Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Sunday, July 18th, 2010 was an evening to remember. The crew aboard the M/V Sea Lion never thought they would be so deeply touched in the presence of the orca whales. We spotted at least 12 members of the L-pod traveling in small groups of 3-5 near Eagle Point. The calm waters on the west side of...Read more

You could not ask for more out of the San Juan Islands than what we got today. Sun, sea and sightings all wrapped up in one stunningly beautiful package. The sea was a bit of a surprise today since we endured some bouncing around as we traveled up and around the north and west sides of San Juan...Read more

As one of our naturalist Lauren mentioned yesterday the whales have been testing our reach lately and today was no different. This morning they cruised quickly up the west side of San Juan Island continuing to head north. By the time we headed out of the harbor the reports were saying they were at...Read more

During June, July and August, we see the orcas almost every single day because they are following the path of spawning salmon. A salmon's life cycle is not complete without a journey back to the river of its birth- returning from the open ocean, it spawns and dies. In the winter, the orcas ply the...Read more

Yesterday, we had a long haul north to view the orcas with a backdrop of the skyline of Vancouver. So, after such a long trek, it was great news that the orcas were heading toward the south end of Lopez Island as the M.V. Sea Lion departed Friday Harbor. After a quick cruise through Cattle Pass we...Read more

Reaching the middle of July, summer in the San Juans is really in full swing. The marine wildlife are just as active as the many visitors that come from around the world. It's almost a sure thing that we will see orca whales these days. Today we spotted members of the J and L-pods near Eagle Point...Read more

It was smooth water at the dock but word was out that the wind was blowing off the west side of San Juan and news of whales headed south closely followed that report. In general it is nice and flat out here and we rarely have anyone get sea sick however when news of 3-4 foot waves comes in it tends...Read more

I do not know what has the orcas so wound up this season, but I have seen more breaches in the past week than I saw all of last season. I love that they are being so enthusiastic and since it always seems to be paired with aggressive feeding I would like to think that this means that we are having...Read more