Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 30th, 2020 | 14:00

It was the iconic Pacific Northwest weather today, going into the trip with sunshine and warmth, and ending the trip in rain and clouds. However, we do not let the shift in weather get us down just like it does not get down the whales- our trip proved this theory! We were lucky enough to leave Friday Harbor and immediately between Turn and Shaw Islands, we saw a Minke Whale! The Minke Whale fought against the nickname “Slinky Minke”...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 1st, 2020 | 14:00

Today was easily in my Top 5 of Bigg’s Killer Whale experiences. Captain Brian and I knew there were two family groups of transient orca down between Whidbey and Camano Islands. However, we also knew there were Humpback Whales in north Rosario Strait. The dilemma? We REALLY wanted to see orca. Here were our options; 1) Go see Humpback Whales in North Rosario that have coverage by the PWWA, or 2) Go find these transient orca that had no...

Olivia | July 22nd, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Despite the beautiful sunshine, Olympic mountain range silhouetting the southern horizon, and Mount Baker proudly standing above the San Juan Islands, we ended up having fairly rough seas as we headed out on our adventure. We left Friday Harbor aware of two potential whale sightings, one very far north and moving further away, or another south near Whidbey Island where the swells were about 3-4 feet in some areas of our travel. Captain...

Laura C. | 7/2/2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30pm

It was quite an adventure in the Salish Sea today on M/V Sea Lion!  Passengers embraced the wind and swirling seas like seasoned mariners, in hopes of momentarily connecting with these graceful and somewhat mysterious sea creatures.  Luckily our voyage was to close by Shaw Island, a trifle trip compared to journeys the Sea Lion is capable of enduring.  The rain and fog created breathtaking views of the treetops of surrounding islands...

Today we traveled north into Canadian waters and caught up with about 7 or 8 members of J-Pod just off Point Roberts; coordinates: 48°56.97N, 123°10.25W. As we arrived on the scene the whales were quite spread out allowing guests to look in every direction and see at least one or two. Other than San Juan Safaris, Western Prince was the only other American boat who had made the trek to see the return of the residents and man was it a show! A few members of the pod were Lobtailling and...

A group of killer whales that were hugging the coastline came into sight as we rounded the southwestern end of Henry Island. Cappuccino (K-21), one of the mature males of K pod, was spotted with his open saddle patch. Within the first ten minutes two mature orcas spyhopped, bringing half of their bodies above the surface, and there were a few lobtails from the juveniles. Then all activity ceased as they slipped into resting with a typical tight, slow moving formation. The mood was...