Maya's Legacy Whale Watching — Attraction in Friday Harbor

Why paying the extra to go with Maya's Legacy (ML) is worth it: ML cannot make the whales magically appear BUT unlike many of the other r$119 or $138/person companies, they really go the EXTRA mile in making sure you see a pod. And that effort is PRICELESS. The boat is smaller...the big deal about the size of the boat/vessel is that since the boat is smaller they are able to go faster (and whales swim fast, making it harder for the larger vessels to "keep up" when the whales go from one area to another)...if you are wanting to increase the possibility to see whales....paying the extra to go in a smaller vessel makes sense...I was only in town for that one day while celebrating my birthday in Seattle, I only came up to Friday Harbor in hopes to see some orcas and so the smaller vessel increase the odds and totally paid off as we saw a family of 5 and saw a FULL BREACH (as defined by Stallwagen Marine Sanctuary) "A breach is when a whale propels its body out of the water. If more than half the body appears, it is considered a full breach. If half or less of the body appears, it is a half breach". Of note, is that when the full breach happened not many of the larger vessels were out there and so it made it even more special to know that the smaller vessel was out on the water and that we caught that! ML take passengers out the full time paid for and not only shortly after seeing a pod of whales. Maybe some passengers are ready to had back in after seeing a few pods...BUT it was definitely a treasure to follow the whale pod and enjoy seeing them over the full time. ML, similar to other vessels, take the time to point out other wildlife. ML included binoculars....no other vessel that I am aware of does this! ML includes professional photos of the wildlife that are emailed out and whales spotted. Though I enjoyed the experience of capturing my own photos, I look forward to their higher grade of photography that was taken. The other company I am aware of has charges for pictures to be sent. By the time the additional costs add up...ML is all the more worth it for the whole experience. Allen and Ellie were great. I don't know of any other company that would do what ML did to maximize the viewing chances of experiencing the whales and not just seeing them. Again, NO Whale watching company is a Whale whisperer....BUT paying the extra for the extra effort to not only see the whales in their natural habitat, but to also gently follow the whales and experience watching them for a longer period of time when and IF they are spotted make ML completely worth it. Would completely recommend going with ML and paying the extra, especially if you are wanting to increase the odds if you can't just go out again if you go out and do not get...

My family visited San Juan Island in no small part because orcas have been my favorite animal since I first watched Free Willy as a kid in the 90’s. Even though other whale watching tours were cheaper and guaranteed seeing whales, I chose Maya’s Legacy because I appreciated their commitment to conservation and education. I am so glad I did!

At first, I was nervous how my 2 and 4 year olds would do on a 3 hours tour. Our captains Jeff and April quickly put me at ease, learning the names of all five people in our group, having the correct size of life vests ready and encouraging my kids to ask lots of questions. Jeff and April were funny, honest and incredibly knowledgeable about the wildlife, waterways, land and even the other boats we passed. We saw a colony of sea lions, touched and tasted fresh kelp, watched a lot of leaping pink salmon and learned about how local de-damming efforts are helping all 70 species of salmon thrive. We slowed down to watch a humpback whale and I was impressed by Jeff and April taking the time to teach us how to identify whales in real time to learn where the animal is from, age and other facts.

But the highlight of our trip was definitely the orcas. Jeff and April knew the locations of two sets of orcas and chose to take our boat further out to the Pacific Ocean to get close to two orca families reuniting. Wow! I had been mentally prepping not to see any orcas but there are no words for being near them. There were eight orcas in total joyfully playing together. Jeff and April knew their names, their matrilineal families and the incredible stories of survival and resilience of these amazing animals. My 4 year old couldn’t help herself and loudly started gleefully squealing. Jeff noticed that the orcas seemed to hear her and encouraged her to keep expressing herself. Soon, there was quite a cheering crew on the boat and the orcas responded by surfing, breaching and swimming so close to the boat I could see their white eye patches in the water just feet away from me. It was breathtaking. I’m so grateful for this experience and for the important work the Maya’s Legacy team is doing. We will be back to the islands and another tour!

Photos from April at Maya’s Legacy! She graciously shared dozens of the amazing professional photos she took...

One of my biggest dreams for as long as I can remember was to see orca whales in the wild. I called virtually every whale tour company in Washington, Oregon and Canada. I decided to book with Maya’s Legacy and I am beyond glad I did. They were FANTASTIC, ABOVE AND BEYOND from start to finish. Rachel booked our trip and was so knowledgeable, friendly and kept in touch the months leading up to our trip. Their prices were very reasonable. We went during the “off season” but it was hardly that. We witness the most incredible interactions between orca pods L, J and K. They were all socializing, playing, sky hopping, breaching, tail flapping, you name it! It was breath taking and unbelievable. There were about 8 orcas who swam directly under our boat. We even were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the new baby. Captain Jeff, Sara and Julie were AMAZING. I honestly don’t have the words to describe how accommodating, knowledgeable, fun, kind, and passionate they were. They knew every whale by name and had a lot of great insight about the pods, environment and history of the area. The boat was gorgeous, WARM and spacious. It was so amazing how the windows open up and you're on the water. This is the best whale tour I have ever been on. I cannot recommend them enough. It was the HIGHLIGHT of my trip and one of the most incredible days of my life. It was supposed to be a 3 hour tour, we were out for 5+ hours. SO EXTREMELY GENEROUS! Captain Jeff even sent us pictures of what we saw during our excursion— talk about going the extra mile! By the way, I am not a “review writer” but I felt so compelled to share how incredible this company and group of people are. If you are ever in the area (or even if your not— we drove 1.5 hrs from Seattle and took an 1.5 hr ferry to get there) this experience is 100% a must do. I cannot thank Maya’s Legacy enough for fulfilling a lifelong dream of mine! My friends and I haven’t stopped gushing about this trip. Words truly cannot express how amazing it was. It is a memory we will NEVER forget and owe that to this...