Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 7th, 2025 | 2:00 PM 

Kestrel departed Friday Harbor this afternoon in search of wildlife, and we certainly got what we hoped for! Today’s trip had the most species of marine mammals I have seen in a single trip, all under the most perfect weather conditions. We began by traveling south in San Juan Channel, stopping at Goose Island to see cormorants and admire Cattle Point Lighthouse. The skies were so clear today that we could also see Mt. Rainier in the...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 25th, 2025 | 2:00pm

Today’s 2pm Adventure Whale Watch headed out of Friday Harbor in search of whales under sunny skies. We began heading south in San Juan Channel, spotting harbor porpoises and a few harbor seals before making a quick stop at Goose Island to view cormorants and the Cattle Point Lighthouse. We continued south west through Cattle Pass towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and eventually saw a few other boats ahead of us among a group of Bigg’s...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 23rd, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Happy Monday from the M/V Sea Lion! We began our afternoon by heading south, excited to explore San Juan Channel and search for wildlife. Our first stop was at Goose Island near Cattle Point on the southeast side of San Juan Island. We got great looks at one of my favorite marine mammals, the harbor seal, as well as lots of cormorants and other sea birds along the rocks. It’s always a great sign to see this kind of activity in our...

Elle | M/V Osprey | 9/25/2022 | 12:30PM

Today on our vessel, M/V Osprey, we headed south to search for a humpback whale. As we headed down San Juan Channel, we got some quick looks at five-foot harbor porpoises on both sides of our boat. In Cattle Pass, right next to Cattle Point Lighthouse, Goose Island is home to a colony of double-crested cormorants. These diving birds have built stick-nests where they lay their eggs and hatch their chicks. We headed down past the southern tip of...

Elle | M/V Sea Lion | 9/23/2022 | 1:30PM

Today, on M/V Sea Lion, we headed south to try to catch a glimpse of some orca whales which had been reported in the strait of Juan de Fuca. We headed south through San Juan Channel, past Cattle Point Lighthouse, and into the strait. After a nice, long journey southwest, we encountered two Bigg’s killer whales; brothers T60D and T60E. These boys have been in the area for the last week or so, from Canada’s Gulf Islands up north, to south of...

Haleigh | M/V Osprey | July 31, 2022 | 12:30pm

As we headed off the dock on a beautiful warm day, we received an early report of Bigg’s Orca Whales… but they were running away from us. The T37A’s were making a run for it out the Strait of Juan de fuca, towards the open ocean. The only question was, could we get to them before they escaped? Captain Gabe yelled, “Full speed ahead!”, cranked the accelerator and the quest was afoot. 

We made our way through the bottle-necked channel...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | 6/13/2022 |12:30PM

M/V Osprey left the dock with sunny skies this Wednesday afternoon. We took a right out of Friday Harbor and headed south towards Cattle Pass. We slowed to view a bald eagle and some harbor seals before cruising over to Whale Rocks to see some Steller’s Sea Lions. After leaving the sea lions, we decided to follow up on a report of a humpback whale in Haro Strait. And just like that we went from “Hump Day” to “Humpback Day!”

Born in 2006,...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 11, 2021 | 12:00 pm

Humpback whales have been sighted almost every day somewhere in the Salish Sea this fall. As we made our way south today, we were scanning for the large blows out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Continuing in a southwest direction, we were hoping to follow up on some reported Humpbacks. Sure enough, we made it far enough to see the blows in the distance, just southeast of Victoria, BC. Multiple blows caught our passengers' eyes...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | October 9, 2021 | 12:00 pm

For today’s whale sightings, we didn’t have to go too far! We left Friday Harbor pointed North through San Juan Channel where we were united with a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. Within the group was T60 (Panthera) and three of her five living offspring. T60C (Yelnats) is her oldest living calf born in 2001. T60F (Tigris) and T60G (Unnamed) are her two youngest calves, born in 2012 and 2019. Two of her middle children, T60D and...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 19, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Our adventure tour took place on one of the beautiful, crisps fall days in the San Juan Islands. With calm conditions in the channels, we directed our boat towards a report of killer whales westbound. One our way, we stopped by a haul-out of Steller’s Sea Lions roaring at one another and playing in the kelp forest alongside the rocks. We continued west and saw spouts from afar. As we arrived, Captain Solan slowed our vessel down...