Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

[Sarah – 05/18/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 2:00pm]

Welcome home Captain Gabe! On Captain Gabe’s first trip of the season we had an amazing day! M/V Kestrel never fails to impress me with her range on a 3-4 hour trip. Friday’s afternoon Adventure Tour was a great example, just of what that boat can do.

We left the dock with no firm reports of whales in our area, by the time we were in the mouth of Friday Harbor a boat had called in… Orcas! We left the harbor cruising north through San Juan...

[Sarah – 05/13/2018 – M/V Kittiwake – 12:00pm]

Mother’s Day, and it was my first trip on M/V Kittiwake for the year! I love taking groups out on our smallest boat, because I really get to know the folks onboard, and we can tailor the trip to a smaller group’s needs. Captain Pete and I left the dock with no reports of whales in the area, so we decided to embark on our own search pattern. Soon into our trip we got a report of a humpback whale in the Strait of Georgia and decided to...

[Sarah – 05/12/2018 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

We had a lovely day out on the water full of wildlife and enlightening ecological discussion. Leaving the dock we steered the M/V Sea Lion north through San Juan Channel towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. We took a break in our journey north to check out some Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the rocks at Green Point, before pressing further on in our journey. Communicating with all of the other boats on the water, we decided to take an...

M/V Sea Lion- 5/18

Our trip today on the water was absolutely amazing! We started out the trip on a sunny Friday afternoon, anxiously boarding MV sea lion to see what the day had in store.  Our first stop was to check out some stellar sea lions who will be getting ready to head up to Alaska soon.  After hanging out with these sea lions for a bit, we continued out into --- to see what else we could find.  As we continued out into the open space in between we excitedly saw a blow off...

Wednesday, May 16 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 Noon

The M/V Sea Lion left Friday Harbor today and headed south into the glorious San Juan sunshine towards a report of two humpback whales near Salmon Bank, just off Cattle Point. Captain Pete, naturalist Rachel, myself, and our guests arrived on scene to find a giant humpback whale pectoral fin waving in the air! Humpback pectoral fins are up to 15 feet in length and we watched as this animal showed us its left pec, then its right pec, then...

[Sunday, 5/13/18 - M/V Kestrel - 1:00PM - Naturalist Erick]

Happy Mothers’ Day!

This Sunday, Captain Brian and I left Friday Harbor looking for all the wonderful whales and wildlife out here. We started out by going north through San Juan Channel and made our first stop at Green Point on Spieden Island to check out the remaining Steller Sea Lions resting on the point. There were a group of about 20 adult male Steller Sea Lions wrestling and growling at each other. These amazing...

[Friday, 5/11/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

It’s sunny weather here again in the San Juan Islands and it’s definitely starting to feel like summer. On Friday before Mother's’ Day Captain Pete and I took a smaller group out to look for exciting animals. We headed north to look in some of the usual places that we see prey for the larger species of whales that travel through our area. We started out looking at some Harbor Seals at Flattop Island. This whole island is...

[Sarah – 05/11/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 1:00pm]

Ahhhhhhhhh… another great spring day in the Salish Sea, perfect for taking the speedy M/V Kestrel out on the water! After getting suited up, we headed out to explore this beautiful inland sea! Captain Mike and I decided to head North towards the Canadian Gulf Islands for the day. As much as previous days’ reports do not forecast sightings, the northern reaches of our range at the mouth of the Strait of Georgia have been off the hook...

[Sarah – 05/10/2018 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00pm]

Captain Mike and I had an amazing spring trip aboard M/V Sea Lion with a marvelous group of guests! Everyday in the month of May we inch closer and closer to what we consider our peak season to see orcas, but don’t tell the whales that!! We’ve experienced an incredible early season with sightings of orcas and humpbacks on about 75% of our trips, far higher a percentage that our predicted 50%!

We left the dock with an early report of...

[Thursday, 5/3/18 - M/V Sea Lion - 12:00 - Naturalist Erick]

May is here and things are beginning to feel more and more like summer. More staff are arriving back and even Captain Pete has returned from his journeys around the world. Captain Pete tagged along with us on this trip as Captain Mike and I took folks out on another sunny day in the islands. We started by heading north and looking in the places where there is food for the whale species and types that we usually see during springtime...