Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Jordan | August 22, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 trip

Today was such a good day! Captain Gabe and I headed south through the San Juan Channel towards reports of transient whales near the Olympic Peninsula. We first stopped by Whale Rocks and saw some Steller sea lions on the rocks! It was really fun to see these massive animals lounging and enjoying the sun streaming through the cloudy skies. There were also harbor seals sitting nearby flopping around.

Then we sped off further south...

Jordan | August 22, 2018 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 trip

This morning started off really crazily amazing! Captain Gabe and I headed out of Friday Harbor and headed south down through the San Juan Channel and almost immediately found a Steller sea lion eating a skate! Skates are a species of fish that are related to rays. So, the sea lion was splashing around at the surface, throwing around this flat floppy fish and ripping it apart! It was so exciting to witness the circle of life at work...

Jordan | August 21, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip

What a great day out on the water! Despite the fog and smoke that is still lingering around the San Juan Islands, we had a great day cruising around the Salish Sea.

We headed south down through the San Juan Channel and stopped by Whale Rocks to check out some Steller sea lions! These animals are HUGE and yet seem super elegant in the water…until they crawl up on land and lumber and roll around. We also saw some harbor seals that are...

Guests aboard M/V Kestrel today got suited up in our exposure suits and eagerly boarded for our Adventure Whale and Wildlife Watching Trip.  Upon departure Captain Gabe let guests know that reports of whales were all quite a substantial distance away, but as always our goal was to get everyone to them so that we can get some awesome looks at orcas in the Salish Sea.

We started heading out- the report we had that was closest was all the way West past Victoria!  In fact we were even...

Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion with Captain Pete and naturalist Eric, I️ was excited to be on the water on such a sunny August day after a couple of foggy ones. There was a report of a humpback not too far away from us, so we decided to head that direction. 

Headed up north towards Waldron Island, we took a left out of the harbor into San Juan Channel. The guests were enthusiastic and many seemed very interested to learn about the conservation efforts being carried out...

Jordan | August 18, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 trip

What a beautiful evening trip in the San Juan Islands! As the sun started to set behind the picturesque clouds, we headed out of Friday Harbor to search for our whales. We headed south through the San Juan Channel and towards Victoria on Vancouver Island.

Before we reached Canadian waters, we found the whales! Suddenly we were surrounded by Southern Resident whales all around our boat! It was so exciting seeing the magnificent...

It was a beautiful day to be out on the water and even better, Jpod had just came in yesterday after a few days of being gone. Captain Pete, naturalist Rachel and I️ were really excited to get out on the water although a very chilly day for August and a bit rainy. As we left Friday harbor, there were reports of the orca on the west side moving up the San Juan coast, so we decided to round the northern tip of the island and head south to encounter them. 

Headed up the San Juan...

August 18- M/V Sea Lion- 1:30 pm

For our tour today we had a report of some transient orcas near some small islands on the North side of Orcas island.  On our way up to that report we saw some harbor porpoise in Presidents channel.  We then got to a group of orcas call the T2C’s.  This particular group is interesting because they have a sprouting male who has a severe case of scoliosis.  It is pretty well known that cetaceans can have scoliosis but this particular individual is the...

[Friday, 8/17/18, M/V Kestrel]

On Friday, Captain Mike and I took Kestrel out for two trips with great folks on each one. On M/V Kestrel we go extremely fast so we can cover lots of water to look for the coolest wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed out and on our first trip we ended up on the east side of Orcas Island in Rosario Strait. It was a group of Transient Orcas (Killer Whales)! We also call this type Bigg’s Orcas. They are the type of Orcas that we see in the inland sea...

[Thursday, 8/16/18, M/V Sea Lion Noon & 5:30PM]

On Thursday, the M/V Sea Lion had two wonderful trips out on the Salish Sea. Naturalists Sarah and I on both trips took great groups of people out. On our first trip we saw a bunches of Harbor Seals swimming around and resting on rocks on Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. Then we went to Lawson Reef in Rosario Strait and saw a group of Transient (Bigg’s) Orcas. These orcas are the ecotype that live on the west coast of North America that...