Olivia Esqueda | Monday, June 2nd | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm 

Wow. This was a truly incredible day out on the water, and definitely one of my favorites all season! We started the trip by heading south through San Juan Channel, passing Goose Island with all the birds and Harbor Seals hanging out on its shores. We didn’t spend too much time before passing Cattle Point Lighthouse and beginning our transit to south Hein Bank. We were receiving reports of not one, but two Humpback Whales feeding and...

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 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 21st, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm 

What a fun day out on the water with Bigg’s Killer Whales! We headed north through San Juan Channel until we reached the area where San Juan Channel and Spieden Island meet. This is where we first spotted the T065B’s milling around the lush, nutrient filled waters. T065B [Chunk, female born in 1993] is a marine mammal eating orca traveling around with her three calves, T065B1 [Birdsall, male born in 2011], T065B2 [Nettle/Corvis, born in...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, April 11th | 12:30 pm 

Today’s Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour was filled with diverse wildlife, seeing many different species during our 4-hour tour. Immediately as we exited Friday Harbor we were greeted by a group of foraging Dall’s Porpoise! Although not rare, we are not greeted by the presence of Dall’s all that often, making it an extra special tour every time we have an encounter. Dall’s Porpoise are often dubbed, the second coolest black and white...

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...

Olivia Esqueda | Friday, March 14th, 2025 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm

This was the first tour of the year for both me and Captain Gabe, and it was definitely an exciting one! We started off the trip by heading north through San Juan Channel, where there has been an increase of whale activity over the past few days. Right away we were spotting many different birds including Pelagic Cormorants, Common Murres, Harlequin Ducks, Rhinoceros Auklets, and many, many more! Most notably, we saw at least a...