Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Saturday, September, 14 2026 | 1:30 pm 

Fall is so close you can taste it, especially this afternoon. The air is chillier, the sky grayer, town quieter. However, the magic of the Salish Sea persists, and the killer whales certainly don’t mind the cold.

M/V Osprey departed the dock at Friday Harbor at 1:30pm today, and within minutes we were at our first wildlife stop! Not only was my favorite seabird perched upon the kelp forest by Turn Rock, but the marine mammal with the...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, September 13, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Today we had the pleasure of taking the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) out on our adventure tour aboard M/V Kestrel! Let’s just say those exposure suits came in handy….

We departed from Roche Harbor and hung a left directly into Haro Strait, where we had a warm welcome from some snotty swells…however, it was nothing our beloved Kestrel could not handle. We trekked across Haro into Canadian waters towards Victoria B.C. after a report...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, September 12, 2026 | 2:00 PM

M/V Kestrel cruised north up San Juan Channel and hung a left through Spieden Channel towards Canadian waters, as a recent report of cetaceans had caught our eyes. We passed the northwesternmost point of the continental U.S., Turn Point on Stuart Island, and stopped to do a thorough scan for wildlife by Moresby Island. This gave everyone the chance to actively be apart of a search team and put those new naturalist skills into practice...

Lauren Tschirhart | September 13th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 11:00 am

For the last several years, San Juan Safaris has partnered with Island Rec to get San Juan Island locals out on the water to see the beautiful wildlife that surrounds their home. Coincidentally, our tour today ended up completing a circumnavigation of San Juan Island… How fitting! 

The M/V Osprey departed Friday Harbor and headed south. We made a stop just south of Turn Rock to view some hauled our harbor seals and a sea otter! The...

Lauren Tschirhart | September 10th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30 pm

What’s going on with the T035A’s? There has been a lot of buzz with this family lately, as the family has expanded, but no one is quite sure who the new calf belongs to. Did T035A/ Lester have her fifth calf? Or did T035A/ Opal have her first? Regardless of who the little tyke belongs to, this baby was bringing all those aboard the M/V Sea Lion an immense amount of joy. 

Our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour departed Friday...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Friday, September 11, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Today was an adventure tour on Kestrel to say the least! The Strait of Juan de Fuca is essentially the Salish Sea’s mouth into the greater Pacific Ocean running east to west between the Olympic peninsula and Vancouver Island, and I had never been as far west into the Strait before today. We also call this body of water the “whale highway,” as it’s a common entrance point for any marine mammal traveling along the PNW coast to change...

Kelly | M/V Sea Lion | September 12th, 2026 | 12:30pm

We curled over the top of San Juan Island on our search for whales and other wildlife. First stop of the day was at Spieden island, the largest privately owned island in the San Juan’s. On this island we found ALL three non-native animals that call it home-mouflon sheep, fallow deer and sika deer. We were even treated to a few of those lovable harbor seals (aka rock sausages) lounging along the shoreline. We next set our sights on Henry Island...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | September 11th, 2026 | 12:30pm

This tour left the dock with the gift of beautiful weather and water conditions which is always a great start. We turned right out of Friday Harbor and pointed South in San Juan Channel. We began by checking a nearby kelp bed that is sometimes frequented by a Sea Otter. This is a rare species to encounter in the inland waters of the Salish Sea, but luckily this little one has taken a liking to this specific spot. It ususually can be...

Kelly | M/V Sea Lion | September 9th, 2026 | 12:30pm

We left the harbor and pointed right into San Juan Channel, staying steading south as we cruised into Cattle Pass. This narrow pass is an exceptionally rich food zone. As the water flows through at high speeds, it stirs up nutrients from the bottom of the ocean floor. As the nutrients flow upward, they mix with the sun- producing an abundance of phytoplankton. In this hotspot near Goose Island, we watched the cormorants both flying overhead and...

Lauren Tschirhart | September 7th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30 pm

Two of our favorite families were sighted close to the harbor today, so we couldn’t wait to get out on the water! The T049A’s were sighted just north of San Juan Channel in Boundary Pass, so we decided to follow up on that report first. As we made our way into Boundary, the T049A’s cruised right past White Rock, a known harbor seal haul out sight. We saw some splashing around and it seemed like they may have grabbed a seal, but we...