Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 30, 2021 | 12:00 pm

Throughout this summer, we have only encountered the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales a handful of times. It is growing more rare to see these struggling animals due to the lack of prey for them in the Salish Sea. Chinook Salmon is their #1 food source and has been heavily overfished and further declined due to habitat loss of freshwater rivers. Because they no longer have a stable food source of Chinook...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 28, 2021 | 2:00 pm

For our adventure tour, we departed from Friday Harbor with an idea of where we wanted to travel. We headed northbound, first stopping to admire some Harbor Seals hauled out on the shoreline of Skipjack Island. From there, we made the announcement to our guests of some large animals traveling around way north from where we were at, also warning of the ~30 minute travel ahead of us. With an overwhelming “YES!” from our guests, we...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | 2pm | 9/27/2021

Captain Gabe and I haven’t been on Kestrel together for a long time, and for that reason we knew it was going to be a great day. We left the dock with the only sighting report of the day, which was a long shot… but we were determined to make it work. We zipped out of the harbor and headed north through San Juan Channel while just about every other operator went south. It was a windy day with a rainy forecast, but we knew we could beat the weather...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | 2pm | 9/23/2021

Captain Eric and I zoomed out of the harbor, a new sighting report coming from the north, close to Waldron Island. We popped over to Flattop Island on our way to view the lazy harbor seals who were sprawled out on the rocky shoreline, thermoregulating their plump bodies. Birds dotted the trees and the wake around this small island, giving us a good glimpse (and smell) of the base of the food chain. 

Once we got on scene with the whales, we got...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 22, 2021 | 1:30 pm

Today’s encounter with our Bigg’s Killer Whales was spectacular. After a long journey through San Juan Channel towards a chain of islands known as the outer islands, we saw the whale watching vessels in the distance! Rounding the west side of Sucia Island is where we first saw some spouts from a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. This family seemed to be actively hunting and devouring a freshly-caught harbor seal. As they finished...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 21, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Of the wildlife we see in the Salish Sea, about half of our summer inhabitants are migratory. Animals like Humpback whales, Gray whales, and Minke whales spend their summers here feeding due to the prey abundance. The other half of residential animals can be expected around the sea year round. One of those residential animals are our Bigg’s Killer Whales. Though their population ranges from the southern part of the Salish Sea all...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 09/21/2021 | 1:30pm

    Today was awesome. 

Not only did I get to work with Abby and Gabe on Sea Lion, we got to watch an incredible family of whales actively hunting and killing what I assumed to be a harbor seal! 

    We left Friday Harbor on a mission: whales had been spotted north of us off of Sucia Island. It was going to take us a little while to get there but the journey was beautiful and full of great chats. As we rounded the northern tip of Orcas...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 09/20/2021 | 2:00pm

    Today’s tour was a naturalist's dream. When Solan pulled Kestrel out of Friday Harbor we turned northward. A family of unidentified Bigg’s Killer Whales had been reported off the south side of Saturna Island. We had our heading and off we went! 

    We stopped briefly to check out a Bald Eagle, perfectly poised on a small sign post on Jones Island. From there we moved north towards White Rock to admire some Harbor Seals and cormorants...

Haleigh | M/V Sea Lion | September 20, 2021 | 1:30 pm

For our classic whale watching excursion, we decided to travel north through the San Juan Channel. Reports of some killer whales were far up north towards Saturna Island, meaning we needed to make a straight shot there. We passed by Jones Island, Spieden Island, and eventually Waldron Island, leaving Saturna straight off of our bow. As we neared closer, we caught sight of some exhalations! 

These Bigg’s Killer Whales were...

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | September 19, 2021 | 2:00 pm

Our adventure tour took place on one of the beautiful, crisps fall days in the San Juan Islands. With calm conditions in the channels, we directed our boat towards a report of killer whales westbound. One our way, we stopped by a haul-out of Steller’s Sea Lions roaring at one another and playing in the kelp forest alongside the rocks. We continued west and saw spouts from afar. As we arrived, Captain Solan slowed our vessel down...