Elle | M/V Sea Lion | July 7, 2022 | 2:00PM

Today we followed rumors of orca whales into Canadian waters. We cruised across boundary pass and turned off our engines between Saturna Island and South Pender Island, where we watched harbor porpoises frolic around us and enjoyed the beautiful weather. After the break, we turned back south, towards Friday Harbor. On our way, we came across a young male orca whale, zigzagging through the water by himself near Waldron Island. Although it is...

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...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | July 3, 2022 | 10:00 am

Today’s whale and wildlife excursion aboard M/V Kestrel reaffirmed the title of our Adventure Tour! Guests suited up in the rain and endured the gusts of wind as we traveled north through the San Juan Channel. We made our way to White Rock to scan for wildlife. All along the rocky crevices, pelagic birds like Glaucous-Winged Gulls and Pigeon Guillemots burrowed into a nesting formation. At the water’s edge, Harbor Seals hauled out...

I can’t think of a better Saturday afternoon spent than on the deck of MV Osprey! We departed Friday Harbor for our afternoon tour and headed south down San Juan Channel towards Whale Rocks where we encountered our first cetacean of the day -- a Minke Whale! The Minke Whale is a type of baleen whale, which unlike our toothed whales in the Salish Sea such as the orca, has baleen keratin plates that allows them to filter feed. These mammals eat...

Elle | M/V Osprey | June 30, 2022 |12:30PM

Today we took a long trip up into Canada. After leaving Friday Harbor, we passed Speiden Island where we slowed down to look at its baren southern side, weathered by southerly winds. In the tops of the trees and soaring above us, we saw four bald eagles, likely two mating pairs, prompting us to start a bald eagle tally for our trip. As we neared the northern end of Speiden Island we passed a haul out of harbor seals resting in the sun. Our...

June 30th, 2022

Abby Dahl

10am M/V Kestrel

Captain Michael and I peeled out of the harbor, knowing it was about to be a long journey in our search for whales. We had only one report of Bigg’s killer whales near Race Rocks in British Columbia, Canada, so we took a right and began heading south through San Juan Channel. It was almost ironic, as we immediately found a pair of humpback whales upon our southbound journey. They were taking long dives, so we only saw them a few times before...

Elle | M/V Osprey | June 29, 2022 |12:30PM

Today we took a trip to Canada! We left Friday Harbor towards reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales near Victoria on Vancouver Island. We headed north, then west through Speiden Channel. As we approached Sidney Island, we started to see tall, black dorsal fins in the distance. We headed slowly towards them and came across a total of six whales. Brothers T128 and T125A, Flotsam and Jetsam were quickly identified by the deep notch in Jetsam’s nearly...

Helena

6/29/2022

MV Kestrel

Our first encounter of the day was with a Stellar Sea Lion chowing down what appeared to be large chunks of a fish in the middle of a baitball! A baitball is large cluster of small schooling fish near the surface of the water, from our vessels we can identify a bait ball by large groups of birds sitting or taking dives and low swoops at the waterline. We continued south down San Juan Channel to Whale Rocks where we found more Stellar Sea Lions and Harbor...

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...