Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 4th, 2025 | 10:00 am

Every morning we start our search for whales all over again, so our morning trips are especially adventurous as we are one of the first boats to leave the harbor. When we left this morning, we expected to be joining the search, but were surprised to hear from other boats that a few groups of whales had already been spotted! Since it was still early and these sightings were further to the east, we decided to head straight over to maximize our...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 3rd, 2025 | 2:00 pm

When we left the harbor on today’s adventure trip, no one could have predicted the day we would have. There were reports of multiple groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales at the northernmost part of our range in the Strait of Georgia, so we weren’t sure if we would make it to them or not. Since these whales were so far, we headed towards Canadian waters not planning to make any stops. While it was a trek to get up there, it was so beautiful...

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 Kestrel | Saturday, June 28th, 2025 | 2:00 pm

Today we were spoiled for choice. Before even leaving the dock we knew of at least four different groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales within our range. They were spread out, each group in a different waterway, but all at an achievable distance. We don’t often have such an abundance of choices, it was hard to choose where to go. Well not too hard… Our first stop was an obvious choice, as the T123’s were found right outside of Friday Harbor in...

Logan | June 26th, 2025 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00pm

Despite clouds and rain, our adventure was not dampened. After gearing up in suits and onboarding the M/V Kestrel, our party found quite a few Harbor Porpoise on our first jaunt Southward. Then we ventured further—encountering Harbor Seals hauled out on Goose Island on our merry way. Reaching Whale Rocks, we spotted some large and elegant Steller’s Sea lions on top of the exposed-out crop. Despite wanting to spend forever looking at these beautiful...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Monday, June 30th 2025 | 2:00 PM

Another hot summer day! Perfect for zooming around the islands in our high speed vessel the M/V Kestrel. Our first stop of the tour was at White Rock, a known hot spot for harbor seals. Today was no exception, the rocks were peppered with the pinnipeds. There is a big distinction between seals and sea lions, the most prominent difference being their skeletal structure. Sea lions also are MUCH more vocal, if anyone has every spent time around...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 29th, 2025 | 2:00 pm

San Juan Summer weather was finally back today and the sunny, warm, clear conditions provided the perfect backdrop for our amazing afternoon on the water. There has been lots of whale activity around the islands this week, and today was no exception. Before leaving the dock we knew there were a number of whale reports to the north, so we began heading that way. We spotted some harbor seals on a small island on our way up San Juan Channel...

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...