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...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | April 19th, 2025 | 12:30pm

The sun began to peak out from behind the clouds just as we turned left out of Friday Harbor. Heading up San Juan Channel, past Flattop Island and into Boundary Pass we investigated a humpback whale report. After a moment of searching in the general area, the whale appeared! A small slinky humpback came up for a breath. His pattern was to come up for a couple quick breaths and then down on a long dive. These dives ranged from 5 to 11 minutes. One...

Olivia Esqueda | April 14th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

We love sunny days with calm seas and whales nearby- which is exactly what this afternoon brought! We started off our trip heading north through San Juan Channel until we came upon Spieden Island. This privately owned island has the largest bloom of pink flowers (invasive and a part of the geranium family) that we have seen in years and, contrasted with the green shoreline and the mouflon sheep lambs prancing around, it engulfs the...

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 | 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...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | October 25, 2024 | 12:30 pm

One of my favorite things about San Juan Island at this time of year is the crisp fall air and the occasional crystal-clear skies. Yesterday was one of those days, where even Mount Rainer was shining as far as the eye could see. The morning whale reports were abundant… everywhere BUT in the inland waters around Friday Harbor. Captain Eric and I prepared the M/V Sea Lion for our long voyage ahead and set sail. We took a right out of Friday Harbor...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | September 29th, 2024 | 2:00 pm

Today was the perfect afternoon as Captain Vaun and I headed out on our last trip of the season together. We left Friday Harbor and began traveling north up San Juan Channel to follow up on some reports of whales near Sidney, BC. As we passed Spieden Island, we stopped to look at a few harbor seals hanging out on some small islands before continuing to the Haro Strait. Once we were nearing the Canadian Border, we suddenly saw the dorsal...

Maxx | M/V Kestrel | September 11th 2024 | 2:00pm

Killer whales in this region are not tagged and haven’t been since 2013 (except for the occasional use of non-piercing suction cup tagging devices that are deployed every now and again). The devices that are used are almost exclusively used for data collection: determining where whales travel, what depths they’re diving to, what depth within in the water collum they’re typically feeding, and so on. Therefore, we don’t use tagging data to find...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 10th, 2024 | 12:30 pm

Today’s afternoon trip was yet again another beautiful, whale filled day in the Salish Sea! We left Friday Harbor with some reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales far north in Canada, though we were unsure if we would be able to catch up with them if they continued moving north and out of our range. We traveled straight up San Juan Channel, crossed the border into Canada, and continued northwest in between Saturna and Pender Islands, getting...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | September 6th | 2:00PM

Captain Eric and I left the harbor with so much excitement for the trip ahead! A group of 8 whales was discovered off the coast of Orcas Island heading east. We started the tour with one big loop-de-loop around Shaw Island, Stopping for some adorable harbor Seals along the way. We started to slow the vessel around the mouth of Deer Harbor. Almost instantly after lowering our speed, SPLASH! In the distance along the the shoreline, a large male killer...