Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 9th of 2025 | 14:00

Wind, waves, and dreary weather lifted almost instantly after leaving Friday harbor for a day of glorious wildlife searching. 

Avoiding dreadful waves to the south, we went north toward the Pender islands and into Canada.

Along the way we watched many a bald eagle greets us along the northern shore of Spieden. These Eagles kept our spirits high as we went, flying tree to tree. 

Our first point of interest was the Turn Point Lighthouse, the most...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 9th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Despite the gloomy forecast as we left Friday Harbor, spirits were high and we were ready to take in the beauty of the grey and cloudy islands. We had reports of a few humpback whales heading north by the Canadian border, so we went full speed in that direction to try to catch up with them. We traveled north and then west into Spieden Channel, scanning the coastlines and different bodies of water along the way. We found some harbor seals...

Logan | Kestrel | July 6th of 2025 | 1400 tour

Today we were immediately greeted in Friday Harbor by a cutie-patootie of a Harbor Seal which marked the start of our luck fueled venture on our speedy vessel driven by Captain Eric. 

Stop 1: Cattle Point

The beautiful sparkling waters backdropped on a most magnificent island of Gulls, Cormorants, and auks. The cormorant nests were tall, and many cormorants stood drying their wings on the rocks. Orange sunburst lichens grew atop the rocks presumably...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 6th, 2025 | 10:00 AM 

Our morning adventure set out with a few rumors of whale sightings towards the further parts of our range, but no boats were with any yet. As one of the first boats on the water, we began our search towards the north and cruised through President’s Channel along Waldron Island. We found lots of harbor seals on many of the small islands, stopping at Skipjack to get a closer look at them. There were so many in all different color variations...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 5th, 2025 | 12:30 PM 

We departed Friday Harbor with a full boat, sunny skies, and lots of excitement as we began our search for wildlife. Based on recent sightings, we decided to begin traveling north up San Juan Channel and then west through Spieden Channel. We found a group of harbor seals hauled out on a small island in the channel, and got adorable looks at many of them slowly moving on land or swimming in the water. We quickly continued moving towards...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 4th, 2025 | 2:00 pm

Our afternoon adventure trip was full of surprises, even as we returned to some of the same whales we had viewed in the morning. Before leaving the harbor, we spotted a harbor seal swimming around, so we knew luck would be on our side once we actually departed. Since we already knew of a few families in our region, we left Friday Harbor and traveled east to where we had last seen whales a few hours previously. We traveled along the ferry...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 4th, 2025 | 10:00 am

Every morning we start our search for whales all over again, so our morning trips are especially adventurous as we are one of the first boats to leave the harbor. When we left this morning, we expected to be joining the search, but were surprised to hear from other boats that a few groups of whales had already been spotted! Since it was still early and these sightings were further to the east, we decided to head straight over to maximize our...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 3rd, 2025 | 2:00 pm

When we left the harbor on today’s adventure trip, no one could have predicted the day we would have. There were reports of multiple groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales at the northernmost part of our range in the Strait of Georgia, so we weren’t sure if we would make it to them or not. Since these whales were so far, we headed towards Canadian waters not planning to make any stops. While it was a trek to get up there, it was so beautiful...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 2nd, 2025 | 12:30 pm

Killer Whales are all unique and identifiable based on different markings on their dorsal fins, saddle patches, and eye patches, but some are definitely more distinct than others. T63, known as Chainsaw, is one of the most distinct whales in our Bigg’s population, and anyone will know why as soon as they see him. On today’s afternoon tour, I was thrilled that we got to see this iconic whale along with multiple others! We began our trip...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Monday, June 30th 2025 | 2:00 PM

Another hot summer day! Perfect for zooming around the islands in our high speed vessel the M/V Kestrel. Our first stop of the tour was at White Rock, a known hot spot for harbor seals. Today was no exception, the rocks were peppered with the pinnipeds. There is a big distinction between seals and sea lions, the most prominent difference being their skeletal structure. Sea lions also are MUCH more vocal, if anyone has every spent time around...