Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | May 24th, 2025 | 12:30pm 

We had another amazing day on the water during our afternoon Classic Whale Watch! We began by heading north up San Juan Channel, and then followed the west coast of Orcas island. As we rounded the top of Orcas Island, Mt. Baker was the perfect backdrop as we made our approach to a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! We could see four dorsal fins surfacing together, which turned out to be the T123s. T123A Stanley looked especially majestic as his...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 20th, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Nobody could have predicted the crazy trip ahead of us as we left Friday Harbor on our afternoon Classic Whale Watch! We had reports of some killer whales traveling interisland, so we began by heading around Turn Island and stopping to look at some harbor seals before continuing east. We traveled in between Shaw and Lopez Islands, and soon saw a group of boats ahead of us rounding into East Sound of Orcas Island. As we approached the...

Maxx | M/V Sea Lion | September 7th 2024 | 12:30pm

Serendipitous moments like we saw on today’s tour are always a bit confounding to me as I cruise around the San Juans. Yesterday a big group of Bigg’s Killer Whales passed through the San Juan Channel, down around Jones Island and into Orca’s Islands Deer Harbor. They milled there and carried on again, up around Orcas Island and through Presidents Pass. 

Today’s tour was remarkably similar- It didn’t take long for Sea Lion to leave Friday Harbor...

Elle | M/V Osprey | 8/26/2022 | 1:30 PM

Today was a wild day close to home! On Osprey, we often spend an hour or more searching for wildlife. Today was not one of those days! On the south side of Flattop Island, we encountered a majestic bald eagle and a haul out of harbor seals with a few new pups among them. On the northern side of Flattop, we found seven Bigg’s killer whales! As the wind whipped up two-foot waves, we watched these apex predators hunt a seal along the rocky edges...

Haleigh | M/V Osprey | July 31, 2022 | 12:30pm

As we headed off the dock on a beautiful warm day, we received an early report of Bigg’s Orca Whales… but they were running away from us. The T37A’s were making a run for it out the Strait of Juan de fuca, towards the open ocean. The only question was, could we get to them before they escaped? Captain Gabe yelled, “Full speed ahead!”, cranked the accelerator and the quest was afoot. 

We made our way through the bottle-necked channel...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | July 15, 2022 | 2:00pm

We saw all sorts of wildlife on today’s adventure tour. We followed the interisland ferry route from Friday Harbor between Shaw Island and Lopez Island towards Orcas Island through Upright Channel and Harney Channel. This is where we came across two fifteen-year-old male Orca whales, T65A3 and T49A2 who have been perusing the Salish Sea together for the last few days. The boys even “mugged” our boat when they swam directly underneath us...

June 30th, 2022

Abby Dahl

10am M/V Kestrel

Captain Michael and I peeled out of the harbor, knowing it was about to be a long journey in our search for whales. We had only one report of Bigg’s killer whales near Race Rocks in British Columbia, Canada, so we took a right and began heading south through San Juan Channel. It was almost ironic, as we immediately found a pair of humpback whales upon our southbound journey. They were taking long dives, so we only saw them a few times before...

Haleigh | M/V Osprey | June 25, 2022 | 5:30 pm

Summer is finally here! We’re experiencing our first string of warm, sunny days now that the end of June is nearing and the whales were here for it, too! For today’s Classic Wildlife and Whale Watching tour, sunset edition, we left the dock to see the sun glowing on the water in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We detoured through Castle Island and McArdle Bay, a pristine inlet of steep cliffs, towering trees, and calm seas on the south end...

Elle | M/V Osprey | June 23, 2022 |12:30PM

Today we had a beautiful day out on the Salish Sea. It was sunny and warm with calm seas and very little wind. We started the day with reports of a family of Bigg’s killer whales just north of John’s Pass in the San Juan Channel. We arrived at the family, which we later identified as the T123s, just off of Stuart Island and cruised alongside Sydney (T123), Stanley (T123A), Lucky (T123C), and Darcy (T123D), as they headed northwest together...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | June 18, 2022 | 12:30 pm

Around the Salish Sea, we’ve experienced a variety of whales throughout these waters. Humpback Whales have returned for the summer feeding season in huge numbers. The surprising appearance of Southern Resident Killer Whales in May drew all islanders to the west side to catch a glimpse in admiration. Following their departure came a killer whale lull, and now we’re seeing our Bigg’s Killer Whale families all around the islands!

For...