Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

M/V Sea Lion | August 26, 2019 | 1:30 PM | Naturalist Alexandria

What a fantastic day we had on the water!  When we started out our trip we had reports of orcas in Cattle Pass.  As we loaded the boat and left the harbor we made a right hand turn in San Juan Channel taking us south towards this sighting. 

By the time we reached these animals they had worked their way north towards us so we were able to meet up with them in San Juan Channel right off of Lopez Island.  As we approached...

Olivia | August 26th, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

What a fun morning on the water! Captain Gabe received reports of several whales nearby, so we set out south through San Juan Channel. With our whales just south of Lopez Island, we decided to stop at Whale Rocks and check out the largest sea lions in the world- Steller’s Sea Lions! There were heaps of them bellowing over the water, swimming along the shoreline of this mini island, and snoozing in the sunshine. We also acquired some...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | 1:30PM | Sunday, August 25, 2019

What a lovely afternoon in the Salish Sea! We left the harbor with the knowledge that there was a pod of Bigg's killer whales fairly closeby to us! We headed in their general direction, searching for other wildlife along the way! We went to the southern shoreline of Spieden Island, and we almost immediately saw some wildlife! We first spotted some mouflon sheep, which are a non-native animal to the island. They were brought to...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/25/19 | 11:00am

We saw so much wildlife today!

Captain Gabe and I boated out of Friday Harbor on the Kestrel and headed south down through the San Juan Channel.

We stopped by huge rocks sitting in the middle of the channel and found Steller sea lions! These massive bouldering creatures crawled around the island, finding places to collapse for a nap.  Others swam in the water, diving between stalks of a bull kelp forest! Really amazing to see the huge animals...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM | Saturday, August 24, 2019

It was such a lovely evening on the M/V Sea Lion. The sun was shining when we left the harbor, and the water was flat. We were in for a nice sunset! We headed north out of Friday Harbor and travelled for about 10 minutes until we came across a pod of killer whales! They were travelling along the shoreline of Jones Island, and they were giving the whale watchers on shore a real show! At first they were just swimming along the...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Saturday, August 24, 2019 | 1:30PM 

It was one of the best whale watching trips of the season today! We began our trip with a multitude of reports of killer whales in our area. We were all so excited that there were so many around. We decided to first head toward Boundary Pass, which is north of Friday Harbor. We left out of the harbor and got into San Juan Channel. We passed Jones Island and found ourselves right by Flattop Island, looking at blows and dorsal...

M/V Kestrel | Saturday, August 24th, 2019 | Naturalist Alexandria | 11AM

We had such a good day on the water!  When we started out the trip Captain Brian had heard a report of orcas a bit on of Victoria.  We started our trek down south through San Juan Channel and began heading out towards these reports. 

We stopped at Whale Rocks and checked out some Steller Sea Lions that were hanging out on the rocks. They were so fun to look at, most were hauled out on the rocks sunning...

Olivia | August 23rd, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 6:15pm Private Charter

This evening was absolutely gorgeous for hosting a private charter on our M/V Sea Lion. With 45 people in attendance this evening for a wedding the following day, we set up all the catered food and drinks ready to set sail into the sunset. Luckily, we had a small family group just outside the harbor- the T46B1 Bigg’s Killer Whale family group! This...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, August 23, 2019 | 1:30 PM 

It was an incredible trip watching whales in the Salish Sea today! We began our trip heading south out of Friday Harbor, as we had some very promising reports of Bigg's killer whales around Smith Island. We headed through the San Juan Channel and went through Cattle Pass, where we got an excellent view of Cattle Point lighthouse! We then went into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which was abundant with wildlife. On our way toward...

Jordan | M/V Kestrel | 08/23/19 | 11:00am

 Today was extraordinary!

It was a little touch and go there at the start as we began our tour in the pouring rain. But, everyone really seemed determined to have a very adventurous time despite the wetness! What troopers!

Eventually, the skies lightened, and we were able to dry a bit as we sped down south through the San Juan Channel. Here we stopped to watch roosting cormorants with Cattle Point lighthouse standing beautifully in the...