Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, June 15th 2025 | 2:00 PM

Heading south in San Juan Channel, our first stop was for our ever so lovable harbor seals. This haul out site near Turn Point provided a perfect example of the wide variety in coat patterns unique to the Salish Sea. Some seals pitch black, others snow white and every mixture in between! Moving further down San Juan Channel, through Cattle Pass and into the Straight of Juan de Fuca we eventually came on scene with 4 killer whales identified...

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...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 6.3.2022 | 2:00 PM

Grey skies and wet exposure suits were in our future today as M/V Kestrel left the dock for our Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour. Despite the rain, I was in fantastic spirits after captain Eric told me where we were going… One of my favorite Bigg’s killer whale families, the T065A’s were spotted in the Strait of Juan de Fuca! This curious bunch is always a delight to observe. This family of six was reported to be traveling alongside...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 09/04/2021 | 1:30pm

    Today was another grey day. It felt like 7:00pm all afternoon as the sun never seemed to be able to creep out from behind the clouds. Yet still, the seas were flat calm, glassy. These are perfect whale spotting conditions and myself and our boatful of guests were hyped to get out there and see what we could find. 

    There was only one whale report this morning: a family called the T100s that were currently foraging just south of Hein...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/03/2021 | 2:00pm

    Today was a pretty cold day. Grey clouds covered the sky and seemed to block out the sun as Kestrel raced down the San Juan channel towards the Juan De Fuca. In my time working on boats however, I’ve learned to really value a grey day. I find it’s much easier to spot whales or even simply disturbances on the water when there’s not an intense glare from the sun. A sharp black orca dorsal fin can be pretty hard to miss on a day like...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | July 19, 2021 | 10:00am

Our Monday morning classic whale watch trip was an experience to beat. Reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales in the Strait of Juan de Fuca guided our plans to head southbound through San Juan Channel. We traveled through Cattle Pass and east around Lopez Island. Pointed towards Smith Island, we saw our first exhales of some Bigg’s Killer Whales. These orcas were dispersed within a 400-yard range. We would see exhales and dorsal fins...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | July 6, 2021 | 2:00pm

Our adventure tour took off as a slow ride. Cattle pass, the southernmost part of San Juan Channel squished between San Juan Island and Lopez Island, was full of fog. We drifted through at a snail's pace, eyeing from left to right for any oncoming boats or logs. Eventually, we exited the fog and could pick up speed towards the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Earlier reports of a humpback whale traveling out that way led us on our path. Within a...

M/V Kestrel| Saturday, October 12th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria

We had a great day on the water today!  As we headed out on M/V Kestrel the day was looking promising!  What had started out as a bit of a gloomy and wet day had dried up, and there was even some sunshine peeking through the clouds! 

We already had reports of orcas a bit west of Victoria, and lucky for us they were heading closer to us!  We knew it was going to be a bit of a trek but we were more than ready for our...

09/14/17 – M/V Sea Lion – 12 PM

M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor today with a group of bright-eyed guests and reports of two humpback whales just beyond San Juan Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Heading south down San Juan Channel, several shy harbor porpoises quickly surfaced just beyond our wake. These cute little cetaceans get 5 to 6 feet long and only weigh up to 200 pounds. So tiny!

As we made our way past Cattle Point, the southern-most point of San Juan Island, and into...

We had a beautiful, full day of whale watching on the M/V Sea Lion yesterday. With three trips planned, we had the opportunity to spend the day all around the islands in search of our marine mammal friends. On our morning trip, we made a turn down south, basking in the views of Griffin Bay, Cattle Point, Cape San Juan, and American Camp before arriving near Eagle Point. Surprise, surprise...Spirit and Solstice were in the area! This mom and adult son pair have been foraging for...