Sarah | 09/05/2020 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am & 02:00pm

We had quite the day on the Salish Sea! With early-morning shore-reports of orcas heading into some fog around San Juan Island, Captain Gabe and I left the harbor for our first tour hoping that we could find those elusive animals.

We decided to head south towards Cattle Pass, enjoying some surfacing harbor porpoises in Griffin Bay along the way. We stopped at Whale Rocks to check out some Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | September 3rd, 2020 | 14:00

Every day feels unique and special with the mass diversity we have in the Salish Sea; however, some days stand out a bit more. A cloudless day, glassy seas, and Mount Baker standing sharp over the islands set the tone for a memorable day. Briefly stopping at Whale Rocks, we watched and listened to Steller’s Sea Lions bellow across the water and roll in the kelp bed. A few Harbor Seals sat quietly in banana pose looking towards the...

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”...

Erick | Kestrel | 2:00PM | August 28, 2020

As August comes to a close, we have had a couple of great weather days. Captain Gabe and I took a great group of guests out to look for exciting wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north where there was a group of orcas spotted. We met up with them around White Rock near Flattop Island. It was a family of Bigg’s (formerly known as Transient) Orcas! This family was the T37A’s! This is a great family with five members. As they approached...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 20, 2020 | 14:00

Leaving the dock, we had a rumored report of Bigg’s Killer Whales in U.S. waters but inching closer to the Canadian border. Due to Covid-19, that border is closed not only on land, but also across the water. Therefore, after a brief stop in Cattle Pass to get the passengers on board with our game plan and be in tune with our surroundings, we headed straight to find the group of six black and white dolphins.

Upon arrival, we spotted the...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 16th, 2020 | 14:00

Our entire Adventure Trip today was one unexpected moment after another! Heading inner island, we started the trip feeling a warm wind [it was the hottest day all summer, after all] and headed south through Rosario Strait. Scanning the blue waters, we suddenly spotted a baleen dorsal fin! Turns out, we had a solo Minke Whale lunge feeding through the bait balls. This was a first Minke Whale sighting for all our passengers which made it...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | August 15, 2020 | 2:00PM

It was another super beautiful, sunny day out here in the San Juan Islands. Capt. Brian and I took a group out to go searching for some of our exciting local wildlife. We started by going south through San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass! We made a stop at Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. Here we saw about a dozen huge Steller Sea Lions. Some were rolling around in the water, while others were asleep on the rocks and dozing off in the...

Sarah | 08/11/2020 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00pm

We had a fabulous day on M/V Kestrel full of lots of wildlife in the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor towards an earlier report of some orca on the west side of San Juan Island.

As we arrived on scene in Haro Strait, we quickly realized that we had a family of Bigg’s killer whales known as the T010s. This smll family of two consists of an adult female T010 Langara and her adult son T010C Bones...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 PM | August 8, 2020

This afternoon the sun rally came out and the perfectly blue sky was reflected in the flat waters of the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I headed out with a great group of passengers to go look for the local wildlife. We headed south through San Juan Channel and into the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We went just a little farther south than we had gone on our first trip and again we found the same Humpback Whale there. It was still feeding...