Piper | Thursday, August 8, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

This morning the skies in the San Juan Islands started out quite gray, which in my opinion makes for wonderful sighting weather, and that proved true today! As Captain Gabe and I got the Kestrel off the docks and out of the marina, a report of Bigg’s killer whales ran across the radio! They were all the way down by the Olympic Peninsula, so we hung a right and headed south through San Juan Channel.

When we reached Cattle Point...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Today's trip was magical! We started our trip with no firm reports of whales, so we decided to head toward the Strait of Georgia and cover some different areas than other boats were covering. We were going for a whale search. We stopped by Flattop Island, which is an important wildlife refuge. Here we saw harbor seals hauled out on the rocks and swimming around in the water. At one point, one of them even jumped...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Monday, July 29, 2019

What an incredible day packed with wildlife in the Salish Sea! When we left Friday Harbor, the sun was shining and it was shaping up to be a gorgeous day. We headed north out of the harbor toward a report of orcas in Boundary Pass! The water was calm, and we were all excited to see wildlife. We stopped past White Rock, which is south of Waldron Island. It is an important wildlife refuge for pinnipeds and birds alike. We saw a lot...

Erin | Sunday, July 28, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

What an incredible afternoon aboard the M/V Kestrel! The sun was shining when we left the harbor, and we were all ready for a wildlife adventure! We left Friday Harbor and headed north toward some reports of orcas in Boundary Pass. Since the reports of the whales were so close to where we were, we figured we could go and search for some other wildlife before heading towards the orcas. We went to Spieden Island and cruised along...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 07/26/19 | 3:00pm

Today was the best humpback day ever!!

It all started with Captain Gabe and I taking our vessel out of Friday Harbor and setting off north in hopes of finding some wildlife.

Before we even fully left the harbor, however, we spotted a gorgeous bald eagle! This massive bird sat perched in a towering tree overlooking the water. He surveyed the surrounding waters for any prey. Since they’re huge scavengers, they often steal from other birds. Right...

Olivia | July 25th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

Captain Pete and I headed out this afternoon on a search for whales in our area. We decided to head north through the San Juan Channel and stop at White Rocks to catch a view of our Harbor Porpoises and their pups as they napped and swam near the water’s edge. After chatting about these small Pinnipeds, we continued on through Boundary Pass heading around East Point towards the northern side of Saturna Island.

Along our route, Mount...

Olivia | July 25th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Commonly on these morning trips, we leave the dock unaware of what wildlife is out there, and it is our job to help scope it out with other Whale Watch Vessels in the area. Not only is this beneficial to our tours, but it also allows for a heads up to recreational boats, ferries, the list goes on! This is one of the many things that make our trips exciting and a daily surprise. That being said, we lucked out as we started boating...

Olivia | July 24th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 3:00pm

Starting out our second trip of the day, Captain Brian and I knew the group of Bigg’s Killer Whales we saw earlier today moved further north, pushing our range to stay between the 3 to 4 hour timeframe. We discussed this with our passengers and came to a group decision that even though there was a possibility we wouldn’t see these whales with the rate they were traveling, we were going to attempt the long trek anyway in hopes of an Orca...

Olivia | July 24th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

It was a beautiful morning as we were able to leave the dock with a reported whale sighting. Earlier that morning, prior to the trip, Captains Brian and Sarah casually boated around to see what whales were gracing our waters when they stumbled upon a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales heading north through the San Juan Channel. Although it is never a for sure thing until we are actively looking at them, especially with marine mammals that...

Naturalist Erin | M/V Kestrel | 3:00 PM | Tuesday, July 23, 2019

This was a trip for the books! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and headed back towards where we had seen whales on our previous trip, in the Strait of Georgia. We stopped past White Rock, which is a very interesting location. It is important for both birds and harbor seals. There were lots of harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, some of which had pups! There was one pup that was moving around on the rocks. It was...