Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 12th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

This week has been full of so many fun encounters, and multiple species of whales all around San Juan Island! Today’s travels led us north in San Juan Channel towards a few reports near President’s Channel. As we entered President’s, we slowed down in the hopes of finding a Humpback whale, scanning all around for any exhalations, dorsals, or flukes. After a few minutes, we saw a blow in the distance ahead of us… and realized it was actually...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 11th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

The sun is back and summer is here! After some rainy days on the water, it was amazing to be out in perfect visibility and glassy waters. Even Mt. Rainier was out, and probably the most visible I had ever seen even though we are about 100 miles apart! After leaving the harbor, we spotted a sea otter swimming up the channel, but lost track as it disappeared beneath the surface… We planned to try to find it again on our way back. We traveled...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 8th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

Wind, waves, and a bit of rain joined us on our afternoon classic tour as we searched for whales in the Salish Sea today. We began by heading east, scanning the interisland route. Even though it’s cold in the wind, I love scanning for exhalations in the grey backdrop. We reached Rosario Strait and spotted the blow of a humpback a mile away ahead of us. While we had some killer whale reports we were making our way towards, this was a fun...

Kelly Klein | M/V Osprey | June 10th, 2026 | 12:30pm

We had truly backyard Biggs today aboard the M/V Osprey! Not but 5 minutes after motoring out of the harbor we slowed our speed to 7 knots and approached a group of killer whales identified as the T100's including:

T100/Hutchins — female, born around 1979

• T100C/Laurel — male, born in 2002
• T100F/Estrella — born in 2014

We watched this group of three transit in a zig zag pattern making their way slowly up San Juan Channel. Laurel's (T100c) 6 ft tall...

Kelly Klein | M/V Osprey | June 9th, 2026 | 12:30pm

Unusually high winds for June here in the San Juan's was not going to stop us from seeing whales! We hastily left Friday Harbor, took a left and continued north up San Juan channel. Slipping into Presidents Channel and eventually Boundary Pass we spotted dorsal fins in the distance. 7 Killer whales total including: 

• T123/Sidney — female, born in 1985
  • T123A/Stanley — male, born in 2000
  • T123C/Lucky — female, born in 2012
  • T123D/Darcy — female, born in...

Lauren Tschirhart | June 6th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

Our Classic Tour aboard the M/V Osprey departed Friday Harbor and headed south in San Juan Channel. We cruised towards Cattle Pass and made our first stop at Whale Rocks where we usually have luck finding the largest species of sea lion in existence. Stellar Sea Lions are found in the North Pacific Arc and males can top out at a whopping 2,400 pounds! That’s like taking two large grizzly bears from Yellowstone and shoving them into one...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | June 7th, 2026 | 12:30pm

Once this tour left Friday Harbor, we went South down San Juan Channel. We had a beautiful view Cattle Point Lighthouse which sits at the southernmost point of San Juan Island, then got some looks at both Harbor Seals as well as Steller Sea Lions! We made these stops quick though because the race for whales was on immediately after leaving these pinnipeds! We entered some strong currents just outside of Cattle Pass as we wrapped around the...

Lauren Tschirhart | June 5th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 pm

Last night was our first Roche Harbor sunset cruise of the season, aboard the M/V Sea Lion. I’d say we kicked off our sunset season with a bang, as we spent the evening observing a whopping 17 Bigg’s Killer Whales! My first major T-Party of the year. A T-Party is when you have three or more families of Bigg’s (or Transients, hence the  “T”) Killer Whales traveling together. This T-Party was a huge shock to us, as these whales all linked...

Olivia Esqueda | June 3rd, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm

We had a small, but amazing group of folks on the water with us today which made the trip feel very special! We headed north through San Juan Channel with a slight chill in the air, transiting through Spieden Channel and cutting up across the north Haro Strait. This brought us right past Turn Pt Lighthouse (with views of Mount Baker in the background!) and aiming for Swanson Channel. This big body of water brings us north into a series of...

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

We often say that every day, and more accurately every hour is different out here on the Salish Sea. These animals are constantly moving in and out of the region, so you truly never know what you’re going to see. Today was the perfect example of that. We are in constant communication with other Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) vessels, so we knew there were no orcas sighted anywhere in our range yet today. It’s not every day we see...