Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Lauren Tschirhart | July 15th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

In the interislands of the Salish Sea, it is not often that we get the opportunity to see multiple humpbacks traveling together. Therefore, our encounter today was quite special. We got word that three humpback whales were seen swimming together in Presidents Channel. We departed Friday Harbor and wasted no time getting to that report. We zoomed north through San Juan Channel and Spring Passage and made our way on scene. These three...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | July 15, 2026 | 2:00 pm 

Today was the epitome of what we call an adventure tour full of diverse wildlife, with sunshine and smiles circulating M/V Kestrel. We did not have to go very far to make our first stop; not one, not two, but THREE backs of the humpies (humpback whales). These Megaptera novaeangliae were traveling south down San Juan Channel, where we crossed paths at Rocky Bay. Seeing the sequence of three 15-20 foot blows gracefully erupt in a straight line was...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 14th, 2026 | 12:30 pm

What a gorgeous day on the water, full of so many different species in our incredible ecosystem. There were some whale reports in Canadian waters when we departed the dock, so we began our travels south towards Victoria. We were immediately greeted by stunning views of Mt. Baker as we entered San Juan Channel, and saw many sea birds and seals as we neared Cattle Pass. We continued our cetacean scanning as we entered Salmon Bank and the...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | July 14th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock feeling quite confident today, as several species of whales had been reported South of us in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Luckily for us, that area happened to be extremely calm on this day. We entered beautiful and glassy waters as we passed by Cattle Point Lighthouse. Our first stop was to view two Humpback Whales just a couple of minutes South of San Juan Island. We approached slowly and turned our engines off, and these...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 13th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

Our adventure tour today was full of surprises as we journeyed through the Salish Sea in both US and Canadian waters. We had a few reports of whales further in the Canadian Gulf Islands when we departed, so we began by heading north and wanted to wait and see how things were changing as we got closer. Once we reached Spieden, we continued west and then decided to cross the Haro towards Sidney in Vancouver Island. We soon reached the vicinity...

Lauren Tschirhart | July 13th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 1:30 pm

Today’s tour was filled with tons of spectacular sightings. We got to observe three different orcas and our tour ended with an unexpected humpback whale sighting. Who doesn’t love surprise whales? The M/V Osprey departed Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first wildlife sighting was of several harbor porpoise surfacing to the port side of our vessel. These porpoise surfaced several times, giving most of our guests the...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | July 12th, 2026 | 5:30pm

This tour broke a personal record for me, which was the quickest transit to see whales all season. We quite literally left the dock, and within one minute saw Bigg's Killer Whales passing by Friday Harbor! The group was made up of two families, the T100s and T101s. Each family consists of three whales, a mother with two of her children. The T100s are led by mother/matriarch "Hutchins", and the T101s are led by mother/matriarch "Reef"...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | July 11th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock feeling very confident on this trip as their were plenty of whales within our range! We went North and wrapped around the top of San Juan Island before entering Haro Strait which is the large body of water off of the West side of the island. The water was extremely calm which was nice to see, as this area was a bit choppier and rough earlier in the day. There were 11 total Bigg's Killer Whales in this area at this time! We...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 12th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

Today was an especially great example of how every hour is different on the water. In our morning trip, we had watched a group of 6 Bigg’s Killer Whales, and in that time a few other families had also been found in our region. We departed the dock and headed towards Orcas Island where the family we had found earlier in Lopez Sound was now near Deer Harbor. We slowed our speed and soon were once again in the vicinity of one of the cutest...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 12th, 2026 | 10:00 am

As is usual with our morning adventure trips, our plan changed a few times as we joined the search for whales at 10:00. Before leaving the dock, Captain Brian was thinking we would start by searching south in San Juan Channel and then along the banks in the Juan de Fuca. However, once we were leaving the dock there were a few rumors of some whales in Canada so we began heading north with the plan to eventually search near Sidney. Once we...