Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

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...

Sarah | M/V Sea Lion | 09/20/2018 | 02:00pm

Today we enjoyed an amazing trip spent surrounded by wildlife and the beautiful scenery of the San Juan Islands. Even though we had a bit of rain throughout the day it did not deter our sightings!

We left Friday harbor and headed across San Juan Channel towards Shaw Island. Someone had reported a possible whale tucked into one of the many coves along the shoreline. Half way across the channel… POOF! A minke whale materialized out of the...

What an amazing day today was!  Guests eagerly boarded M/V Sea Lion with the crew Captain Gabe, and Naturalists Sarah and Alexandria.  As we hit the water we were all very excited that within about 10 minutes of being out we saw Biggs Killer Whales (also known as Transient Orcas).  As we approached the family of orcas we confirmed that these were in fact the T49A family. 

One of the highlights from today was the amazing views we got of T49A1, the eldest male son in the family.  It...

Today was an incredible day on our afternoon adventure tour from Friday Harbor. It was one of those September days that I spend allllllll summer thinking about. We left the dock under bright blue skies with great reports of whales around the San Juan Islands.

We headed north towards the reports of whales, and first encountered a pair of humpback whales know as BCY0160 “Heather” and BCY0660 “Raptor.” As we got on to scene one of the massive whales lifted its pectoral fins out of the...

When we first headed out on M/V Kestrel it was quite a rainy morning.  Nonetheless we got suited up and boarded M Kestrel- after all a little rain never stopped us here in the great Pacific Northwest!

We first headed north up San Juan Channel, checking out some Harbor Seals on White Rock.  Those little rock sausages were quite the happy campers, all relaxing on the rocks, clearly unbothered by the rain.  We crossed over the northern part of San Juan Island after jetting by Spieden...

Guests aboard M/V Sea Lion along with Cpt. Gabe, naturalist Alexandria and I were excited to get on the water on this rainy September day with a report of transient and southern resident orcas in our area. Eager to get everyone on the boat and ready to pick up speed we took off to go find these animals ourselves. 

As of earlier, the transient orca report had been spotted by kayakers and no one else, so we went to the general area to try and find them again. With no luck or dorsals in...

Saturday- 9/22 M/V Sea Lion

We eagerly boarded M/V Sea Lion in hopes that a great day was ahead of us!  Our expectations sure did not disappoint!  We were treated to orcas, and harbor seals on this trip and even the occasional harbor porpoise viewing!

 What an incredible day!  Guests on board were very eager to get some good looks at orcas, and we sure did! It seemed like each surface just got better and better!  Especially when our engine was off and those orcas were right off our...

[Saturday, 9/15/18, M/V Kestrel, 10:00]

On Saturday, Captain Gabe and I took a great group out on a cloudy morning to go look for some amazing wildlife. We headed up north. We went through San Juan Channel and up past East Point towards the Strait of Georgia. Here, in between Saturna Island and Point Roberts we started to see some blows in the distance. We slowed down and approached these whales we could see that they were members of the Southern Resident Killer Whale Community...