Olivia | M/V Osprey | August 21st, 2024 | 12:30pm

Summer season out here in the San Juan Islands is considered peak season, bringing in the opportunity to see potentially two ecotypes of Killer Whales, Humpback Whales, Minke Whales, and Gray Whales. While statistics continually reflect on that, every day is a brand-new adventure on where or what type of whale it is we are going to see. Starting off August, we had a bit of a Killer Whale lull in the Salish Sea, where Pacific Whale Watch...

Olivia | San Juan Safaris | August 19th, 2024 

After a long hiatus while getting our NEW website up and running, our daily blogs are back! 

We will be documenting whale and wildlife sightings daily from all three of our vessels to provide a sneak peak of where we’ve been traveling and what wildlife has been visiting the Salish Sea- while hopefully teaching you something along the way. We will also be providing bonus material for extra education and conservation topics, and photos of course! 

Every...

8/13/2022 

MV Kestrel

2pm

Helena

MV Kestrel departed Friday Harbor for our afternoon tour with a fantastic view of Mount Baker off of our bow. As members of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, we are in constant communication with both American and Canadian vessels throughout the Salish Sea in regards to reports of wildlife. As we entered into San Juan Channel, we got word of orcas traveling north up the Rosario Strait. They were moving with the flooding tide quickly so we held on...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | 8/13/2022 | 12:30 PM 

What an epic day! Dare I call it the trip of the summer? Today our 12:30 Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour had one of those unforgettable moments... a key memory if you will?  

With no firm whale reports in the area, we had no idea what was in store for us when leaving the dock. Shortly after cruising out of Friday Harbor, we got word that there were some rumored killer whales in Rosario Strait. I say rumored because we were working off...

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...