Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Wednesday, July 23rd 2025 | 2:00 PM

Today’s tour was not for the easily squeamish. Several Bigg’s Killer Whales were out and about and they were hungry! Getting the opportunity to witness a predation event on a whale watching tour is rare, but seeing two on the same trip is almost unheard of. The M/V Kestrel departed Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to White Rock to get a glimpse of some harbor seals. July is one of the most exciting...

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 27th 2025 | 10:00 am

An exciting more of uncertain searching and beautiful calm waters. Every morning, we join in the lookout for whales along with other whale watching and research vessels.

Stop 1: White Rocks

Our first marine mammal friends we encountered were very cute seal pups along the shore of white rocks island. Their cute eyes glowed with fierce adorableness. The pupping season is currently happening with harbor seasons where via embryonic diapause the...

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 20th 2025 | 2:00 pm

A great day exploring the San Juan Islands – today we unintentionally circumnavigated the main set of large islands! 

Stop 1: Spieden Island

Taking the North side of Spieden we found multiple bald eagles! These glorious birds have made a tremendous recovery after herbicide pollution (DDT) led to their endangered status in years past. Now they are doing well and, in this area, now they have the densest population in the lower 48 states at the...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

When departing Friday Harbor, we have three route options to choose from. We can go north in San Juan Channel, we can go south in San Juan Channel or we can head east aiming for Upright Channel, the body of water between Lopez and Shaw. Most days we are aware of whale reports before leaving the dock, but today that was not the case. Every whale report we had heard of was too far out of our range. These are the days when whale watching...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 | 2:00 PM

The M/V Kestrel cruised out of Friday Harbor, the water was flat calm and it was 75° and sunny. We headed south. Our first stop was to Deadmans on the southeast coast of Lopez Island to view two bald eagles sitting on top of a rock. This bald eagle encounter was quite special, because we got the unique opportunity to view both an adult and a juvenile bald eagle sitting right next to one another. Bald eagles do not get that signature white...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, July 12th, 2025 | 2:00 PM

Today was pure insanity. In the waterways between Boundary Pass and south Strait of Georgia there were three unique Bigg’s Killer Whale sightings, all only a few miles from one another. The M/V Kestrel was spoiled for choice, but ultimately we decided to catch up with the whales that were furthest away, in hopes we could view them before they got out of range. We zoomed north in San Juan Channel, eventually cruising northeast into...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Friday, July 11th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Today was one of those rare days where we were on scene with whales within the first 10 minutes of our tour! During our whale watch and wildlife tours, if we can get there and back within four hours, and the seas are cooperating, we will go anywhere in the Salish Sea. We have seen whales in every inch of this ecosystem, we are almost never viewing whales in the same place day after day. Every whale encounter is unique, you truly never know...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, July 10th, 2025 | 12:30 PM 

Today we had a bittersweet encounter with T075/Kidney and 3 other members of her family. T075/Kidney is usually seen traveling as a duo with her 34 year-old son T075A/Stone, but today she was also traveling with her daughter T075C/Bam-Bam and her grandcalf T075C3/Flint. Earlier this month, T075C/Bam-Bam was seen traveling for the first time without her newest calf in tow T075C4/Slate. Slate was born in 2023, and it would be extremely...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Tuesday, July 8th, 2025 | 2:00 PM 

Today was my first day back to work after a five day Fourth of July vacation, and what a brilliant welcome back it was! Our Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife tour had an incredible encounter with the Bigg’s Killer Whale family the T046B’s. The M/V Kestrel departed Friday Harbor and headed north into San Juan Channel. We made our way into President‘s Channel, between Orcas and Waldron, making a pit stop at Parker Reef to view some harbor...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, June 28th, 2025 | 2:00 pm

Today we were spoiled for choice. Before even leaving the dock we knew of at least four different groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales within our range. They were spread out, each group in a different waterway, but all at an achievable distance. We don’t often have such an abundance of choices, it was hard to choose where to go. Well not too hard… Our first stop was an obvious choice, as the T123’s were found right outside of Friday Harbor in...