Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

September 30- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of some Bigg’s killer whales off the Northeastern shoreline of Orcas island.  We cruised that direction and stopped to see a bald eagles nest along the way.  We first got on scene and discovered that the particular family of orcas was the T49A’s.  We watched as the family hugged the shoreline looking for seals.  Eventually they found a good snack and we watched as they worked together to take down and eat...

September 29- M/V Kestrel- 2:00 pm

It was a beautiful day out on the water!  We had some of our well-known transient orcas just North of Lopez Island.  We left Friday Harbor and headed that direction.  We watched as the T65A’s finished up a harbor seal meal.  We even got to see them do a few spyhops!  We decided to circumnavigate Lopez Island to see what else we could find.  We got to see a juvenile bald eagle and some of our impressive Steller’s sea lions.  After going around the...

Piper | 09/29/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

Today began as a blustery September Saturday on San Juan Island. Captains Gabe and Sarah and I hopped aboard the M/V Sea Lion with a great group of adventurers and off into the Salish Sea we went! We didn't have to go very far today, though, because we'd barely finished watching a bald eagle soar off Point Caution before we were watching a group of Bigg's killer whales meander down San Juan Channel! This group of orcas was identified based...

Sarah | 09/28/2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

September has always been my favorite month out on the water. In these seasonal transitions the ecosystem is super dynamic creating unique opportunities for wildlife viewing. On Friday we were incredibly lucky to encounter a humpback whale on our afternoon Classic Whale Watch.

Captain Mike, Naturalist Clai, and I decided to head west on our noon departure from Friday Harbor. Though sightings vary drastically day to day, recently heading...

September 27- M/V Sea Lion- 12:00 pm

We had an eventful day out on the water!  We got a report of some transient orcas down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca.  We headed that way to hopefully get a look at them.  It was a bit of a drive but well worth the travel.  When we got on scene the orcas started hunting a few Steller’s sea lions.  Steller’s sea lions are the largest species of sea lion in the world at a whopping 2500 pounds.  We watched as two matriarchal groups worked together to...

Sarah | 09/27/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00am Charter

We had a marvelous morning out on the water with a private charter. We love getting private groups out on the boats because we can tailor the trip to exactly what the group wants! On Thursday that meant whales!

Captain Gabe and I loaded up our guests and headed left out of Friday Harbor, pointing north for Canadian waters. M/V Kestrel is an amazing tool for whale watching, because no matter where we have reports of whales, we can...

What a day we had on M/V Kestrel! Captain Gabe and I were very excited to hit the water with our trip this beautiful Monday afternoon!  We started out with confirmed reports of Resident Orcas on the West Side of San Juan Island- so we were very optimistic about it being a great trip from the get go!

As we headed south down San Juan Channel we stopped and checked out some incredible Steller Sea Lions who were hauled out on the rocks growling, swimming and putting on quite the show for...

Captain Mike, Sarah, and myself took out a wonderful group aboard M/V Sea Lion to look for the wide array of wildlife that we have the opportunity to watch in the Salish Sea in September. We took our group south through San Juan Channel towards Cattle Pass. We made our first stop mid channel in between San Juan and Lopez Islands to look at a Steller Sea Lion that had just surfaced! It was our first marine mammal of the day! This adult male had just returned to the surface after...

M/V Sea Lion- Sunday, September 23rd 2018

What a beautiful day we had out on the water today!  The sun was shining, we got to enjoy the west side of San Juan Island, and best of all- J Pod made a guest star appearance! 

Today as we boarded M/V Sea Lion Captain Gabe, as well as Naturalists Sarah and myself were very excited about what the day would bring.  After boarding we headed out, turning south down San Juan Channel.  Our first stop was at Whale Rocks were we were treated to some...

Sarah | 09/21/2018 | M/V Kestrel | 01:00pm

We had an amazing day on the water, traveling further south than Captain Mike and I had ever taken one of our boats before, and most importantly, saw killer whales! When we left Friday Harbor we had no reports of killer whales in the area, but days on the water can change moment by moment.

Leaving Friday Harbor, our plan was originally to head north past Shaw and Orcas Islands, up towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. When we have no reports...