Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Fourth of July on San Juan Island is like no other. Hundreds of people flee the city life to head to this little island to experience the parades, fireworks, picnics, fun runs, and various other festivities that are offered on the July 4th weekend. Both Roche Harbor and Friday Harbor have an impressive array of events for the entire family to enjoy. Some favorites? The log-rolling and donut eating contests are a favorite in Roche! Even if you choose not to participate in the powdered...

We left the dock today with reports of two killer whales just off of the west coast of San Juan Island. We headed north initially and rounded the top of the island before turning south into Haro Strait. We picked up some nice waves at that point, hopping over three-footers caused by the tide and the wind moving in opposite directions. After the equivalent of a splash mountain ride later, we arrived on scene to calming seas and two adult male transient killer whales riding the tide...

For all you conservation-minded folk out there, we've got wind of some exciting news from San Francisco! The city has unanimously voted to ban the sale of any and all styrofoam (aka polystyrene) products by 2017. But why is this such a big deal, you ask? It's a HUGE deal! Styrofoam causes all sorts of environmental problems, and if we can prevent it from even being produced, we'd be taking another step towards the health of our beautiful planet. Styrofoam is a petroleum-based plastic...

When you have the chance to watch orcas in their natural habitat, you can't help but be humbled. These magnificent creatures can regularly swim over 100 miles in a day and can dive up to 900 feet - needless to say, they can cover significant distances in a short amount of time. But all that travel, combined with breaks for hunting and socializing, can sure tucker out a trekking transient. So what's a tired whale to do?

Uni-hemispheric sleep, we call it! It's a technique utilized by...

The beauty of the San Juan Islands and the Salish Sea really shone through today, with the sun beaming overhead, bald eagles soaring every which way you looked, and plenty of miraculous killer whales to get excited over. Today we watched some frisky transient orcas that were hanging out only a quick cruise north of Friday Harbor, a bit to the east of Spieden Island. It was absolutely incredible! We came upon two pods of transients that had just that morning come together and were...

Ever heard of a rorqual? Try saying that word ten times fast! Rorquals are the largest group of baleen whales, and even include the largest known mammal on Earth, the blue whale (those fellas can reach up to 200 tons - WOW). But what exactly is a baleen whale? There's some basic facts that can help you organize your thought process when you're comparing an odontocete (toothed whale) with a mysticete (baleen whale). Mysticetes have two blowholes. They're filter feeders. And they can...

It’s been an excellent year for Transient Killer Whales so far, and today was no exception! Recently there’s been a number of family groups hanging around the San Juan Islands, and we’ve been venturing up to Boundary Pass almost on the daily. Today we left the dock with similar reports and started our trek north.  

On the way up we stopped by a tiny rocky island just off of Waldron Island to look at some harbor seals that were hauled out on the banks. Harbor seals are a super yummy...

It's been an absolute fabulous few weeks to watch our transient killer whales here in the Salish Sea. These marine mammal eaters are frequently seen hunting their favorite meal - harbor seals - along with harbor porpoises, minke whales, and dolphins around our islands. Males need to intake about 450 pounds of food a day to satisfy their appetities, while females need a bit less. These incredible hunters take down their prey in a cooperative manner and share their kills, and any...

What better way to start your weekend than with a confirmed sighting of orcas within the reach of a whale watch tour? Today we left the dock and headed north to the Canadian Gulf Islands to watch some transient killer whales that were reported swimming around that area.

We made a beeline for their last reported location, just off Saturna and the Pender Islands in British Columbia. We arrived on scene to a bunch of splashing, fins, and flukes – we were in the midst of watching...

This Wednesday we had started out north with a super group of people. Captain Pete, Hannah, and I started out by looking for Transient Orcas that had been spotted near Mandarte Island just across the border into Canada. We followed them over the border for a little two nation tour. We watched this one family of transients spend a great deal of time socializing with each other until they turned quickly towards shore. They quickly organized to entrap and take down a Harbor Seal! These...