Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

A great day to be on the water; we had blue skies, wispy white clouds, and plenty of wildlife to observe.  First we headed out to Spieden Channel and came upon a group of harbor seals hauled-out on an exposed rock.  They were snoozing and enjoying the sunshine.  We continued northwest towards Stuart Island and encountered “Onyx”, L-87, slowly traveling the same direction, just south of Turn Point (48°39.931N, 123°14.114W).  As we continued into Boundary Pass, we encountered members...

Ten members of J-pod were seen along the eastern side of Saturna Island in Canadian waters today (48°45.2071N, 123°06.9784W).  The whales were spread out and traveling north.  J2 “Granny”, the 101 year old matriarch, was identified among the group.   Also L87 “Onyx” was seen traveling with the whales. Although, male orcas generally stay with their mothers and members of their own pod, Onyx is often observed traveling with members of J-pod.  Whales were surface active...

Upon departing Friday Harbor, Captain Craig heard reports of whales traveling south from Lime Kiln Point State Park; we caught up with the whales just west of Eagle Cove (48°27.92N, 123°04.29W) at the southern end of San Juan Island.

Eight members of J-pod were spread out and traveling east along the coastline. J26 “Mike”, a 21 year old male was traveling with his mother J16 “Slick” who was born in 1972. In general, male killer whales stay with their mothers their entire...

Today was another great day amongst our Southern Residents! We found members of J and K pods spread out in the strait, in groups of 3 or less, between Salmon Bank and False Bay (Haro Strait 48°27.07N, 123°04.02W). Some were foraging, some were resting, while others just appeared to be milling around in the calm seas.

After riding alongside one group, we would switch off to another, paying each small group a visit. We even saw a few adult breaches, which ironically occurred just...

With reports of Resident Orcas on the west side of San Juan Island and Transient Orcas north of Stuart Island, it was a tough call on which direction to take. Fortunately, heading north to search for Transients turned out to be a great choice! At Blundand Island (Gulf Islands, BC) we caught up to about 8 or more tightly grouped whales (48°43’86N 123°10’9W), including T102, that seemed to be slowly moving along the island until something kicked a pair into action and they repeatedly...

I experienced something new and beautiful today. We had a service at sea during the first part of a charter trip this morning. Not much to say except that we were honored to be a part of it. After which we headed north, first slowing by Spieden Island looking for muflon sheep and deer, but seeing a few harbor seals resting on the rocky shore and a group of harbor porpoises surfacing in front of our boat!

We then went around the top of San Juan Island and saw our first killer whale...

Members of J-Pod were seen off of South Pender Island today.  The whales were spread out and moving in an easterly direction.  Several individuals were very surface active: spy hopping, lob tailing, rolling over, and even breaching!  There were also a number of mature males including J26, “Mike.”  After spending some time with J-Pod, Captain Jim heard reports of L-Pod off Turn Point on Stuart Island (48°42.140 N, 123°15.687 W).  Again the whales were spread out and...

Sunset Whale Watching Tour off Point Roberts photo by Gues John Mc Cormick

Captain Mike and I found J-pod up by Pt Roberts this evening. We saw Granny as well as several other members including Mike (J-26). Mike ended up doing a full body breach three times in a row! It was AMAZING! Everyone was happy and had a great time.Naturalist, Amy

 

Canada was our destination today, so we left Friday Harbor heading north fast. The longer trip was well worth it though. We spotted at least fifteen members of J-pod just off the west side of North Pender (48°48.22’N 123°19.93’W) traveling north. The whales were very close, almost on top of each other—true family bonding! We identified members of both the J-22’s including “Oreo” (J-22)and her son “Cookie” (J-38), the J-17’s including “Princess Angeline” (J-17) and her daughter...

It was all about the killer whales today as we left Friday Harbor heading south, but we did see a large group of harbor seals hauled out on a rocky island on the way. After rounding Cattle Point heading around the west side of the island, we spotted two members of J-pod just outside False Bay. It was an adult female and a smaller whale that looked like a calf.

The whales were traveling south but stopped moving and started to dive and surface in one spot. We turned off the boat to...