Elle | M/V Sea Lion | June 25, 2022 | 2:00PM

This Saturday, lead naturalist Laura, Captain Gabe and I were excited to get out on the water and see what we could see. Before we even left the dock, we saw two bald eagles, one adult and one juvenile circling above us. As we cruised out of Roche Harbor, we got a report from other members of the Pacific Whale Watch Association that there were Bigg’s Killer Whales near Friday Harbor. We found the orcas just south of Friday Harbor. The T65A...

Another day of fun just off the dock here in the San Juans! We took a left out of Friday Harbor and headed north up San Juan Channel. Our first stop was Flathead Island, a protected nature preserve here in the San Juans where we often see a variety of pelagic birds, pinnipeds and intertidal species from the shoreline. During our shuffle along the banks we observed a bald eagle perched atop a tree, its iconic white head contrasted beautifully against the green tree tops. The bald...

Helena

6/24/22

Kestrel

2pm

We headed southeast through Lopez Sound and Thatcher Pass to Cypress Island, where we’d gotten word of a humpback surfacing nearly 200 yards from the south coast of the island. Humpbacks are baleen whales and they migrate to the Salish Sea each summer to their feeding grounds. Our highly productive waters bring a wide variety of small schooling fish, such as herring, mackerel and sand lance, that these humpbacks will eat up to 3,000 pounds of every day...

Maxx K. | M/V Osprey | 06/17/2022 | 12:30pm

    Traveling inter-island is always a great time. It’s fun to wind the vessel through all the nooks and crannies that partition one island from the next. Each passing typically guarantees many glimpses of eagles and pelagic birds along the rocky shorelines. Furthermore, there’s always plenty of harbor seals hoisted out of the water and away from the looming threat of Bigg’s killer whales. 

    The crew was ecstatic even before boarding as...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | 6.16.21 | 10:00am |
When we left the dock on the M/V Kestrel there was a whopping total of 0 whale reports. This is not completely unusual for our 10am departure time. This early, there are only a small number of whale watch boats out on the water searching for wildlife. Captain Michael and I decided to head north toward Saturna island. In the past few days this area has been a consistent hot spot for humpback whales, so we figured it was our best bet.
On our...

June 11th, 2022

Abby Dahl

12:30pm Osprey

We zipped out of the harbor at 12:30pm, an earlier sighting of Biggs killer whales rattling our brains. We took to the south, through San Juan Channel, harbor porpoises bobbing parallel to our vessel all the way to Cattle Point. We made a beeline for the report of killer whales which were traveling parallel to the western shore of Whidbey Island.

When we saw whales in the distance, guests rushed to the railing, jaws dropping for those who were...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 06/04//2022 2:00pm

The weathermen lied to us…it was scheduled to be pouring rain during our tour but as we gathered our guests and headed out to sea, the sun was shining brightly.

Heading north through the San Juan Channel and around the northern point of San Juan Island, we stopped by a little island filled with harbor seals! The “rock sausages” flopped around and played in the water. Shortly after, we made it to the Haro Straight where we found a humpback...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 05/29/2022 2:00pm

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Today was such a special day out in the Salish Sea.

Captain Eric and I greeted out guests and headed out of Friday Harbor towards the north. We cruised past Orcas Island and Waldron Island then across into Canadian waters.

As we saw the city of Vancouver in the distance, we spotted the Orca whales! Swimming speedily through the deep green waters, 9 Transient (Bigg’s) orca whales seemed to be headed towards Saturna...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | 5.3.2022 | 12:30 PM

M/V Sea Lion had a small group today, only 9 passengers were aboard as we puttered out of Friday Harbor. I was beyond delighted to hear that the infamous “Big Mama” was back in the Salish Sea, and that we may see her out on our trip today. Seeing “Big Mama” is a treat in itself, but we got some exciting news yesterday… “Big Mama” was not only back in town, but she had a new calf with her!

Once we got word that “Big Mama” and calf were...

Olivia | M/V Osprey | April 23rd, 2022 | 12:30pm

On our first Osprey trip of the season and the sunniest day of the week, we decided to head south in an effort to see some orcas down by Victoria, B.C. The beauty of this day could not be matched as we continually motored through glassy seas past bellowing Steller’s Sea Lions, swimming Harbor Seals, feeding Harbor Porpoise, and tons of curious birds.

It was a good thing we had sun-soaked skies and lots of peaceful views, because those...