Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, July 10th, 2025 | 12:30 PM 

Today we had a bittersweet encounter with T075/Kidney and 3 other members of her family. T075/Kidney is usually seen traveling as a duo with her 34 year-old son T075A/Stone, but today she was also traveling with her daughter T075C/Bam-Bam and her grandcalf T075C3/Flint. Earlier this month, T075C/Bam-Bam was seen traveling for the first time without her newest calf in tow T075C4/Slate. Slate was born in 2023, and it would be extremely...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 9th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Despite the gloomy forecast as we left Friday Harbor, spirits were high and we were ready to take in the beauty of the grey and cloudy islands. We had reports of a few humpback whales heading north by the Canadian border, so we went full speed in that direction to try to catch up with them. We traveled north and then west into Spieden Channel, scanning the coastlines and different bodies of water along the way. We found some harbor seals...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 5th, 2025 | 12:30 PM 

We departed Friday Harbor with a full boat, sunny skies, and lots of excitement as we began our search for wildlife. Based on recent sightings, we decided to begin traveling north up San Juan Channel and then west through Spieden Channel. We found a group of harbor seals hauled out on a small island in the channel, and got adorable looks at many of them slowly moving on land or swimming in the water. We quickly continued moving towards...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 2nd, 2025 | 12:30 pm

Killer Whales are all unique and identifiable based on different markings on their dorsal fins, saddle patches, and eye patches, but some are definitely more distinct than others. T63, known as Chainsaw, is one of the most distinct whales in our Bigg’s population, and anyone will know why as soon as they see him. On today’s afternoon tour, I was thrilled that we got to see this iconic whale along with multiple others! We began our trip...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, June 26th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Our first stop today on our Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife tour was to Goose Island, to observe a slew of harbor seals and several different bird species. Today we had an insanely low tide, -3.1 to be exact. We have a massive tidal flux here in the San Juans, at times up to 13 feet! This means that at different times of day there is actually a different amount of islands that make up the Archipelago. At low tide, there are 743 island...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | Sunday, June 29th 2025 | 12:30 PM

Goodbye Junuary! Hello proper summer weather! The sun was out and beating down as we left Friday harbor and set course up San Juan Channel. The breeze felt amazing as we picked up speed- instantly cooling everything down. Just outside presidents channel, we began to slow our speed to under 7 knots. In the distance...dorsal fins came into view! 4 distinct fins began to emerge from the water belonging to none other than... the T123's! Including...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Monday, June 23rd, 2025 | 2:00 PM

The Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline the T049A’s is a group of 7 whales in total, but seeing all 7 traveling together is a rarity. The two eldest boys tend to travel solo, or with other relatives or non-related whales. This family includes:

• T049A/Nan — (F) 1986
  • T049A1/Noah — (M) 2001
  • T049A2/Jude — (M) 2007
  • T049A3/Nat — (M) 2011
  • T049A4/Neptune — (M) 2014
  • T049A5/Nebula — (F) 2017
  • T049A6/Charlie II — (M)  2022

Today was a very special day, because we were...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | Friday, June 27th 2025 | 12:30 PM

As the years progress, we are seeing more and more Biggs Killer whales in the Salish Sea! This means that with every year, we are introduced to new Biggs killer whale families as they start to explore this nutrient rich interisland sea. One of these new families to me is the T46C's, one of two families we encountered on todays Classic Tour!

We started the trip turning north up San Juan Channel and into Spiedan Channel, stopping briefly to look...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 25th, 2025 | 12:30 PM 

We had another great day on the water this afternoon, where we got to spend time with two different Bigg’s Killer Whale matrilines that I have not seen before! Before leaving the dock, we had reports of these whales off the eastern side of Orcas Island, so we began traveling in that direction. Along our interisland cruise, we made a stop to see a number of harbor seals outside of Obstruction Pass. We got to see a few inch their way into the...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, June 19th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Although Bigg’s Killer Whales usually just travel in their individual matrilines (mom and immediate offspring). We will occasionally see multiple groups gathering together for mating and socialization. These groupings can last a few hours, a few days, and sometimes even a few weeks. For the last several days, the T065B’s and the T075B’s have been seen traveling together. These two moms, who are both in their early 30’s have been traveling...