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 San Juan Island made for perfect viewing conditions.  Adult and juvenile whales were hauling their large, glossy bodies out of the water left and right.  Breaching, spy hopping...

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 Island. But the orcas were racing along and made for excellent photo specimens, plus the spray in our faces just reminded us of how lucky we were to be out on the water. When it was time to start back the...

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 Turn Point off of Stuart Island. We finally caught up to them at North Pender Island in Canada. Other whale watch boats could be seen up ahead but before we made it that far one of our...

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 open ocean where the salmon winter as well. But in the summer the salmon run through the San Juan Islands on their way to the Fraser River in British Columbia.  This time of year the orcas...

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 caught up with a group of quickly moving orcas heading up the south end of San Juan Safaris. Orcas can travel up to 30 MPH for very short periods of time, but we rarely see them moving at...

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 on San Juan Island.  As we neared their location we could hear the impressively loud blows of the orcas' exhale.  Large clouds of mist shot above the surface.  Captain Craig lowered our...

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 to make us a bit nervous.  We headed off the dock with a boat load of excited folks who we warned that it could get rocky out there and to be prepared. It was a beautiful ride as we went...

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 an extraordinary return of salmon.  I expect this sort of behavior from the calves and juveniles, but there have been some monster shows of aerial acrobatics from the adults as well.  A...

Travel and  Leisure Names San Juan Islands  #4 for Top Islands of Continental U.S. and Canada Friday Harbor, Wash. – Travel + Leisure Magazine has just announced its 2010 World’s Best Awards, ranking the San Juan Islands #4 on its list of Top Islands in the Continental U.S. and Canada. The rankings (in order) are: Mount Desert Island, Maine; Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia; Vancouver Island, British Columbia; San Juan Islands, Washington and Prince Edward Island, Canada. The magazine...

Our afternoon trip returned with news that the whales were headed towards Canada.  Knowing that it can be a challenge if not impossible to reach them in areas like the Coal Docks and beyond the office staff worked quickly to contact everyone on the sunset tour and have them at the dock for an early departure. Within minutes of the boat arriving we loaded the evening passengers and quickly departed to get to those whales!

Cruising quickly through Presidents Channel we enjoyed the warm...