Lauren Tschirhart | May 22nd, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 pm

Today was my first tour of the season aboard the M/V Kestrel. Our Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife tour began by exiting Friday Harbor and heading north into San Juan Channel. We cruised into New Channel, on the northeast side of Spieden Island, and scanned for wildlife, but did not spot any critters. We continued on, crossing into Canadian waters, making our first official stop at Mandarte Island. Mandarte Island is home to the largest...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 24th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left our dock today in Friday Harbor with a full boat, and reports of whales within our range. Today we headed interisland through Upright Channel, between Shaw and Lopez Island. We then cruised through Peavine Pass between Obstruction Island and Blakely Island. Once we exited that small passage, we saw some harbor seals hauled out on Spindle Rock. Not far away from Spindle Rock was a buoy with a pair of Steller's Sea Lions. It wasn't just any...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 17th, 2026 | 2:00pm

It was an incredible day to be on the water! Absolutely beautiful! We headed north in San Juan Channel, but did not have many reports, so we had our eyes peeled for anything. We continued traveling north until we reached White Rocks, near Waldron Island. We wanted to see if we could find some harbor seals. Sure enough, we saw many individuals hauled out just above the water line, and there was also some swimming in the water too! Not only did we see...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 16th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We started our trip today with two separate reports of Bigg's Killer Whales within our range. It wasn't long after getting out of Friday Harbor before we arrived on scene with the first group that was already identified as the T049A's. 

• T049A/Nan — female, born in 1986
  • T049A3/Nat — male, born in 2011
  • T049A4/Neptune — male, born in 2014
  • T049A5/Nebula — female, born in 2017
  • T049A6/Charlie II — male, born in 2022
  • T049A7*/Nimbus — born in 2026

We first arrived on...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 10th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

When we left the harbor, I had no idea that today’s trip would end up being one of my most memorable! We began by heading north in San Juan Channel, and quickly reached reports of the T49A Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline. We stopped for some quick looks, but continued on to search for some other reports we had heard about. Our search brought us into the outer islands near Patos, and we found a trio of Bigg’s from the T124A matriline; T124A, A6...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 9th, 2026 | 2:00pm

Yet again, a beautiful day to get on the water! I will never get tired of saying that. We left Friday Harbor with calm seas and blue skies. There were already a few reports in the area, and it is just a matter of choosing the best way to go. Our first stop was Turn Rock, where there was a report of a sea otter! Sure enough, there it was, floating like a log on the edge of a kelp forest. This was my first sea otter spotting of the season! It is not often...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 3rd, 2026 | 2:00pm

Today's trip quite literally left me speechless. We left our dock in Friday Harbor with reports within our range of 3 different whale species. We genuinely had the trip of a lifetime ahead of us. We left the harbor and traveled interisland along the Washington State Ferry route. We passed the Lopez Island Ferry Dock and turned southeast towards Thatcher Pass. Just east of Thatcher Pass in Rosario Strait was a report of a humpback whale. It had been a...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 25th, 2026 | 2:00pm

I could not have asked for a better trip today. The sun was shining, the water was calm, and we already had some reports of whales in our range before we left the dock. However, before we saw some cetaceans, we had a surprise visitor towards the southern end of San Juan Island! An infrequently seen species of pinniped was spotted on Goose Island, a female elephant seal! We don't usually find elephant seals in these waters, so it was an incredible...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 24th, 2026 | 1:00pm

A beautiful day out on the water today! We turned left in San Juan Channel and headed north to begin our trip. Our first stop was Green Point on the southern end of Spieden Island. We had great looks of a raft of Steller's Sea Lions in the water, as well as numerous individuals hauled out on shore. Shortly after our time with the Steller's, we ventured over to White Rock to hopefully find some harbor seals. We did, which is good! We were having such...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 5th, 2026 | 2pm

The first M/V Kestrel trip of the season kicked off with sunny skies and beautiful waters. We traveled south in San Juan Channel and made our way towards Cattle Point, the southernmost point on San Juan Island. Our first stop was to Whale Rocks, where Steller’s Sea Lions haul out. Hold your breath, because unfortunately we were downwind and caught some striking sniffs of their stench. We also couldn’t help hearing their barking sounds as they...