Kelly | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, June 10th 2025 | 12:30 PM

We took a hard right out of Friday Harbor and headed south in San Juan Channel. After some quick looks at harbor porpoise outside Griffin Bay, we made a pitstop at Goose Island. This Island is a hotspot for a variety of wildlife including harbor seals, cormorants, an glaucous wing gulls. As we made our way through Cattle Pass, guest's noticed the how turbulent the water was around us. This is caused by a process called upwelling! Our...

Olivia Esqueda | Monday, June 2nd | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm 

Wow. This was a truly incredible day out on the water, and definitely one of my favorites all season! We started the trip by heading south through San Juan Channel, passing Goose Island with all the birds and Harbor Seals hanging out on its shores. We didn’t spend too much time before passing Cattle Point Lighthouse and beginning our transit to south Hein Bank. We were receiving reports of not one, but two Humpback Whales feeding and...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Monday, June 2nd 2025 | 2pm

Best humpback day of the year? I'll say it! We B-lined it for the reported location of 2 humpback whales in the Straight of Juan de Fuca. Taking a left outside Friday Harbor and heading south down San Juan Channel. We made a quick pit stop at Goose Island, covered in harbor seals, gulls and cormorants. Perfect glassy sea greeted us as we made our way in the Straight. The humpbacks had already been identified as Pop Tart and Sandstorm. After a few...

Olivia Esqueda | May 29th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

What a fun day out exploring in the Salish Sea! We spent the afternoon up north in the Strait of Georgia hanging out with Big Mama [Humpback Whale, BCY0324] and her new calf! While this is her 8th known calf, she is also a grandma AND great-grandma! 

Big Mama is one of our favorites out here and who we tip our hat to for the comeback of the Humpback Whales in the Salish Sea. After being heavily whaled out of this area, there were no more...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, May 24, 2025 | 2:00 PM

Our Adventure began with a cruise out of Friday Harbor, heading north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to White Rock to observe a slew of harbor seals. Harbor seals make up around 70% of the Coastal Bigg’s (or Transient) Killer Whales diet. These seals are extremely abundant in the Salish Sea, which is one reason why our Bigg’s Killer Whale sightings have been increasing over the past several years! Harbor seals are not only extremely...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | April, 5 2025 | 12:30 pm

The spring equinox is always welcomed here in the Pacific Northwest. The long winter nights spent dreaming of daylight, warmer days and clearer skies are suddenly behind us. This year, the equinox brought us something even dreamier than a season change, it brought us a baby whale. On March 20th, 2025 the T046B’s were seen travelling in eastern Juan de Fuca Strait with a new calf in tow. In every encounter, the calf was seen surfacing in the...

Haleigh | M/V Osprey | July 9, 2022 | 12:30 pm

This summer is proving to be a successful time to view wildlife, and today we were able to see two of our largest marine mammals found in the Salish Sea! As we departed from Friday Harbor, we first headed south to begin our search. Making our way through Cattle Pass, we could hear roaring Steller’s Sea Lions and squawking Pelagic Cormorants and Gulls atop Whale Rocks. We continued south towards a shallow area known as Salmon Bank where...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 05/29/2022 2:00pm

Happy Memorial Day Weekend! Today was such a special day out in the Salish Sea.

Captain Eric and I greeted out guests and headed out of Friday Harbor towards the north. We cruised past Orcas Island and Waldron Island then across into Canadian waters.

As we saw the city of Vancouver in the distance, we spotted the Orca whales! Swimming speedily through the deep green waters, 9 Transient (Bigg’s) orca whales seemed to be headed towards Saturna...

Olivia | M/V Sea Lion | May 23rd, 2022 | 12:30pm

The Pacific Northwest decided to pull one of her most cliché moves by raining on a day that didn’t call for it; but off we went with happy faces ready for whatever the day brought. Heading north, we stopped at Flattop Island admiring heaps of Pigeon Guillemots with their red feet bold against the green water. Nearby we found several Harbor Seals swimming along the basalt rock as well as an adult Bald Eagle stoically looking across the...

Laura / M/V Sea Lion / 5/20/2022 / 12:30PM

This afternoon was the first hint of summer in the Salish Sea!  We headed northbound on M/V Sea Lion and had our first bald eagle encounter of the day near the Cactus Islands.  We slowly cruised through this area soaking up the blue skies and sunshine and calm green water.  The channels were all combining in this area, creating a whirlpool effect.  Our harbor seals moved in and out of the kelp beds and hoisted their bodies on nearby rocks to...