Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | August 31st, 2026 | 2:00 pm

We had quite an adventure today, ending August with lots of whales and wildlife near San Juan Island! When Captain Brian and I departed the harbor, we had some reports of killer whale activity in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We headed south, taking Cattle Pass and travelling across the banks to reach the first report that was furthest away. Today’s beautiful conditions made it easy to scan in this large strait, and once we made it south...

Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Friday, August 28, 2026 | 10:00AM

Every trip as we are leaving the harbor, we alert everyone on board that they are now officially apart of the search team. Between the captain and I, that is only four eyeballs scanning for signs of wildlife. However, now that everyone has been primed as naturalists with intros of common marine mammals to see in the Salish Sea, as well as how to spot them, we have an additional 20 eyeballs. We tell every guest that the search starts NOW...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | August 29th, 2026 | 2:00 pm

I was very excited to head out this afternoon because there were reports of a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales I’ve been waiting to see all summer! We departed Friday Harbor and caught up to this family just across San Juan Channel on the Shaw Island side, heading north. It was easy to spot this group of 4 travelling on the shoreline based on one individual, the oldest son named “Yelnats”… It was the T60 matriline! We have recently seen the...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | August 28th, 2026 | 12:30pm

We were blessed with very fortunate whale reports on this day, as there were multiple Bigg's Killer Whale families moving down San Juan Channel as we left the dock! The two families were the T100s and T101s. The matriarchs/mothers of these two families are T100 "Hutchins" and T101 "Reef". Years after these two whales were discovered several decades ago, it was actually presumed that T101 was the mother of T100, so this was a sort of...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | August 27th, 2026 | 2:00pm

We left the dock on this day and pointed North up San Juan Channel. We then wrapped around the top of San Juan Island and entered Haro Strait to the West. This huge body of water had multiple whale reports throughout the day, so we were excited to head that way and check it out! It didn't take long for us to come across our first species. We noticed the tall exhalations of two Humpback Whales from way out in the distance. We took a few...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | August 25th, 2026 | 12:30pm

The weather and water conditions were beautiful on this day which made for a great trip from the start. We turned left out of Friday Harbor and pointed North up San Juan Channel. We then wrapped around the top of San Juan Island and entered Spieden Channel. It didn't take long to spot a family of six Bigg's Killer Whales swimming through the glassy water. It was the T49As! This family is adored in this region and is made up by a mother...

Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, August 26, 2026 | 12:30 pm 

Today was “Notcho” average afternoon. Let’s talk about why!

M/V Osprey departed from Friday Harbor and headed north through San Juan Channel and around Henry Island into Haro Strait. Suddenly, Captain Gabe slowed the vessel to 7 knots, as we were within a half nautical mile of a 15 foot blow that he spotted in the distance. It is always fun being the first to arrive on scene with a whale, as this gives us the opportunity to put our...

Lauren Tschirhart | August 23rd, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 10:00 am 

Our morning tour aboard the M/V Kestrel was a huge success! Overall we got the opportunity to observe a total of 12 Bigg’s Killer Whales. The first group we spotted is known as the T099’s and they were traveling with T037A4/ Crinkle, an 11-year-old female. The T037A’s have been widely dispersed this summer, T037A/ Volker (mom) and T037A2/ Inky have been hanging out as a duo, but the rest of the kids have been off linking up and...

Lauren Tschirhart | August 22nd, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm

Today was one of those special days where we were observing orcas not even 20 minutes into our trip! We got word that the T109A’s had been picked up in Upright Channel, which is the body of water between Shaw and Lopez Island. Many folks are familiar with this channel as it is part of the Washington State Ferry Route to get to Friday Harbor. The M/V Osprey departed the dock and headed to Turn Rock to view our sea otter friend. After...

Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | August 24th, 2026 | 2:00pm

This tour left the dock with a report of whales moving North. They were first picked up near Waldron Island and were pointed towards the Canadian boarder. On our way up there we made a stop at a nearby kelp bed to check out a Sea Otter that has been frequenting it lately. He was resting while wrapped in kelp. We got amazing looks at this little guy as we floated past with our engines shut off. We then headed North and made one more stop...