Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Kelly | M/V Osprey| Sunday, May 25th 2025 | 12:30pm

The holiday weekend brought a full boat of guests aboard the M/V Osprey. We took a right out of Friday Harbor, made our way down San Juan Channel and eventually into the the Straight of Juan De Fuca. We had no time to waste, a group of 5 killer whales were spotted quite far from our current location. The drive out to orcas was absolutely gorgeous, clear skies, perfect weather and hardly any other boats around. Low hanging clouds hugged the...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | May 24th, 2025 | 12:30pm 

We had another amazing day on the water during our afternoon Classic Whale Watch! We began by heading north up San Juan Channel, and then followed the west coast of Orcas island. As we rounded the top of Orcas Island, Mt. Baker was the perfect backdrop as we made our approach to a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! We could see four dorsal fins surfacing together, which turned out to be the T123s. T123A Stanley looked especially majestic as his...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Friday, May 25th 2025 | 2pm

The weather was nearly perfect as we took a right out of Friday Harbor and pointed south. Our first wildlife encounter of the day was a humpback whale just off Salmon Bank. In just the past week, humpbacks sighting have become more and more frequent! This is exactly the time of year they began making their way into the Salish Sea from their winter breading grounds in either Hawaii or Mexico. This humpback was likely feeding here at salmon bank, a...

Olivia Esqueda | May 19th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

Today was one of my favorite days all season as we traveled interisland over to Rosario Strait to view Bigg’s [Transient] Killer Whales! And not just one matriline, but a combination of four! We saw a T-Party [“T” for Transient!] that was socializing and traveling around together. These 11 orcas included individuals from the T100’s, T124A2’s, T49A2, and T124D’s. The eldest among these whales was born around 1979 and the youngest was born just...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, May 21, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Today is what whale watch dreams are made of. This was my first tour of the 2025 season that I’ve seen two different species of whale in the same excursion. We left Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to Green Point on Spieden Island to view some Steller Sea Lions. Four Steller’s were hauled out on the coastline, while several more swam around in the bull kelp. We left the point and headed up the Stuart...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | Sunday, May 18th 2025 | 12pm

My very first Adventure Tour of the year was filled with incredible wildlife encounters! We started the trip with a stop in Rocky Bay for some harbor seals. A rocky cluster hosted over 50 harbor seals, lounging on the rocks or swimming in the shallow water close by. Guests loved seeing the wide variety in coat patterns unique to the Salish Sea!

Next stop, killer whales! Only about a 5 minute cruise north, a group of killer whales identified as the...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | Saturday, May 17th 2025 | 12:30pm

Peak season is officially here! Whales are showing up all over the Salish Sea. We took a quick left out of Friday Harbor and motored up San Juan Channel to investigate a report of killer whales in Canadian water. On our route to Canada we slipped over the top of San Juan Island and into the Haro Straight. This bigger body of water gave us a few quick looks at some harbor porpoise, swiftly surfacing off our starboard side. 

Not long after...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, May 17th | 2:00 PM

Today’s Adventure Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour was about as poetic as they come. The fan-favorite Bigg’s Killer Whale family the T123’s were found swimming near the islands that two of them were named after! The matriarch of the family T123 is named “Sidney” after Sidney  Island. Sidney Island is a Canadian island located in northwest Haro Strait. T123’s youngest daughter T123D/Darcy, is named after D’Arcy Island (a small island right below Sidney)...

Olivia Esqueda | May 18th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 11:00am

Today was one of our favorite days out on the water, as we were joined by many of our own community members! Not often do we have the pleasure of leaving the dock with a reported whale sighting, but right before we boarded passengers, there were Bigg’s Killer Whales found in Spieden Channel, just north of San Juan Island. We left the dock and headed north, with the wind trying to steal our hats and the sun kissing our cheeks. Not long after...

Olivia Esqueda | May16th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm

What a quest we had today viewing Bigg’s Killer Whales in Canada! We started out searching north of San Juan Island and into Boundary Pass. With no other confirmed sightings in the area and one report coming in from the Saanich Inlet, we decided to start making our way in that direction hoping the whales would decide to venture a little further east. We weren’t sure if we would make it that far, but since we left the dock about 15 minutes early...