Kelly | M/V Kestrel | 8/12/22 | 10:00am

Captain Eric and I were thrilled to leave the harbor on this beautiful Friday morning. A Humpback whale had been reported right outside Friday Harbor! After quickly suiting our guests up, we briefed everyone on safety precautions and gave them a quick wildlife summary before heading out into the channel.

The initial humpback report was based on a shore sighting and no boats on the water had yet reported the whale’s location. This means we were...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | 8/9/22 | 12:30pm

There was a pleasant cool breeze in the air as we left Friday Harbor on this tuesday afternoon. It was a wonderful departure from the hot weather we’ve been experiencing. We had just received a report of Biggs Killer whales in the south and were excited to travel inter-island to get to their reported location. As we weaved through islands on our journey south, a small group of harbor porpoise surfaced quickly as we passed by the mouth of...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | 6/13/2022 |12:30PM

M/V Osprey left the dock with sunny skies this Wednesday afternoon. We took a right out of Friday Harbor and headed south towards Cattle Pass. We slowed to view a bald eagle and some harbor seals before cruising over to Whale Rocks to see some Steller’s Sea Lions. After leaving the sea lions, we decided to follow up on a report of a humpback whale in Haro Strait. And just like that we went from “Hump Day” to “Humpback Day!”

Born in 2006,...

7/7/2022

Helena

MV Osprey

12:30

We departed Friday Harbor for our Classic Tour at 12:30pm ready to explore all the Salish Sea has to offer! Our journey began by heading south down San Juan Channel, with San Juan Island to our starboard and Lopez to our port. We came into view of Cattle Point Lighthouse at the mouth of where the Channel meets the Haro Strait and the greater Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is one of my favorite views to see from the sea during our trip. First installed...

Helena

MV Osprey

7/6/22

12:30pm

This hump day was filled with beautiful humpback looks along Stuart Island! We began our adventure by turning north up San Juan Channel. Today the water was calm and visibility was great, making for easy scanning along the rocky shorelines and broader horizon. Along the south side of Waldron Island we spotted several Harbor Porpoises taking quick exhalations at the water’s surface. These cetaceans are the second smallest in the world and we typically...

We began our journey today heading south down San Juan Channel. We observed some Harbor Seals hauled out along the shoreline of San Juan Island. These pinnipeds come in varying colors and can also frequently have speckles across their bodies. Not long afterwards we came across another pinniped that lives here in the Salish Sea, the Steller Sea Lion! Hauled up on Whale Rocks we found over a dozen of these mammals above the water line thermoregulating. This was a great way for us to...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 06/27/2022 | 2:00pm

    It’s was a bomby summers day. Kestrel absolutely flew threw the San Juan Channel, cutting through the velvety water with ease. We raced up and around through Waldron Island, stopping briefly once to scope out Skipjack Island and dozens of Harbor seals that rested along its rocky shorelines. 

Harbor seals haul out onto rocks for a variety of reasons such as rest, thermoregulation, birthing and nursing. This gives us a great opportunity...

10:00 am

Today’s adventure tour started out as a shockingly hot morning on land. Our guests, and myself, were eager to zip around on the water and cool off. We departed from Friday Harbor scanning the exposed shorelines due to the low tides hoping to find some Harbor Seals. We came across a reef nearby Yellow Island with some curious Harbor Seals hauled out and a Bald Eagle watching from the reef marker. We made our way around the island and across San Juan Channel where we found a...

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...