Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM | Naturalist Alexandria | June 14th, 2019

What a fantastic day today turned out to be!  We loaded onto M/V Kestrel, excited for the day ahead!  We met Captain Gabe down on the dock and eagerly boarded onto the vessel.  As we headed out we didn’t have any firms reports to go off of, but Captain Gabe had heard a rumor over the radio of a family of orcas that was spotted off the West Side of San Juan Island.

We headed south down San Juan Channel to see if we...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 14, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a fantastic afternoon out in the Salish Sea! It began with humpback whales directly outside of Friday Harbor. We headed a couple of minutes south before seeing two humpback whales. They were diving at the same time and coming up to the surface at the same time. We got to see both of their flukes come up out of the water, and the whales were identified as Heather and Raptor, who are two female humpback whales. After seeing...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/13/19 | 12:00pm

Today started as a beautiful day in Friday Harbor! The sun was shining, and it truly felt like one of the first real summer day here in the San Juan Islands. Captain Sarah, Naturalist Erick, Naturalist Laura and I took our beautiful boat, the Sea Lion, out for a day of adventure! We were incredibly lucky to hear multiple reports of whales. So, we set out to find whales, excited for what the day had to offer.

We headed northeast through...

Piper | Thursday, June 13, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

It was Captain Gabe and I on the Kestrel again today, but the crazy heat from yesterday had faded some, making the exposure suits we provide for guests extra helpful on the water. We had an awesome group of people today and we left the marina in Friday Harbor and headed north along San Juan Island. We stopped at White Rock near Waldron Island where we spotted a pair of bald eagles atop the rocks, which were also littered with h...

Laura | June 12, 2019 | Sea Lion | 12:00

Today we had a fantastic day out on the water on M/V Sea Lion!  We departed Friday Harbor heading out to San Juan channel and were lucky enough to find Bigg’s killer whales not far from shore! 

The family pod consisted of Sidney T123A, Stanley T123B, Lucky T123C, and a young calf T123D whose name will be up and coming!  We spent a perfect amount of time with this family as they cruised around the area and showed off their impressive blows or...

Piper | Wednesday, June 12, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00 AM

Today was another wonderfully sunny and warm day in the San Juans and as we were getting suited up to get on the colder waters off-island, a report of Bigg’s killer whales came through the radio! So Captain Gabe and I loaded up on Kestrel with some awesome folks and headed north in San Juan Channel! Right off the bat we saw an awesome bald eagle resting on the trees outside the marina, scanning the waters for food! We stopped...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | June 11, 2019 | 5:30 PM

What an awesome evening tour we had today!  We were with orcas earlier today for our noon tour, but had heard on the radio once we got back that the orcas we were had headed out of the area by the time we were ready for our sunset trip.  This is always possible, one time of day for a trip isn’t better than the other, but our whales here can swim over 100 miles in one day, so it is always possible that we have them for one...

Olivia | June 11, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00pm

What a gorgeous day on the water! Not only did we have an incredibly warm day nearing 76 degrees, but it was also extremely clear! All the back drops for our photos were pristine with sharp mountain views and clear blue skies. We started the trip heading north through San Juan Channel, past Spieden Island, and over near Point Disney where we saw our family of Bigg’s Killer Whales. This was such a fun group to watch as there were lots of...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Tuesday, June 11, 2019 | 11:00 AM

Today was a stunning day out in the Salish Sea. We left Friday Harbor and travelled north toward some orca reports. As we got closer to Spieden Island, we got some amazing looks at a bald eagle perched in the treetops. It had its white plumage, which means it was an adult. We continued along the coast of the island and saw some Mouflon sheep! They were down by the water's edge eating algae off of the rocks. There were about...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/v Sea Lion | June 10th, 2019  | 12:00 PM

What an amazing day we had today out on the water!  We started our trip out with no firm reports, though Captain Gabe had heard on the radio the possibility of a Humpback up north, so we decided to head that way to see what we could find.  

As we started our way north up San Juan Channel we were treated to a friendly harbor seal that was swimming by our boat.  He seemed to almost be posing got us as he swam along.  We...