Lauren Fritz, M/V Kestrel, 07/19/17, 2:00 pm Tour

Wow! We had quite the epic journey on M/V Kestrel today. Cruising across the bluest seas at our quick speeds really allowed us to make the most of the day. Humpbacks reported down south of Victoria in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, 25 miles away? No problem for the Kestrel! Captain Gabe and I decided to head straight down San Juan Channel and out into the Strait, stopping near Whale Rocks to check out harbor seals, beautiful bull kelp...

Lauren Fritz, M/V Kestrel, 7/17/17, 2:00 pm Tour

M/V Kestrel had a smooth, eventful tour today. The weather was perfect, light breeze, glassy seas. We were in high spirits as we pulled off the dock in Friday Harbor, ready to search for whatever wildlife nature wanted to show us. In such a biodiverse area as the Salish Sea, almost anything is possible. We had barely picked up speed before we spotted our first bald eagle! I took it as a good sign for the rest of our trip - and wow, we...

[7/14/17- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM]

M/V Kestrel had two trips today leave from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  On our 10 AM and 2 PM departure we saw the same group of transients, a combination on a few families of transients, totaling in 12 whales!

 It is always great to see this large amount of transients hanging out together.  Generally, when we see the mammal-eating orcas we only see one family at a time, averaging at about 4-5 individuals.  Today we saw three...

[7/13/17- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 AM]

Nothing like an orca calf to start your day off right!  Today we left Friday Harbor for our morning whale watching tour and headed just North of Orcas Island to see a few transient orca families in action. 

When we arrived on scene the orcas were fragmented between the two different groups, but they quickly grouped back up together and started traveling East quickly.  We saw T51, the 36-year-old lone male who has been seen traveling with the T37’s for...

[7/12/17- M/V Kestrel- 2:00PM]

Wednesday’s are hump days, and hump days are meant for humpback whales! It was another beautiful day with sunny skies as we moseyed outside of Friday Harbor from San Juan Island and headed north to Canadian waters. We cruised over the calm waters with no problems at all, simply enjoying the scenery and the windless skies.  We slowed down and approached a small little outcrop of rocks by the East Point lighthouse on Saturna Island, and we saw a plethora...

7/7/17 - Kestrel 2:00 PM Departure

Today we left Friday Harbor at 2pm and couldn’t ask for better reports to start our trip with.  We headed just a bit North inside San Juan channel and came across ‘Divot’, a humpback whale commonly seen in this area.  We watched as he surfaced regularly and displayed consistent dive times.  He also had exceptionally good fluke out dives, with the underside of the tail fully visible. 

We then made our way to the North side of Shaw Island and hung out...

[7/4/17- M/V Kestrel- 2:00PM]

Happy Fourth of July, folks! The day started with a huge parade going down the main street of Friday Harbor, and then afterwards, a whale watch!

It was a scorcher today as M/V Kestrel darted out of the busy harbor in search of killer whales. Just to the north end of Lopez island, a short boat trek from San Juan Island, we immediately stopped for two bald eagles and their nest with a chick present. It was such an appropriate and patriotic way to start our...

[7/3/17 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM]  On July 3rd Captain Mike and I headed out with a full boat of great passengers aboard the M/V Kestrel to go look for some exciting wildlife! We headed south through San Juan Channel and first stopped at Shark Reef along the shore of Lopez Island to look at some hauled out Harbor Seals. Going in between Shark Reef and Lopez Island is going through a pretty skinny but ultimately pretty deep channel but it’s a cool experience seeing people hiking on...

[6/30/17- M/V Kestrel- 2:00PM]

It’s always nice to have options, particularly when whale watching. And today, we had several! With 3-4 groups of whales to choose from, we departed Friday Harbor on M/V Kestrel first in search of a group of transient killer whales in Garrison Bay, maybe a 5-10 minute boat ride from the harbor! We approached the scene to see about 5 orcas travelling and being a bit playful with tail-splashes, spyhopping, and cartwheeling, not very common behavior for...

(6/24/17 - Kestrel 10AM and 2PM Departure)

Today we left Friday Harbor and headed South toward some common whale feeding grounds.  We found one lone humpback whale milling around a small area.  One major difference between toothed whales (orcas) and baleen whales (humpback whales) is their social structure.  Toothed whales are generally stay in family groups called pods, while baleen whales are mostly solitary but will sometimes pair up for short periods of time, anywhere from a few...