’s hunting what looked to be like a porpoise.  Things were just getting exciting as we got there with lots of white water and jumping going on.  We then watched the orcas slowly begin to share their food and travel northwest.  We watched as...