Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | June 13th, 2026 | 12:30pm

This tour had just left Friday Harbor and was making the turn to head South when a passenger spotted something splashing around a few hundred yards to the left of us. Everyone moved to the side of the boat and watched the area, when suddenly a Humpback Whale launched straight up into the air! Seeing a Humpback breach is already rare in this region, but just two minutes into the trip??? That's unheard of! This jumping whale was a calf, and...

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...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | June 12th, 2026 | 2:00 pm 

Our capital-A Awesome adventure on this beautiful Friday afternoon began north from Friday Harbor through San Juan Channel. It did not take long to spot two bright-white heads atop White Rock! These fully-grown bald eagles were accompanied by some rock sausages (Harbor seals) hauling out and raking in the rays.

Then, just around the corner of Waldron Island, we were greeted by a matriarch of a Bigg’s killer whale family and two of her children:

T10...

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...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | June 11th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock feeling quite confident this afternoon, as it seemed like there were Bigg's Killer Whales all over the San Juan Islands! Plus, the weather was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! We began with a short transit to the top of San Juan Island to catch up with the T100s in Spieden Channel. This family is led by 47 year old matriarch "Hutchins". She was accompanied by her son "Laurel" and her youngest offspring "Estrella". Hutchins has two...

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...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | June 8th, 2026 | 1:00pm

This tour left Friday Harbor in some rainy conditions, but braving the elements certainly paid off for this group! We saw a plethora of wildlife throughout this trip, and the excitement began just minutes after leaving the harbor. After we began traveling East, we quickly spotted a Bald Eagle perched on the top of a small rocky island. Conveniently, there was a Humpback Whale surfacing nearby which made our next transit very short. "Gretzky"...

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...