Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 27th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

Humpbacks, Killer Whales, Seals, Sea Lions, Porpoise, and a Sea Otter in one afternoon… Wow! It’s always amazing when we get to see any of the marine mammal species in our ecosystem, but extra special when we see most of them in one trip! We knew of a few whale reports before leaving the harbor, so we began heading towards the one furthest away from us with the plan to work backwards from there. Kestrel’s speed gives us so many opportunities...

Lauren Tschirhart | July 24th, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 am 

Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline the T100’s is a family that frequents the inter-islands of the Salish Sea. For whatever reason, they have been spending an insane amount of time in Boundary Pass this summer. There is clearly something appealing about the waters around Waldron Island. Boundary Pass is the large body of water just south of Saturna Island. There are several different channels and passageways that intersect at Boundary...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 26th, 2026 | 10:00 am

I’ve been looking forward to a fun adventure into Active Pass for some time, and the rain today really made our trip extra exciting. When we departed this morning, there were not many reports yet in our region so we joined the search for whales. We made a stop at Turn Rock outside Friday Harbor to search for the otter, and while no otter this time there were harbor seals and a bald eagle! From here we continued on to the north, planning to...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Wednesday, July 22, 2026 | 2:00 pm 

It is certainly not every day that we are lucky enough to meet three different families of killer whales in the span of a few hours. Today was one of those days.

M/V Kestrel headed north up San Juan Channel and scanned the sea for any signs of wildlife, when a passenger at the bow pointed into the distance; sure enough, there were 9 black dorsal fins slicing through the water. Two families of marine-mammal-eating orcas displayed...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | July 21st, 2026 | 2:00pm

We headed North on this absolutely beautiful afternoon. It was the warmest day that we've had here in a few weeks, and the sun was shining with almost no clouds in the sky. The wind felt amazing on our faces once we picked up speed. We began this trip with a quick stop at White Rock, which is a small island that is often a popular Harbor Seal haul out location. We spotted dozens of them basking in the sun near the edge of the water. We even...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | July 20th, 2026 | 2pm 

We turned left into San Juan Channel and made our way to White Rock, first enjoying looks at our ever so lovable harbor seals. Currently, we are in the middle of pupping season, and after close inspection we noticed many adorable pups lounging next to mom! Investigating a whale report, we turned northwest and made our way across the Canadian border and eventually next to South Pender Island. Two tall exhales arose from the surface! A pair of humpback...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | July 19th, 2026 | 10:00am

We left the dock with no whale reports yet at 10am, but this is not abnormal for morning trips. Each and every day is a clean reset when it comes to sightings, and the morning tours usually have some searching to do to find whales. We went Northwest to search. We started by wrapping around the top of Spieden Island where we spotted a Bald Eagle flying just over us. We then made a stop at Sentinel Rock to view some Harbor Seals, and saw...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, July 18, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Minutes after returning home from the first adventure tour of the day, Captain Vaun and I executed what’s called a “turn and burn,” embarking on adventure #2 with a fresh group of whale enthusiasts. Though we had seen killer whales on our first trip, we truly did not know what to expect the second time around, as every single hour out on the water is different. The Bigg’s killer whales we left earlier had already traveled 15 miles across...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, July 18, 2026 | 10:00 AM 

Sometimes being one of the first boats out on the water provides you with the opportunity to be the boat to find whales out in the Salish Sea. Today was one of those days. M/V Kestrel departing Friday Harbor and headed north up San Juan Channel, stopping to float and scan for wildlife in several channels.

We were cruising at full speed around the northeast corner of Stuart Island, headed towards a wildlife hotspot in Canadian waters, when...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 17th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

Today’s Adventure Tour set some milestones for my season… My first time being the first one to spot whales! This afternoon was full of surprises, and has to be one of my top trips of the season. We departed Friday Harbor with plans to head north where we had reports of Killer Whales across the Canadian border. As we began to pick up speed out of the harbor, I suddenly spotted dorsal fins about 300m off our starboard side!! A group of Bigg’s...