Lauren Tschirhart | May 25th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30 pm

Just like humans, killer whales are visually all unique from one another. Also like humans, sometimes they have uncanny resemblances to one another. There are two whales in the Coastal Bigg’s population that are fairly hard to tell apart. Those whales are known as T123/ Stanley and T060C/ Yelnats, hence the name. Yelnats is Stanley spelled backwards. When identifying killer whales, you want to look for three types of distinct markings to...

Lauren Tschirhart | May 24th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30 pm

Today I got the opportunity to see something I have never knowingly observed before, which was a Stellar Sea Lion pup! Before getting into why that is such a rarity, let’s start from the beginning.Our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife tour departed Friday Harbor and headed towards the ferry route. We crossed San Juan Channel and cruised through Upright, eventually making our way through Peavine Pass on the north side of Blakely. Once we made...

Lauren Tschirhart | May 23rd, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

I cannot begin to express how excited I was leaving the dock today. It felt like a Memorial Weekend Miracle! All six members of the T065A’s were spotted traveling together in Rosario Strait. The T065A's were my first ever favorite family. They were around quite a bit the summer of 2021, my first year living on San Juan, and they totally stole my heart. Back then, it wasn’t as rare to see the entire family group together. All the boys in...

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...

Lauren Tschirhart | May 11th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

Today was my first day back to work after spending a winter in Hawai’i, and what a welcome back it was! I couldn’t have asked for a better start to my sixth season here with San Juan Safaris. Our tour started with a behind the scenes debate on which way to go. We already knew of two different groups of Bigg’s killer whales in the area, one north of Friday Harbor, and one south. It’s always incredible when there are options before we even...

Kelly Klein | May 13th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30pm 

We took a left outside Friday Harbor and pointed north in San Juan Channel. Almost instantaneously, we were treated to a bald eagle sitting high in the evergreens as we cruised toward the nearest whale report. A quick 15 minute transit and we were on scene with 6 orcas identified as the T49a's, consisting of:

• 049A/Nan — female, born in 1986
• T049A3/Nat — male, born in 2011
• T049A4/Neptune — male, born in 2014
• T049A5/Nebula — female, born in 2017
• T049A6...

Olivia Esqueda | May 10th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30pm 

This Sunday truly ended up being the most wonderful Mother’s Day Trip. The weather brightened up after a chilly week, and it was warm out there in San Juan Channel. And on top of that, we had Bigg’s Killer Whales found in San Juan Channel swimming towards Friday Harbor shortly before we left the dock. This meant we never had the chance to pick up speed before we came across them! 

The T049A’s have been hanging around a lot in the last few...

Olivia Esqueda | May 4th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30pm

Setting off for our second trip of the day, we went north towards Spieden Channel where we looked at Stellers’ Sea Lions, Bald Eagles, and Mouflon Sheep. Shortly after, we rejoined with the T049A’s [Transient Orcas/ Bigg’s Killer Whales] that we had found earlier that morning. This time, they had recently hunted and were prey sharing beneath the water in Spieden Channel, not far from a Harbor Seal haul out. With bits of their food floating to...

Olivia Esqueda | May 4th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 9:00am

This morning, we were the first vessel off the dock. It was warm, there were calm seas, and mountain views. With hot coffee in hand, this felt like a wonderful way to start the day in the Salish Sea. We set off north up San Juan Channel, curved through Spring Passage, and headed into President’s Channel because there were some rumors from an early morning water taxi of sightings north of Orcas Island and heading towards East Point on Saturna...

Abby | M/V Osprey | May 2nd, 2026 | 12:30pm

Summer feels like it is finally here! It was a beautiful day to be on the boat. We turned right out of Friday Harbor and started heading south in San Juan Channel. Our goal was to reach Whale Rocks which is off the shore of Cattle Point on San Juan Island. We weren't entirely sure where we wanted to go today, so we made the decision as we got closer to the report. Once we reached the south end of San Juan Island, we decided to turn right, heading...