Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 20th 2025 | 2:00 pm

A great day exploring the San Juan Islands – today we unintentionally circumnavigated the main set of large islands! 

Stop 1: Spieden Island

Taking the North side of Spieden we found multiple bald eagles! These glorious birds have made a tremendous recovery after herbicide pollution (DDT) led to their endangered status in years past. Now they are doing well and, in this area, now they have the densest population in the lower 48 states at the...

Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 20th 2025 | 10:00 am

A great day exploring the San Juan Islands – today went North - South - and all over! 

Stop 1: Spieden Island

Going across the South side of Spieden, we spotted 4 Bald Eagles! These glorious birds have made a tremendous recovery after herbicide pollution (DDT) led to their endangered status in years past. Now they are doing well and, in this area, now they have the densest population in the lower 48 states at the San Juan Islands. We also got...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 22nd, 2025 | 12:30 PM

We didn’t have to travel very far today to find multiple species of whales! Our trip began by heading interisland between Shaw and Lopez Islands, and we quickly caught up with a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! This familiar family was easy to identify as the T65Bs, and we got great looks at T65B Chunk’s distinct dorsal and her three kids. I am always amazed at how large her 14 year old son Birdsall is; as a sprouting male, he definitely still...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

When departing Friday Harbor, we have three route options to choose from. We can go north in San Juan Channel, we can go south in San Juan Channel or we can head east aiming for Upright Channel, the body of water between Lopez and Shaw. Most days we are aware of whale reports before leaving the dock, but today that was not the case. Every whale report we had heard of was too far out of our range. These are the days when whale watching...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 19th, 2025 | 2:00 PM

Soon after returning from our morning trip, we were back on the water and ready to search for more wildlife. Not much had changed regarding new whale reports in our travel range, so we decided to travel north once again. We transited past the south side of Spieden Island, and eventually found some harbor seals resting along the shoreline. There were multiple seal pups, and it was amazing seeing them in this brief time with their moms before...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 19th, 2025 | 10:00 AM

I always love our morning adventure trips as we get to help start the first round of searching for the day. When we departed Friday Harbor, there had been one vague report of whales seen in Spieden Channel a few hours earlier. After coordinating with other vessels in our network, we decided to head for Spieden Channel planning to continue west into Haro Strait. We reached Spieden, and traveled along the coast searching for other wildlife...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 18th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

Today’s afternoon began with some light rain and gloomy conditions, but nothing could stop us from having another beautiful day on the water! I was very excited when I heard there were reports of some familiar whales not too far from us up San Juan Channel, so we left Friday Harbor heading in that direction. We scanned along the coastlines as we passed Shaw and then Orcas Island, and reached President’s Channel. Soon enough we began to reach...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 17th, 2025 | 12:30 PM

We have been loving these hot summer days on the water, and it’s always exciting to get to spend time with some whales! We departed Friday Harbor with reports of whales to the east in Rosario Strait, so we began traveling that direction. The interisland route is always a beautiful cruise, and the perfect place to search for wildlife along the many coastlines. We routed through the scenic Obstruction Pass before finally reaching the larger...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Tuesday, July 15th, 2025 | 2:00 PM

The M/V Kestrel cruised out of Friday Harbor, the water was flat calm and it was 75° and sunny. We headed south. Our first stop was to Deadmans on the southeast coast of Lopez Island to view two bald eagles sitting on top of a rock. This bald eagle encounter was quite special, because we got the unique opportunity to view both an adult and a juvenile bald eagle sitting right next to one another. Bald eagles do not get that signature white...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, July 12th, 2025 | 2:00 PM

Today was pure insanity. In the waterways between Boundary Pass and south Strait of Georgia there were three unique Bigg’s Killer Whale sightings, all only a few miles from one another. The M/V Kestrel was spoiled for choice, but ultimately we decided to catch up with the whales that were furthest away, in hopes we could view them before they got out of range. We zoomed north in San Juan Channel, eventually cruising northeast into...