Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Northbound from the harbor, we soon found our dead harbor seal with about five bald eagles sharing its carcass off of Sentinel Island.  Day three of its destruction and the seal still had some meat on it to feed the local raptors.  Onwards around the north end of San Juan Island, we started to see sporadic dorsal fins belonging to harbor porpoises.  Into the Haro Straight, we passed Lime Kiln State Park on the west side of the island.  We were lucky to have sunny weather with...

The clear, sunny day brought out the normally elusive harbor porpoise…and Mt. Rainier!  The massive volcano, which is over a hundred miles away, was in the backdrop of as we headed through Cattle Pass.  There we saw a minke whale, harbor seals, stellar sea lions and many harbor porpoises.  Once in the Strait of Juan de Fuca we sighted at least two other minke whales alongside many birds.  Near Spieden Island a juvenile bald eagle ate a decaying seal while many others were in the top...

With storm clouds and rain to the north, we started heading south towards Cattle Pass.  Word on the quiet ocean: Minke whales were in the neighborhood.

Passing several plump harbor seals hauled out off Cattle Point, we motored out to Salmon Bank and then Hein Bank, areas known for schools of herring and, subsequently, birds and marine mammals feeding on the abundant food source.  A female and calf Minke whale were seen by other vessels in the area.  At Hein Bank, we spotted several...

Wildlife galore today!  We departed Friday Harbor with a northbound heading: towards the sunshine.  We had quite a pleasant ride up into the waters of Canada, with a few gray harbor porpoises traveling with us and a silver harbor seal peering at us from the ocean.

Off in the distance, we spotted five vessels off Saltspring Island, Canada.  They appeared to be observing some transient killer whales.  As our boat--the Sea Lion--got closer, we were able to identify a large male orca...

It's not too often we have the opportunity to circumnavigate San Juan Island; it usually isn't terribly convenient for where we have to travel and the amount of time we have to do it in.  But today was the exception to the rule.

We got the call in early that there were orcas spotted off of Canada's Discovery Island (just off of the southern tip of Vancouver Island) but that they may be headed out to sea.  So off we went, full boat and ready for wildlife viewing.  After traveling...

On Sunday, May 29th we ventured out on two trips to accommodate all of our holiday weekend whale watchers.  And successful we were.

Headed northbound, we stopped by Spieden island to see the non-native Mouflon sheep and Sika and Fallow deer.  Further on, we saw several harbor seals and Stellar sea lions hauled out on the rocks warming up in the wonderful San Juan sunshine.  Off of bird rock, we saw a young bald eagle (no white-feathered head yet) perched two feet out of the water...

Today was the first day of Memorial Day Weekend and we celebrated it by nearly filling both of our vessels, the Sea Lion and the Kittiwake, for an afternoon whale watch.  Throughout the day, the weather went from gray clouds and overcast to nice white fluffy clouds and sunshine.  We boarded the boats and left Friday Harbor heading north towards the Canadian border.  After an hour of solid travel, several sea birds, numerous islands and a swimming harbor seal, we edged up to East...

After a night of rain, I woke up this morning to still more rain, as it sometimes goes here in Washington.  But as the day progressed, the weather got better and better.  By the time our departure time rolled around, it was looking pretty good and sunny out here in the San Juan Islands.  From Friday Harbor, we headed north with word and hope of possible whales up in Canada by Active Pass.

After an hour of searching and a pass by a few Stellar sea lions, we started to see vessels off...

We headed north with reports of Orca up near Pender Island.  By the time we were on the water about 30 minutes the next report came in that the whales were moving steadily north towards active pass.  We were committed to finding Orca for our passengers so we continued on.  As we reached active pass we slowed and tucked on the side as the big BC ferry came through.  While we waited for it to pass we were able to spot an eagle perched at the top of the highest tree.

We came around the...

I know I have said it before, but I will say it again.  I love rainy day whale watches.  Not the gross, windy, perfect storm kind of days, but the days when everything is still and calm and you can see every bird, porpoise, and seal within five miles of you.  Today was one of those days.  From the second the passengers set foot on the boat today it felt like it was going to be an adventure.  I got lots of questions within the first few minutes of the trip and learned that among the...