Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

We left the dock again today with very little information about wildlife sightings and a fresh crew full of expectations for the day. Should we go north or south from Friday Harbor in search of wildlife? It's a question that we sweat over in the business. The Salish Sea is a big place, with animals that roam as they please, and our range limited to just a 3-4 hour time frame.

We decided to go south, as we had rumors of orcas spotted off Victoria earlier in the morning. We also had...

While cruzin' south at the south eastern tip of Vancouver bank, Captain Mike, Naturalist Caitlin, and Naturalist Andrew spotted a few Minke Whales. It appeared to be at least 3 Minkes feeding in the area. Minke whales is the second smallest of the baleen whales and can reach speeds of 18 knots. Since these animals can be extremely quick and can be quite elusive, we got extra lucky to watch them feeding for so long! On top of that we had beautiful skies and smooth seas that made for...

As we headed north out of the harbor Captain Mike got an update about a humpback whale up near the western point of Saturna Island in Canadian waters. Naturalists Emily and Kevin, and the guests on board, were please to find a juvenile humpback doing regular surfacing around every 5 minutes. With a tail fluke up, that we all though to be a long dive, the young humpback came up for a full breach! From then on we saw lots of pectoral slaps and twirling! After departing the joyful...

On this bright sunny day, Captain Brian, Naturalist Kevin, and myself, found a humpback moving North in the Haro Strait. The humpback appeared to be a juvenile moving North for the summer. Humpback whales spend their winters breeding in warmer tropical waters, and then move upwards to cooler, more productive, waters in the summer. We got extra lucky to see the juvenile moving along!

-Naturalist Caitlin

Today we observed another pair of Transient Orcas in the Straight of Juan de Fuca, off Victoria. Spotting two giant, black triangles from quite a distance, we confirmed that we were dealing with two mature bulls. When male orcas come into puberty in their early teens, they are known as “sprouters,” as their dorsal fin begins growing dramatically from about 3 feet to 5, even 6 feet! At first they exhibited the typical erratic diving behavior of hunting Transients, and then settled in...

We last spotted T20 and T21 on Friday near Active Pass, north of Mayne Island, British Columbia. Today we found the Transient pair enjoying the Victorian Waterfront.  Initially the Orcas appeared to be in resting mode, making slow northerly progress. Then they turned the opposite direction, heading toward the majestic, snow-capped Olympic mountains and the wide-open Strait of Juan de Fuca. The sea state was calm today, with sweeping views in all directions, signaling the beginning of...

Saturday April 27
We left the Friday Harbor slip heading north with a report of Orcas in the area but no one was exactly sure where.
With an optimistic group of guests, Captain Brian, Naturalist Andrew and myself eventually traveled west to see what we could find. After crossing Haro strait to the Canadian side we finally received word that Orcas were spotted in south Haro Strait. We arrived to find a small group of Orcas that had surrounded a Northern (Steller) Sea Lion. These were...

At this time of year, it’s not unusual to leave the dock without a whale sighting to direct our course. The relatively predictable Southern Resident Killer Whales may not return to their summer feeding grounds in the Salish Sea for quite some time yet. Fortunately, the San Juan Islands harbor an abundance of life year-round, especially during the spring.

Today we passed by Yellow Island and saw sprays of color from spring wildflowers. Speiden Island is also looking oddly verdant. It...

With a beautiful day at hand we traveled north from Friday Harbor up San Juan channel seeing groups of Harbor Seals, pairs of Rhinoceros Auklets and a few Harbor Porpoise.
We eventually found ourselves on the west side of Stuart Island watching the small nesting colony of Pelagic Cormorants when we notice one of the Peregrine Falcons that are nesting in the higher reaches of the cliff side.
Peregrines are are small rapture at about 18 inches high but one of the more fascinating. The...

We lucked out with the weather today with calm seas and blue sky. Traveling North passing by Yellow island we enjoyed watching Harbor Seals hauled out on the rocks. This was a common theme throughout our trip as we saw many seals hauled out near Spieden Island on Sentinel Rock as well as near the Cactus Islands.
Lots of Bald Eagles too. We stopped at O'neil island, next to San Juan Island, to look at a Bald Eagle's nest which happen to have one of the adults in the nest. The eaglets...