Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

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...

Today we saw two Transient Orcas way up on the west side of Pender Island.  One of them was a big male with a huge dorsal that we identified as T20.  He had one of the coolest, most unique fins I have seen so far.  With a couple of notches and a port-side lean, his dorsal was easy to ID even from several hundred yards away. The whales were milling, but, overall seemed mostly interested in moving south.

The trip up was Bald Eagle central, with the birds every couple hundred yards all...

Today we learned a very important lesson...

Minke Whales have TERRIBLE breath.

We headed south out of the harbor, went down through Cattle Pass and ended up at Hein Bank.  There were birds everywhere.  Always a good sign.  We stopped and waited to see what else might be enjoying the small bait fish.  Apparently nothing.

We continued on in a southerly direction and about ten minutes later saw a black body come briefly to the surface.  We stopped and waited for another surfacing.  Too...

I was thinking this morning about how amazing the last couple of weeks have been.  We have seen some amazing wildlife lately in this wonderful, productive sea and I just wanted to sum it all up and share.

In the past 3 weeks we have spent 6 days with Transient Orcas, 6 days with J pod, (1 day with J pod and a few K's mixed in), 3 days with Minke Whales, 1 amazing day with unexpected Humpbacks, and a handful of days with charismatic Dall's Porpoise.

We also took out one very...

Heading south from Friday Harbor, we had word that a potential transient pod was seen off Middle Bank and was headed further out towards the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  With the traveling pod in mind, we searched out in that direction.  After a about and hour and a half of travel, fifteen plus miles and some choppy seas, we spotted some whale watching vessels and then, at last, the orcas!  A pod of four to five unidentified transients were on the move, surfacing for several breaths and...

We started our adventure with a little rainfall as we left the harbor but within minutes the rain stopped and after heading south for a few more minutes, we found two harbor seals hauled out and resting.  After cruising just another 10 minutes south, we spotted some dorsal fins off of Cattle Point, and then more dorsal fins and then even more.  We had discovered a very spread out J-pod!  The pod was split up into several different groups, some of which were diving for extended...