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 | 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...

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...

Lauren | M/V Sea Lion | April 2nd, 2025 | 12:30 pm 

Friday Harbor was booming with life this Wednesday afternoon. The town was filled with families and friends on Spring Break! Spring Break is our awakening. It’s our first busy weekend of the year. A sign that sleepy San Juan winter is behind us, and that summer is on the horizon. Captain Eric and I loaded our passengers abord the M/V Sea Lion and cruised out of Friday Harbor. We were excited to find out that a fellow Pacific Whale Watch...

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 Kestrel | August 30th, 2024 | 10:00am

As many of our 10:00 am Kestrel tours start, we left the dock without a firm report of whales. Luckily, we are a part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA), which is a private sightings network that includes professional whale watchers, researchers and biologists. In the morning, PWWA members will divide and conquer the different water ways and report our sightings. None of the whales we see out here are tagged, and we don’t use any kind...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | August 26th, 2024 | 12:30pm

“Fogust” has been loud and proud this week in the San Juan Islands. We left foggy Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop came quick as we noticed a beautiful bald eagle perched on a tree right outside the harbor. We love seeing bald eagles out here as they serve as a reminder that there is hope for species that were once endangered. Bald eagles were de-listed from the endangered species list back in 2007, 35 years...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | 9/19/2022 | 2:00 PM 

“The Boys,” “The Punks,” “The Brothers…” Bigg’s Killer Whales T060D “Onca” and T060E “Lynx” have many nicknames. Normally found traveling together, these sprouting boys are an industry wide favorite to observe. 18-year-old Onca born in 2004, and 14-year-old Lynx born in 2008 still have a lot of growing to do. Young males go through a stage known as sprouting, where their dorsal fin starts to shoot up and they begin to grow into the massive...

Elle | M/V Kestrel | 8/9/2022 | 2:00 PM

Today was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions! We started our journey from San Juan Island and followed reports of Bigg's killer whales towards the Rosario Strait. In Obstruction Pass, we spotted an osprey! This fish-eating bird (and the namesake of one of our vessels) is rarely spotted here in the San Juans because bald eagles feed on similar prey and will chase them out of the area. Just around the corner, to our surprise, sat two adult...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | 8/1/22 | 12:30

It was a picture-perfect summer day as we left Friday harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. After quickly cruising up the channel, we stopped at Flattop Island. This island was bustling with wildlife! Multiple bald eagles soared over head as harbor seals lounged along the shoreline. A solo bald eagle was perched along the shoreline with its talons dug into a carcass. We watched as the impressive raptor pulled apart the animal’s flesh with...