Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Heading North out of Friday Harbor the weather was looking slightly bleak, but once we got going on the water in turned into a beautiful day with smooth seas. When Captain Mike and myself came across a group of 7 transient orcas traveling through Active Pass, we were pleasantly surprised when a young calf popped up next to its mother. We got an excellent look at the pod when they decided to change directions and head within excellent photo range! After spending a good portion of time...

On the waters of the Salish Sea near Saturna Island we encountered a lone humpback. This humpback was found in similar region as the other humpbacks reported this week, and it is quite possible that this is the same humpback hanging around. Curiously enough, we seem to be seeing more humpbacks in this region than usual. This could be from a growing number of humpbacks or possibly an expansion of their migration patterns. It will be interesting to see how many stick around this summer...

With our noon departure today out of Friday Harbor, we had both the Sea Lion and the Kittiwake going out. Captain Mike with Naturalists Kevin and Caitlin on the Sea Lion and Captain Jim with Naturalist Aimee on the Kittiwake had full boats. We left the harbor and headed south toward whale rocks. This is a common place to find Harbor Seals hauled out and see Stellar Sea Lions. On our trip today we saw both Harbor Seals and Stellar Sea Lions hanging out down there. Stellar Sea...

With a report of a Humpback whale on the south end of San Juan Island we departed our Friday Harbor location with a full boat of eager guests. Approaching Cattle Pass we started seeing the blow of the Humpback. After watching the typical behavior of 3-4 surfacings before the fluke up dive followed by around a 4 minute down time, the humpback began an amazing display of breaching and pec slaps.
Humpback whales have the largest pectoral fins of all the great whales measuring 1/3 the...

Great day on the water today! Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, and myself started our trip off right when we came across a group of 6 transients orcas. After watching them surfacing and cruisin' along for a bit we decided to head up further North, off of Moresby Island, in the canadian waters, to watch our friend, the humpback, that was spotted yesterday! After watching this humpback at a distance for a while, he decided to give Naturalist Kevin a bit of a scare when the humpback...

After leaving Friday Harbor, the Seal Lion landed in the majestic waters of Open Bay on Henry Island, where Captain Brian and myself, encountered a young Humpback whale.
Humpback whales breed in warmer waters during the winter and then migrate along the west coast up to colder nutrient rich water during the summer months. Generally, mother humpbacks will stay with their calf for a year. It is likely that this young humpback just left his mother recently. Hopefully this young whale...

I saw my first Dall’s porpoises of the season today. The most playful of our two porpoise species, Dall’s porpoises are known to go out of their way to surf the bow wake of boats. Despite this reputation and our best efforts to entice them, the porpoises we encountered were uninterested in our wave. Their black and white markings can often fool the uninitiated observer into believing they saw orcas. But these meaty cetaceans are a mere 6.5 feet as adults. When first born, an orca...

Great day on the water! After searching around for a bit, Captain Mike, Naturalist Andrew, and myself, caught a lucky break when we found 2 humpbacks over Eastern bank. These two seemed to be keeping close the the contours of the bank. This behavior could reflect their feeding strategies. Commonly, humpbacks will forage over continental shelves and sea mounts where productivity of krill is highest. Once the krill is spotted, Humpbacks have a really cool and unusual technique to catch...

Whale watchers have been reporting a playful J pod lingering on the westside of San Juan Island for the past few days. The same was true of today’s voyage. Our guests were beside themselves listening to the cacophony of vocalizations on our hydrophone; the high-pitched whistles, squeaks, and utterances were non-stop. I was astounded myself!

Small groups of orcas were rolling about all over the place, floating on their backs, slapping the surface with their pectoral fins...

Yesterday the island was buzzing with news that the resident orca pods were making their official entrance to the Salish Sea summer feeding grounds. Whale watchers aboard our M/V “Sea Lion” reported back with enthusiasm that they had witnessed a playful J pod crossing Haro Strait toward the west side of San Juan Island.

Naturally, when Captain Mike received word of a large group of orcas near Vancouver, British Columbia, we assumed it was J pod again, following their ancient and...