Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Kelly Klein | May 20th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm 

The whales decided to be Canadian today, so that's the direction we pointed on the M/V Sea Lion! We made our way south down San Juan Channel and into Cattle Pass, stopping briefly at Goose Island for looks at both harbor seals and a lone female elephant seal! Elephant seals are an extremely rare sight here in the San Juan's, I've personally only spotted them a handful of times in my 5 seasons on the water. We hastily passed the lighthouse and...

Lauren Tschirhart | May 16th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

San Juan Channel was feeling alive this Saturday afternoon. Today we had a rare occurrence, where we got to observe two different traveling groups of Bigg’s killer whales, in the exact same place, but during different times of our tour. That almost never happens! Let me explain… As we left the dock for our 12:30 pm Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour, we got word that the famed T049A’s were spotted just north of Friday Harbor. We began...

Olivia Ellman | May 18th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30pm Today's journey in our search for wildlife took us across the border to the Canadian side of the Haro Strait! Our first sighting was along Spieden Island where we found many Stellar's Sea Lions resting on the shoreline and swimming among the kelp. I am always amazed by the size of these animals, and love seeing them interact with each other. As we continued along Spieden, we got to see a bald eagle on a tree top, the first of many throughout...

Olivia Esqueda | May 17th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30pm

 

Another wonderful Sunday in the Salish Sea! We started our trip by heading north through San Juan Channel, spotting Harbor Porpoise just south of Flattop Island. Curving west into Spieden Channel, we continued west aiming towards the north Haro Strait and eventually aimed south around Battleship Island. 

After passing even more Harbor Porpoise, we came across a male Humpback Whale ID’d as BCX1795 “Scuttle” foraging close to shore just south of...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 17th, 2026 | 2:00pm

It was an incredible day to be on the water! Absolutely beautiful! We headed north in San Juan Channel, but did not have many reports, so we had our eyes peeled for anything. We continued traveling north until we reached White Rocks, near Waldron Island. We wanted to see if we could find some harbor seals. Sure enough, we saw many individuals hauled out just above the water line, and there was also some swimming in the water too! Not only did we see...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 16th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We started our trip today with two separate reports of Bigg's Killer Whales within our range. It wasn't long after getting out of Friday Harbor before we arrived on scene with the first group that was already identified as the T049A's. 

• T049A/Nan — female, born in 1986
  • T049A3/Nat — male, born in 2011
  • T049A4/Neptune — male, born in 2014
  • T049A5/Nebula — female, born in 2017
  • T049A6/Charlie II — male, born in 2022
  • T049A7*/Nimbus — born in 2026

We first arrived on...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 10th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

When we left the harbor, I had no idea that today’s trip would end up being one of my most memorable! We began by heading north in San Juan Channel, and quickly reached reports of the T49A Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline. We stopped for some quick looks, but continued on to search for some other reports we had heard about. Our search brought us into the outer islands near Patos, and we found a trio of Bigg’s from the T124A matriline; T124A, A6...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | May 19h, 2026 | 12:30 pm

 

The moment we leave the harbor we know the search for wildlife is on, and today did not disappoint! Before we had even really picked up speed rounding out of the harbor, naturalist Kelly spotted a sea lion thrashing around at the surface… It was eating an octopus! This was my first time seeing this action, and it was very exciting getting to see this type of predation. After getting some amazing closeups (check out sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 15th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

 

Our adventure whale watch was full of wildlife from start to end! Before we left the harbor we saw a harbor seal swimming near our boat, and then after leaving the harbor we went to find a sea otter rolling around in some kelp! After that, we cruised north in San Juan Channel and soon caught up to a few boats off the coast of San Juan Island.. There was a humpback whale traveling close to shore, and we got a few looks as it surfaced. From...

Lauren Tschirhart | May 15th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30 pm

Our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour aboard the M/V Sea Lion started off strong as there were killer whales found just outside of the harbor. We took a left out of San Juan Channel and headed north. We cruised up the San Juan Island coastline and made our way near Reuben Tarte, where there was a group of seven Bigg’s killer whales. This group was made up of two different families, the T090s as well as the T0124A4’s. We watched as...