[7/14/17- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM]

M/V Kestrel had two trips today leave from Friday Harbor on San Juan Island.  On our 10 AM and 2 PM departure we saw the same group of transients, a combination on a few families of transients, totaling in 12 whales!

 It is always great to see this large amount of transients hanging out together.  Generally, when we see the mammal-eating orcas we only see one family at a time, averaging at about 4-5 individuals.  Today we saw three...

[7/13/17- M/V Kestrel- 10:00 AM]

Nothing like an orca calf to start your day off right!  Today we left Friday Harbor for our morning whale watching tour and headed just North of Orcas Island to see a few transient orca families in action. 

When we arrived on scene the orcas were fragmented between the two different groups, but they quickly grouped back up together and started traveling East quickly.  We saw T51, the 36-year-old lone male who has been seen traveling with the T37’s for...

7/7/17 - Kestrel 2:00 PM Departure

Today we left Friday Harbor at 2pm and couldn’t ask for better reports to start our trip with.  We headed just a bit North inside San Juan channel and came across ‘Divot’, a humpback whale commonly seen in this area.  We watched as he surfaced regularly and displayed consistent dive times.  He also had exceptionally good fluke out dives, with the underside of the tail fully visible. 

We then made our way to the North side of Shaw Island and hung out...

7/3/17 - Sea Lion 1:30 & 5:30 PM Departure

Our pre-fourth of July celebration was exceptional!  The T49A’s hanging out Northwest of San Juan Island.   The T49A’s are made up of four whales, the matriarch and her three offspring.  We were lucky enough to see the whales feeding on both our afternoon and sunset tour.  The whales seemed rather relaxed throughout the day while continuing to feed, on what we would assume to be harbor seals.  Harbor seals make up about 60% of the diet of...

[7/3/17 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM]  On July 3rd Captain Mike and I headed out with a full boat of great passengers aboard the M/V Kestrel to go look for some exciting wildlife! We headed south through San Juan Channel and first stopped at Shark Reef along the shore of Lopez Island to look at some hauled out Harbor Seals. Going in between Shark Reef and Lopez Island is going through a pretty skinny but ultimately pretty deep channel but it’s a cool experience seeing people hiking on...

(6/29/17 - Sea Lion 1:30 PM Departure)

You couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful day to be out on the water here in the San Juan’s.  We left the dock with reports of Southern Resident Killer Whales on the south side of San Juan Island, near False Bay.  We headed straight toward that report of whales and decided to look for other wildlife on the way back.  After a nice leisurely ride we made it to the whales.  Our guests were very enthusiastic about seeing the whales and getting...

    Yesterday, our little heat wave finally broke so we are back in the safety of 60˚-70˚F. Captain Pete, Kelsey, and I headed out south to go find some wildlife. The Salish Sea is a mix and a crossroads of some many different things constantly changing with the seasons so every day is so different. The Salish Sea is a intersection of the Pacific Ocean, large rivers running from snowcapped mountains, and the land. The ingredients along with seasonal weather changes mix differently...

[6/25/17 - M/V Sea Lion - 1:30PM] The Residents are back! Parts of J pod and L pod were both spotted and heard (on the hydrophones) this morning. This is exciting! The San Juan Islands are best known for the salmon eating Southern Residents and it’s great to hear that they are back at least if only for a little while. Captain Gabe, Rachel, and I set out with a great crew to go find them. When they are around they usually have a few distinct paths that they like as they search for the...

(6/24/17 - Kestrel 10AM and 2PM Departure)

Today we left Friday Harbor and headed South toward some common whale feeding grounds.  We found one lone humpback whale milling around a small area.  One major difference between toothed whales (orcas) and baleen whales (humpback whales) is their social structure.  Toothed whales are generally stay in family groups called pods, while baleen whales are mostly solitary but will sometimes pair up for short periods of time, anywhere from a few hours to a...

(06/11/2017 - Kestrel 2pm Departure)

One of the best things about wildlife watching is that you never know what is going to happen.  Every day is different and the day before doesn’t necessarily give you any indication of what the next day will be like.  Yesterday there were orcas just outside of Friday Harbor, today we had to travel about 35 miles one way in order to catch a glimpse of these magnificent animals.  It was an absolutely beautiful day, the sun was shining and the water...