Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Today we got to see a group of transient orca whales just north of San Juan Island.  On our way out of Friday Harbor we got a look at a swimming juvenile Steller’s sea lion.  We then continued to head out of the Harbor and went into Presidents channel where we came across the T137’s.  When we first got on scene the whales were all spread out and foraging for any tasty mammal snacks.  We watched as the whales were spread out but surfaced in unison.  We then got to see them alternate...

This afternoon the Sea Lion made a long trek up into the Strait of Georgia where we encountered the T65A’s socializing.  We left Friday Harbor with reports of orcas near Point Roberts, not far from the city of Vancouver.  We journeyed our way up to that area and on the way we saw some harbor porpoise.  Once up in the strait we watched the whales as they appeared to be socializing, we even got to see one whale spyhop out of the water.  Because we went such a distance to be able to see...

Today was a gorgeous morning on M/V Kestrel!

We took to the waters this morning at 10am in search of whales!  Captain Mike had gotten a report of Transient Orcas up North near Tumbo Island!  Luckily Kestrel is a incredible vessel- the boat equivalent of a well bread race horse shall we say? Captain Mike and myself, along with our incredible guests were up for the adventure and we headed north! 

On our way we were treated to some adorable harbor porpoise views as they frolicked in San...

Today we left Friday Harbor with reports of transient orcas in the southern part of Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Townsend.  We headed south of San Juan Island and came across the T137’s, a family of four mammal eating whales.  When we first arrived we saw the whales enjoying some prey-sharing time.  This is after whales have completed a kill and move on to tearing the carcass apart and sharing it among the family members.  We were also lucky enough to see some surface social...

[Tuesday, 6/27/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 5:30PM - Naturalist Erick]

On Tuesday, Captain Mike and myself were on our own with a smaller group of guests on the sunset tour - aka my favorite tour. We went south through San Juan Channel and Cattle Pass to eventually head towards the southern end of Rosario Strait. We were pointed in this direction to look for a Humpback Whale that we had seen during the afternoon trip. On our way there we stopped at Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass to look at the...

Jordan | June 26, 2018 | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30 trip

Another lovely day began with leaving Friday Harbor at our newly scheduled time of 1:30 pm. Captain Mike, Naturalist Erick and I headed south through the San Juan Channel and past Cattle Pass.

A group of giant Steller sealions were crawling high up on the rocks at Whale Rocks and then jumping off into the water, making a huge splash! There were also some harbor seals down on the lower rocks near the waters edge. Due to the seals bone...

Captain Pete and I were taking off for our second trip of the day along with a handful of cheerful guests. We had been with some transient orcas earlier today who had swum out of our reach for our sunset trip, so we were hoping to find a humpback hanging out nearby. We headed down the San Juan Channel as the wind started to pick up and cause the waters to get a bit choppy. Once we reached Whale Rocks, we had to stop and say hi to our Steller Sea lions who seem to have chosen to...

Guests aboard M/V Kestrel were treated to a fantastic day on the water yesterday, as Transient Orca pods T49A’s and T65A’s all hung out swimming around the south park of Spieden Island.  We saw lot’s of tail lobs from these oras, and even some breaches by some of the smaller kiddo orcas! 

We started out the trip suiting up in our very fashionable exposure suits, and heading down to board M/V Kestrel.  After Captain Gabe talked to us about safety and Kestrel we boarded and began out...

Captain Mike, our excited guests, and I took off down the San Juan Channel on a peaceful Saturday afternoon. Firstly, Captain Mike went through the inside of Turn Island and came out at a harbor seal haul out to observe some seals who happened to have some pups with them! We then continued down the channel and as we approached Cattle Pass, with surprisingly calm waters, we saw some sea lions posted up on Whale rocks. Some of these sea lions were busy cooling off in the water and...

Captain Mike, Rachel, and I boarded the M/V Sea Lion today with a great group of guests! Today there was a report of some Bigg’s killer whales just outside of Friday Harbor so as we boated into the sunny San Juan Channel, we headed north. Along the way, we came across a bald eagle’s nest, occupied by an adult and a juvenile which were peering down onto the shores of their island at a group of harbor seals which had made themselves comfortable on the low-lying rocks. We carried on and...