Maya's Legacy Whale Watching

12/06/2024

It may seem crazy but we absolutely LOVE our winter trips! We still see whales and amazing wildlife and the lighting can be sublime! Captain Jeff and April will be running trips through Christmas Eve so if you’re up for an adventure give us a call or book online. We’d love to host you!

Photo from a trip LAST WEEKEND where we had the T34s and T37s (with their newest member—T34A2) right outside Friday Harbor. 📸 by .

11/28/2024

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful to all our friends & guests, past and future, for letting us share this amazing place, the whales and wildlife and special moments on the water. Thank you!

We are also grateful to Capt Jim for connecting all of us at Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching to each other, this place and the joy of sharing it with others. Captains Sara and Jeff recently sat down with Jim to talk about his legacy of connecting people and place, and to share some of his favorite stories. If you'd like to hear more, you can listen to the conversation in the latest After the Breach podcast.

Wishing you all the very best, with many thanks!

-Maya's Legacy Whale Watching

Episode 34 brings to the podcast a long overdue and special guest, the legendary Captain Jim Maya, to tell his stories, talk about his whale watching experience on the Salish Sea dating back to 1996, and the legacy he has created. Captain Jim is an epic story teller, teacher, whale and wildlife enth...

11/04/2024

The weather is crisp and the wildlife has been off the hook! We are still running tours and we have a trip going out tomorrow. Have you wanted to join us and haven’t had the chance? Take this one! The forecast looks great and we have had awesome encounters with both humpback whales and orcas lately.

Give us a call at 360-378-7996 and join us for an adventure!

09/23/2024

Fall has arrived but did you know--we LOVE our fall trips! Yesterday our trips found and visited with a huge group of Bigg's killer whales in the Strait of Georgia, including this cutie--T036B4 born earlier this year.

We have trips going daily still so if you're looking to experience the Salish Sea during the fall (which you definitely should!) then give us a call or book online. Adventure awaits!

📸 by Captain Sara

08/18/2024

Have you listened to After the Breach Podcast? Well, next weekend is Jeff and Sara’s second annual podcast weekend of all-day trips! Though it has been full for a bit they had a last minute cancellation and there is now space so if you’re looking for something fun to do next Saturday and/or Sunday reach out to Jeff and Sara at [email protected].

These photos are from last year’s weekend of whales! :)

08/16/2024

We always say we never know what the day will hold and that things can change at the drop of a hat. We live and work in a dynamic ecosystem with whales that can move an easy hundred miles in twenty four hours.

This evening was a good example of that! Patience paid off and we ended the evening with a harbor porpoise hunt by the T37As in Boundary Pass.

07/04/2024

Check out this awesome video from one of Captain Jeff’s tours last week. He had an encounter with over twenty Bigg’s killer whales socializing. Make sure your audio is up because these often-silent whales were chatting up a storm!

You never know what you might experience out on the water and this was an experience to remember!

(P.S. If you want to hear more about this encounter, and others, check out the latest episode of After the Breach Podcast. 😉)

06/24/2024

The whales and wildlife have been epic lately but the scenery is just as stunning!

📸 by Captain Sara of Cattle Point Lighthouse and a gorgeous sky beyond!

06/18/2024

Who wants to spend this evening on the water!? We have some seats left on our 4:30PM departure this afternoon and there are whales out there to see!

Call Mikayla in the office at 360-378-7996 to snag a seat for today. It’s going to be great!

06/14/2024

Summer night trips are back! We've had some amazing tours lately and that late afternoon lighting we get on our 3:30PM and 4:30PM departures is sublime!

This photo was taken just a few days ago while we watched the T075Bs hunt seals for over an hour. The sun was warm, the seas glassy. We can't ask for more!

And if you happen to be looking for something to do on your Friday evening we have space available on our 3:30PM tour and we would love to take you out to see just what we're raving about! Give us a call or book online.

06/10/2024

Stick ‘em up! While we don’t see sea otters very often we always love when we do. The other night while we were heading out west on our evening tour we found this guy chilling out in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. What do you think? Isn’t he otterly adorable?

