Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | September 1st, 2026 | 2:00 pm

We had such a fun adventure to start the month today, finding beautiful conditions to watch whales and lots of other wildlife! Before departing this afternoon, we had a few reports of whales in Canadian waters and planned to check out some reports in the Strait of Georgia to start. We began heading north, and reached the northern part of San Juan Channel before we got another whale rumor in Rosario Strait… The water conditions were...

Olivia Esqueda | September 1st, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

What an adventure we had today out in the Salish Sea finding whales. The weather this week is reminding us that the summer season is transitioning into fall, as the wind and rain are starting to pick up. This didn’t stop us from heading north through the islands in search of whales and other wildlife, though! 

Weaving between the Wasp Islands, up Spring Passage and into President’s Channel, we found ourselves by the outer islands, which...

Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Sunday, August 30, 2026 | 12:30 pm 

Today was quite the cozy day aboard Osprey; town has begun to slow down after peak summer season, and the gray skies and winds allude to fall just around the corner. 

With reports of whales over in Rosario Strait, we made our way northeast from Friday Harbor, weaving between Shaw and Lopez Island. After weaving through Obstruction Island and Blakely Island, we found a haulout of harbor seals at Peapod Rocks! These 250-300 pound rock...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | August 31st, 2026 | 2:00 pm

We had quite an adventure today, ending August with lots of whales and wildlife near San Juan Island! When Captain Brian and I departed the harbor, we had some reports of killer whale activity in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We headed south, taking Cattle Pass and travelling across the banks to reach the first report that was furthest away. Today’s beautiful conditions made it easy to scan in this large strait, and once we made it south...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Friday, August 28, 2026 | 10:00AM

Every trip as we are leaving the harbor, we alert everyone on board that they are now officially apart of the search team. Between the captain and I, that is only four eyeballs scanning for signs of wildlife. However, now that everyone has been primed as naturalists with intros of common marine mammals to see in the Salish Sea, as well as how to spot them, we have an additional 20 eyeballs. We tell every guest that the search starts NOW...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | August 29th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

I was very excited to head out this afternoon because there were reports of a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales I’ve been waiting to see all summer! We departed Friday Harbor and caught up to this family just across San Juan Channel on the Shaw Island side, heading north. It was easy to spot this group of 4 travelling on the shoreline based on one individual, the oldest son named “Yelnats”… It was the T60 matriline! We have recently seen the...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | August 28th, 2026 | 12:30pm

We were blessed with very fortunate whale reports on this day, as there were multiple Bigg's Killer Whale families moving down San Juan Channel as we left the dock! The two families were the T100s and T101s. The matriarchs/mothers of these two families are T100 "Hutchins" and T101 "Reef". Years after these two whales were discovered several decades ago, it was actually presumed that T101 was the mother of T100, so this was a sort of...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | August 27th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock on this day and pointed North up San Juan Channel. We then wrapped around the top of San Juan Island and entered Haro Strait to the West. This huge body of water had multiple whale reports throughout the day, so we were excited to head that way and check it out! It didn't take long for us to come across our first species. We noticed the tall exhalations of two Humpback Whales from way out in the distance. We took a few...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | August 25th, 2026 | 12:30pm

The weather and water conditions were beautiful on this day which made for a great trip from the start. We turned left out of Friday Harbor and pointed North up San Juan Channel. We then wrapped around the top of San Juan Island and entered Spieden Channel. It didn't take long to spot a family of six Bigg's Killer Whales swimming through the glassy water. It was the T49As! This family is adored in this region and is made up by a mother...

Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, August 26, 2026 | 12:30 pm 

Today was “Notcho” average afternoon. Let’s talk about why!

M/V Osprey departed from Friday Harbor and headed north through San Juan Channel and around Henry Island into Haro Strait. Suddenly, Captain Gabe slowed the vessel to 7 knots, as we were within a half nautical mile of a 15 foot blow that he spotted in the distance. It is always fun being the first to arrive on scene with a whale, as this gives us the opportunity to put our...