Sarah | 08/11/2020 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00pm

We had a fabulous day on M/V Kestrel full of lots of wildlife in the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I decided to head south out of Friday Harbor towards an earlier report of some orca on the west side of San Juan Island.

As we arrived on scene in Haro Strait, we quickly realized that we had a family of Bigg’s killer whales known as the T010s. This smll family of two consists of an adult female T010 Langara and her adult son T010C Bones...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 PM | August 8, 2020

This afternoon the sun rally came out and the perfectly blue sky was reflected in the flat waters of the Salish Sea. Captain Brian and I headed out with a great group of passengers to go look for the local wildlife. We headed south through San Juan Channel and into the Strait of Juan De Fuca. We went just a little farther south than we had gone on our first trip and again we found the same Humpback Whale there. It was still feeding...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 AM | August 8, 2020

There is a reason that we call August Fog-ust out here. This morning started out a little grey and foggy this morning. Captain Brian and I took a good group out as the fog banks sailed in and out of San Juan Channel. As we made our way south the clouds broke, and the sun started to come out as cloud scraped the Olympic Mountains in the distance. We made our first stop at Whale Rocks where we saw a few male Steller Sea Lions growling...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 9th, 2020 | 14:00

Today’s Adventure Trip was quite a ride south, and it was a gorgeous one! We dipped down the San Juan Channel and stopped just south of Cattle Point in a shallow area called Salmon Bank. It was here that we spotted two Minke Whales feeding in the bait balls. We decided to shut down the engine to watch and listen as they fed in every direction of our vessel. This was a first Minke Whale encounter for a lot of passengers, and they got in...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 7th, 2020 | 14:00

The Hail Mary works again! Captain Brian and I decided to take a chance and head far south on our afternoon adventure trip in an attempt to see Killer Whales between Whidbey and Camano Islands. This was a long shot as there was no coverage on the whales and we would have to find them ourselves, in addition to going far and pushing our time limits with the four-hour trip. We decided it was worth it to give it our all for our passengers...

Erick | M/V Kestrel | 2:00PM | August 8, 2020

It was another bright, beautiful, summer day out in the San Juan Islands! Captain Brian and I took a great group of guests out to look for some exciting wildlife in the Salish Sea! There was a report of some Bigg’s Orcas up near the outer islands! We headed up there through Presidents Channel and soon saw the group near Patos Island. It was the T18/T19s group that has been around for a few days now! This is a fascinating family. There...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 1st, 2020 | 14:00

Today was easily in my Top 5 of Bigg’s Killer Whale experiences. Captain Brian and I knew there were two family groups of transient orca down between Whidbey and Camano Islands. However, we also knew there were Humpback Whales in north Rosario Strait. The dilemma? We REALLY wanted to see orca. Here were our options; 1) Go see Humpback Whales in North Rosario that have coverage by the PWWA, or 2) Go find these transient orca that had no...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 29th, 2020 | 14:00

We started off our Wednesday Adventure Trip by setting out on a scan through our Salish Sea waters. Being part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association, we are involved in a community that holds no secrets. That means, everyone involved in the PWWA divides and covers as many corners of the Salish Sea as possible and reports in what whales or other crazy wildlife has been spotted. This not only helps our guests view cetaceans, but also...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel | July 26th, 2020 | 14:00

After having an exciting morning trip, we were already enthused for our afternoon adventure! We immediately went south towards Whale Rocks in hopes to see the Steller’s Sea Lions to which they greeted us with lots of water wrestling and face biting! Seeing the world’s largest Sea Lions brawling in our waters was exhilarating.

As we are watching Steller’s Sea Lions, we found the same Minke Whale in the channel that we saw on our trip back...

Olivia | M/V Kestrel July 26th, 2020 | 10:00

On our morning adventure trip out into the islands, we first decided to stop at Whale Rocks to view about five Steller’s Sea Lions (!!) and many Harbor Seals. It is extra exciting to be seeing Steller’s Sea Lions this time of year because they migrate to Alaska during the summer months and return here for the winter. The fact that we had five belching, bellowing, and face biting in the water already started the trip with excitement.

We...