Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Yesterday the Kestrel left the dock heading West towards the city of Sydney, which is located on Vancouver Island.  That’s right, we were headed for Canada!  A lot of guests ask about whether or not we are able to travel into Canadian waters for whale watching and the answer is yes!  As long as we do not dock our boat we are welcome to motor into the Canadian Gulf Islands.  Captain Brian had reports of transient orcas traveling North next to the city of Sydney.  We watched as 4 orcas...

It's finally arrived, our first official start-of-the-season sunset Whale Watch and Wildlife Tour! With the week preceding us featuring gray skies and chilly northwest temperatures, today provided us with a much-needed temperate evening to usher in the summer season here in the San Juans. Clear skies, glassy-calm waters, and the best visibility of all of our surrounding mountain ranges yet, all this perfect sunset tour needed was some spectacular wildlife.

We headed out of the dock...

It started oout as a beautiful, calm day in Friday Harbor with a boatload of excited guests. We jaunted to the west side of San Juan Island in search of 2 humpback whales. We entered the scene and alas! Two black humps of whales rose above the waterline under 15-foot exhalations. The water was smooth as glass, and each ripple from the whales could be seen around them. These whales were exceptional at showing us their flukes, with their undersides displaying individual characteristic...

M/V Sea Lion had yet another amazing early-season trip on May 17th, highlighted by numerous wildlife species. Leaving the dock we headed north from Friday Harbor and were treated to almost immediate viewing of bald eagle and other local bird species. As we move closer and closer to summer the diversity of seabirds is starting to shift away from our dipping and diving ducks, towards more of our murre and murrelet populations. Just one of the many seasonal changes we see in the...

You know it's going to be a good day on the water when you have three naturalists, but it's an even BETTER day when you also have three TRANSIENTS! Naturalists Sarah, Sarah 2, and Rachel set out on the water today with the wonderful Captain Pete in pursuit of the best wildlife that the Salish Sea had to offer today. What started out cold and rainy quickly turned sunny, bright, and calm to boot as we approached the north side of our neighboring Orcas Island. In a few short minutes...

Today in the Salish Sea, the Sea Lion departed North of Friday Harbor from San Juan Island in search of wildlife for Mother’s Day. The sky was scattered with clouds, but the day was quiet and beautiful. Harbor seals were quickly spotted bobbing in the waters outside of the harbor, and sea birds darted into the waters alongside the boat. Into the trip, Stellar’s sea lions were spotted basking (and arguing) on a rocky outcrop jutting from the water’s surface. Being the largest sea lion...

Yesterday we had our first evening trip for this season and it was one for the books!  Earlier in the day we saw all of members of J pod, a total of 24 whales, resting together on the South West side of San Juan Island.  Thankfully, the whales decided to stay in the area for our evening trip, which allowed our guests to have a relaxing and enjoyable view of these Southern resident killer whales.  On our way to the whale sighting we came across some playful Dall’s porpoise.  Always a...

The crew of the M/V Sea Lion was momentarily intimidated by the drenching drizzle and low visibility in Friday Harbor today.  But once introduced to our enthusiastic roster of guests, we couldn’t help but get pumped to point out wildlife and share our knowledge of the wondrous Salish Sea ecosystem. 

Our first stop was Green Point on Spieden Island.  Not one sea lion was hauled out here and I began to fear that we were losing our cast to the gravity of breeding grounds.  Then noses...

We were lucky enough to leave the dock with reports of transient orca’s south of San Juan Island.  We knew we were going to need to go a little further today than usual but the reports were still in our reach and we wanted to make sure we gave our guests the best trip we could in our power.  As we headed down San Juan Channel past the Southern tip of San Juan Island we enjoyed the beautiful view of the surrounding Northern Cascade mountains as well as the Olympic mountains and the...

(May 7, 2017)  After a couple of weeks of hanging lefts out of Friday Harbor and heading for Canadian waters to watch transient orca, humpback, grey, and minke whales, it felt strange to bear right and run south in San Juan Channel.  Such a move often signals that our resident killer whale pods have returned to hunt salmon on the west side of the archipelago, and today was no exception.

Before we reached our destination, we stumbled upon a small pod of Dall’s porpoise.  Our...