Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | September 21st, 2026 | 1:30 pm

Another beautiful Fall day in the San Juans, we saw so many species of wildlife today in our search for whales! We had a few different rumors of whales in the region when we left the dock, and we decided to head south to see where our day would take us. Our first stop at Goose Island was full of harbor seals, lots of Double Crested Cormorants, and a beautiful Great Blue Heron hanging out in the kelp. We had great visibility looking out...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | September 20th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

For our naturalist Aly’s last day of the season, we were lucky to find one of our favorite families of Bigg’s Killer Whales after traveling through some foggy areas of the San Juans. We departed Friday Harbor with some rumors of these whales in Rosario Strait, but there was some dense fog we had to get through, and more fog in Rosario that the whales could end up disappearing into.. We headed east, definitely feeling the spooky Fall...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | September 18th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock and headed North, eventually wrapping around the top of San Juan Island and entering Haro Strait. This is the large body of water just to the West of San Juan. We were following up on a report of Bigg's Killer Whales, and it wasn't long before we spotted them! It ended up being a family known as the T65Bs. This family of four whales is led by their mother/matriarch "Chunk" who is 33 years old. Chunk travels with her...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | September 19th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

Our afternoon became incredibly exciting when we heard reports of a famous Bigg’s Killer Whale duo in our area right before we left the dock. While getting to see any whale is an exciting day, one of my favorites to spend time with is one of the most recognizable individuals in our population… T63 Chainsaw! Chainsaw and his equally as iconic mom T65 Whidbey II had been found near East Point on Saturna Island and were heading south, so...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | September 18th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

Today’s trip brought us to a familiar family of Bigg’s Killer Whales that I’ve been waiting to see for a while! When we left the dock, we had a few distant rumors of whale reports in different areas. We decided to head northwest towards a report of 4 killer whales that had been found closer to Sidney, BC. We journeyed north to Spieden Channel, but didn’t make any stops as to get further towards our whale report. There was a bit of fog...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | September 17th, 2026 | 1:30pm

This tour left the dock with some amazing weather from the start. It certainly felt more like a mid-July day rather than mid-September, so it was a great day to be out on the water! We headed East on this day through the inner islands, similar to the route that the Washington State Ferries take. We slowly cruised through a narrow waterway known as Peavine Pass before entering Rosario Strait. We were immediately greeted with beautiful...

Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Saturday, September, 14 2026 | 1:30 pm 

Fall is so close you can taste it, especially this afternoon. The air is chillier, the sky grayer, town quieter. However, the magic of the Salish Sea persists, and the killer whales certainly don’t mind the cold.

M/V Osprey departed the dock at Friday Harbor at 1:30pm today, and within minutes we were at our first wildlife stop! Not only was my favorite seabird perched upon the kelp forest by Turn Rock, but the marine mammal with the...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, September 13, 2026 | 2:00 PM

Today we had the pleasure of taking the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) out on our adventure tour aboard M/V Kestrel! Let’s just say those exposure suits came in handy….

We departed from Roche Harbor and hung a left directly into Haro Strait, where we had a warm welcome from some snotty swells…however, it was nothing our beloved Kestrel could not handle. We trekked across Haro into Canadian waters towards Victoria B.C. after a report...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, September 12, 2026 | 2:00 PM

M/V Kestrel cruised north up San Juan Channel and hung a left through Spieden Channel towards Canadian waters, as a recent report of cetaceans had caught our eyes. We passed the northwesternmost point of the continental U.S., Turn Point on Stuart Island, and stopped to do a thorough scan for wildlife by Moresby Island. This gave everyone the chance to actively be apart of a search team and put those new naturalist skills into practice...

Lauren Tschirhart | September 13th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 11:00 am

For the last several years, San Juan Safaris has partnered with Island Rec to get San Juan Island locals out on the water to see the beautiful wildlife that surrounds their home. Coincidentally, our tour today ended up completing a circumnavigation of San Juan Island… How fitting! 

The M/V Osprey departed Friday Harbor and headed south. We made a stop just south of Turn Rock to view some hauled our harbor seals and a sea otter! The...