Lauren | M/V Osprey | Sunday, August 3rd, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Today we went the distance. We ventured just about as far as we can during a 4 hour Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife tour. The T065A’s had been picked up in the Strait of Juan de Fuca and they were trending southeast, which was not great news for us. If they continued on that trend they would’ve been out of rour each. We were pretty convinced we weren’t gonna see them as the T065A’s have been spending most of their summer down in Puget...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, August 1st, 2025 | 5:30 PM

Sunset tours are my absolute favorite. There’s just something about the beauty of golden hour that can’t be beat. Today had been a rough one for the fleet, with very few whale reports in the region. The reports that did come in were mostly out of range for the Friday Harbor boats, but as we know with whale watching, things can change in an instant. Right before boarding the M/V Sea Lion we got word that the first killer whales of the day...

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | August 4th 2025 | 2:00 pm

 What an amazing adventure today! Some great orca behavior was watched and some surprise wildlife popped up out of nowhere.

We started our day going straight over to Cypress Island to look for reported whales. We found a group of 3, including 2 large males, identified to be the T019s. Having not seen this group in the area for multiple months, this was quite exciting! We followed them around the island as they stayed close to shore...

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | August 3rd 2025 | 10:00 am

The morning searches were tough! This whole week it has been hard to find whales in the San Juans but today we succeeded! 

We started with a search North with little success. We did however enjoy time with many harbor porpoise and a seal north of Spieden Island. We then began a trip south alogn the West side of San Juan to follow new rumors of whales in the area.

Going deep in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, we found 5 whales who were later...

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...