Olivia Esqueda | May 29th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

What a fun day out exploring in the Salish Sea! We spent the afternoon up north in the Strait of Georgia hanging out with Big Mama [Humpback Whale, BCY0324] and her new calf! While this is her 8th known calf, she is also a grandma AND great-grandma! 

Big Mama is one of our favorites out here and who we tip our hat to for the comeback of the Humpback Whales in the Salish Sea. After being heavily whaled out of this area, there were no more...

Olivia Esqueda | May 28th, 2025 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00pm

What a fun day on Kestrel with Captain Vaun! We had a small group of folks, which always leads to more personal conversations and deeper storytelling when it comes to the area, the wildlife, and the history of the islands. We worked our way south through San Juan Channel, making a slow cruise past Goose Island to see many different bird species, including Pelagic Cormorants, Double Crested Cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, Canada Geese...

Olivia Esqueda | May 19th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

Today was one of my favorite days all season as we traveled interisland over to Rosario Strait to view Bigg’s [Transient] Killer Whales! And not just one matriline, but a combination of four! We saw a T-Party [“T” for Transient!] that was socializing and traveling around together. These 11 orcas included individuals from the T100’s, T124A2’s, T49A2, and T124D’s. The eldest among these whales was born around 1979 and the youngest was born just...

Olivia Esqueda | May 18th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 11:00am

Today was one of our favorite days out on the water, as we were joined by many of our own community members! Not often do we have the pleasure of leaving the dock with a reported whale sighting, but right before we boarded passengers, there were Bigg’s Killer Whales found in Spieden Channel, just north of San Juan Island. We left the dock and headed north, with the wind trying to steal our hats and the sun kissing our cheeks. Not long after...

Olivia Esqueda | May16th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

What a quest we had today viewing Bigg’s Killer Whales in Canada! We started out searching north of San Juan Island and into Boundary Pass. With no other confirmed sightings in the area and one report coming in from the Saanich Inlet, we decided to start making our way in that direction hoping the whales would decide to venture a little further east. We weren’t sure if we would make it that far, but since we left the dock about 15 minutes early...

Olivia Esqueda | May 11th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

It was a fun adventure out on the water today heading southwest almost all the way to Deception Pass, which bridges Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands! We were able to find the T100s, a matriline of Bigg’s Killer Whales. While this matriarch has a few other calves, this afternoon we saw T100 [Hutchins, female born in 1979] traveling with two of her calves, T100C [Laurel, male born in 2022] and T100F [Estrella, born in 2014]. We watched as they...

Olivia Esqueda | May 3rd, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

It was such a neat experience today with a Humpback Whale east of the islands! We traveled inner island passing heaps of birds, including many Rhinoceros Auklets before reaching Rosario Strait, which is the first big body of water you cross when heading to Friday Harbor on the WA State Ferry. We were able to spot a Humpback Whale [CRC-19888 named Schooner] foraging along the shoreline with half a tail fluke! This whale was first spotted in...

Olivia Esqueda | April 28th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

Despite the PNW spring rain, today’s trip turned out to be so much fun! We were able to spot many birds as we traveled down San Juan Channel into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, admiring Cattle Point Lighthouse along the way. After searching through the misty backdrop, we spotted the T065B’s- a matriline of Bigg’s Killer Whales. 

This ecotype of orca feeds on marine mammals and is commonly found in the greater Salish Sea area. We are very...

Olivia Esqueda | March 25th, 2025 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm

Today was truly such a fun time out on the water, despite the rain! We had nearly a full boat of passengers all ready to go out and see what the day brings. Starting out our travels, we headed northwest through Spieden Channel and eventually crossing the Haro Strait into Sidney Channel. Right as the rain started to pick up, we spotted two groups of two orcas, all part of the same family, the T069’s. This matriline of Bigg’s Killer Whales...

Olivia Esqueda | March 22nd, 2025 | M/V Sea Lion | 2:30pm Charter

This afternoon was such a special treat out on the water with the Orca Behavior Institute’s Biggs 201 Class. Lucky for us, we were able to leave the dock about 10 minutes early, which worked in our favor since we had a whale report flirting with the line of the range our vessel could travel in the allotted timeframe to get folks back for the 6:25pm ferry!

We immediately started traveling south through San Juan Channel keeping San...