Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

[Sunday, 5/27/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

This Sunday was another beautiful, sunny day during Memorial Day Weekend. Captain Mike and I headed out on M/V Kestrel to go find some super cool creatures to watch and learn about. We went north first towards Flattop Island and made a quick stop there to look at some Harbor Seals that were sunning themselves on rocky shoreline. There was a ton of them resting there and a few blinked their sleepy eyes back at us. Then a...

Wednesday, May 23rd | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 PM

This afternoon, Captain Gabe and I assisted our guests aboard the M/V Kestrel and set out to find some whales! With only second-hand reports we headed north to check things out. We arrived off Jones Island and slowed to nearly a stop. Scanning the waters, we found a small pod of harbor porpoise frolicking nearby! We moved west toward Green Point on Spieden Island and found a couple of Steller sea lions soaking up the sun.

Continuing our...

[Wednesday, 5/23/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

This Wednesday, Captain Pete and I headed north on another bright sunny day to the north. We made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island. Here, is a normal haul-out spot for Steller Sea Lions. Today, there was still around 8 left. They were all males of different ages lounging on the sunbaked rocks of the point. Soon though, all of these massive Steller Sea Lions will be gone as they migrate northward to their...

[Sunday, 5/20/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

On this sunny day in May, Captain Mike and I took a lovely group of folks out to look for some great wildlife. We headed north through Boundary Pass, up Plumper Sound, and through the windy cliff-bordered waterways of Georgensen Pass into the Strait of Georgia. Out in the the middle of the Strait there were three adult Humpback Whales gathered round each other! They were super close to each other and were gently swimming...

[Saturday, 5/19/18 - M/V Kestrel - 2:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

For our afternoon trip, Captain Gabe and I took Kestrel north once again. We stopped to see some great Harbor Porpoises swimming in the rips off of Green Point! Next, we headed through Boundary Pass and stopped at East Point to look at all the super cool Steller Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, and Bonaparte’s Gulls resting, swimming, and feeding in this dynamic area called Boiling Reef. We continued up north along the Belle...

[Saturday, 5/19/18 - M/V Kestrel - 10:00AM - Naturalist Erick]

This Saturday, Captain Gabe and I took an early morning group out to go search for fun wildlife in the Salish Sea. Aboard Kestrel in our exposure suits we jetted off at around 26 kts to start our search. We headed north in San Juan Channel and made our first stop at Green Point. This normally is a favorite haul-out for Steller Sea Lions during the winter months but as we are quickly approaching summertime most of them...

This past evening we all boarded M/V Sea Lion for the first official Sunset Whale Watching Trip of the season!  Myself and Captain Mike were both excited, as this is such a beautiful time to be on the water. 

When we initially headed out, there were no firm reports about what was happening on the water, but Captain Mike had an awesome game plan, and it certainly paid off!  We headed east towards Rosario Strait, and within minutes of being in search mode, we spotted two humpback...

Sunday, May 20th | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 AM

This morning the Kestrel powered up and took off north into San Juan Channel. Led by Captain Gabe, myself and our group of guests explored the waters between the Wasp Islands and up into President Channel before arriving at Patos Island to get a magnificent view of the lighthouse which marks the northernmost point of the San Juan Islands and the division of the east and west passages along the archipelago. The lighthouse has been in operation...

Saturday, May 19th | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

On this sunny May day Captain Mike, naturalist Rachel and I headed north with a great group of folks, up through San Juan Channel and Boundary Pass, searching the Canadian waters under South Pender and Saturna Islands. We got all the way over to the east side of Tumbo Island, part of the Southern Gulf Islands, where we spotted a humpback whale traveling northwest along the coast.

When we saw this behemoth’s flukes we could tell it was a BCX...

Thursday, May 17th | M/V Sea Lion | Noon

Pushing off the docks in Friday Harbor this afternoon, Captain Mike took the Sea Lion to the north, toward Spieden Island, where we found a few remaining Steller’s sea lions lounging on Green Point, savoring the last seconds of laziness before making the trek to Alaska for their breeding season.

Moving through New Channel and up John’s Pass we spotted quite a few bald eagles perched on trees and soaring overhead! We continued up through...