We love our evening tours and are so stoked that they’re a daily thing now. Come join us for one and see why they’re our favorite!

05/31/2024

We've had some amazing sightings in the past few days and we still have space on our tours this weekend! We've seen killer whales, humpback whales, Pacific white-sided dolphins, horned and tufted puffins, and a sea otter in recent days---amongst a myriad of other amazing wildlife! As we always say things are constantly changing in this dynamic and unique environment and there is so much potential any time we head out on the water.

So what are you waiting for? Come join us!

05/14/2024

It's that time of year! Afternoon trips are back on the calendar and our team is stoked to be able to get out there later in the day! It's a beautiful time to be out on the water, especially with that evening light.

Contrary to other places in the world where winds can pick up in the afternoons that is not something we regularly see here. We are blessed with a gorgeous backdrop of islands that also helps shield us from rising afternoon winds on the open ocean, over 80 miles away.

Come see why our repeat passengers and crew alike crave these afternoon trips!

05/02/2024

We’ve had some beautiful days filled with epic sightings of whales and wildlife here in the San Juan Islands. We have seats open this weekend and would love to host you!

Give us a call at 360-378-7996 or book online at our website.

03/28/2024

On Tuesday our crew members, Jeff and April, set out from our slip in Friday Harbor and within fifteen minutes found the whales! Luck would find them arriving in Speiden Channel at the same time the T018s and T049As did. That same luck would not be with the Steller’s sea lion that the whales quickly separated and killed. Captain Jeff remarks that it was the fastest sea lion hunt he’s ever witnessed!

For the rest of the day, even long after they had to leave, the whales milled around, sharing their prey with each other and socializing.

Enjoy these photos by Jeff and remember—we’d love to host you too! Reach out to us by phone or book online to join us for an adventure.

📸 by Jeff Friedman
Post written by Sara Shimazu

03/18/2024

Our search for whales today had us cruising up Trincomali Channel where we found one of our favorite families of Bigg’s killer whales—the T123s.

This family of whales consists of matriarch, T123 “Sidney” and her three kids, T123A “Stanley”, T123C “Lucky”, and T123D “Darcy”. Sidney is the presumed daughter of the iconic T046 “Wake”, who was one of the five whales taken during the last live capture in Washington State in 1976. That capture would convince the state to outlaw the taking of anymore whales from Washington waters. With the ban in place and her capture itself deemed illegal Wake was released.

Though she passed away last year her legacy lives on in the lives of her many children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren. They are large extended family of whales who we love to talk about.

Our tours are departing daily and we would love to host you. Join us to learn more about Sidney and her family (and all of the other amazing whales and wildlife that call the Salish Sea home)!

03/16/2024

Yesterday was a beautiful day out on the Salish Sea, and with few reports, Captain Sara opted to head north to scope out the fringes of the herring spawn that has captivated wildlife viewers and wildlife alike up in the northern Strait of Georgia. However, like many of our trips, our initial plans changed: we received word of inbound Bigg's off of Sooke while scoping out the waters off of Stuart Island, and while it is never a sure thing and it was a long haul from Turn Point, we took a risk and it paid off - upon acquiring the whales in Race Pass, they suddenly erupted into an energetic sea lion hunt.

The hunters were identified as the T71B matriline and T86A3 Tyndall with her new calf. This is her first known calf, and comes less than a year after her older sister, T86A1 Nahanni, was sighted with a new calf up in southeast Alaska. The hunt carried on long after we had to leave, but it was incredible watching the calf swimming right alongside its mother and companions - these kids really do start learning how to be apex predators from a young age! We did receive word that their hunt was ultimately successful, which can be very bittersweet - we love our killer whales and want them to be well-fed, but it is hard not to be sympathetic to their prey sometimes. Still, it is important that they get all the nutrients and calories they can get so that they can grow up to be big and strong and healthy - as we say here at Maya's Legacy, the Bigg's are the balance!

Post written by naturalist Ellie Sawyer.

Photos by Ellie Sawyer and Sara Shimazu.