Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia | June 10, 2019 | M/V Kestrel | 11:00am

Today was incredibly gorgeous; sunny and 70! We received word of whale sightings south of San Juan Island in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we decided to head down there, admiring Cattle Point Lighthouse as we entered the large body of water. Not far south of San Juan we slowed down when we were suddenly surrounded by Harbor Porpoises! I love stumbling along big feeding frenzies when they are primarily solitary animals. This was in a...

Naturalist Alexandria | M/V Sea Lion | Sunday, June 9th

Today was a great day!  We all met up at the office and got our group of 14 together for this trip.  It was an awesome mix of people, and though we are coast guard approved for 49 people we only had 14 people on board so everyone had ample space to move around and enjoy making it feel like they were on their own boat to some extent. 

As we hit the water we started heading out, making a left hand turn and working our way up north...

Jordan| M/V Kestrel | 06/09/19 | 11:00

As we got everyone suited up, excitement filled the air. Eventually everyone headed down and met with Captain Gabe by the Kestrel and we headed out of Friday Harbor. We heard reports coming from Canadian waters so we sped down the San Juan Channel and towards Cattle Pass.

Here we stopped by a huge rock jutting out of the water where we spotted some Steller sealions! These 12 foot long and 2400 pound animals lumbered around and barked at each...

Piper | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30 PM

On this evening’s sunset whale watch we headed out of the marina to go north again, with a very different destination in mind compared to our afternoon trip; the same orcas we were watching by Jones Island were now in Cordova Bay off of Victoria, BC! So we cruised up San Juan Channel and into Spieden Channel to go over the top of San Juan Island and just as we were pointing down the Haro we spotted two humpback whales which were...

Piper | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:00 PM

Captain Gabe and I were on the Sea Lion today with some awesome folks and there was a report of Bigg’s killer whales just up the channel from us! We left the docks and headed north, arriving with the whales shortly after beginning the tour. We were seeing the T49A’s, a group of five mammal-eating orcas which are made up of mom and her four kiddos, ranging from 18 to just over one year old! The orcas were travelling pretty...

Erin | M/V Kestrel | Saturday, June 8, 2019 | 11:00 AM

Today was an absolutely wonderful day out on the water. We left the harbor and the sun was shining! Within seven minutes of leaving the harbor, we came across a pod of killer whales. This is not a common occurence, so the crew was equally as excited as the passengers. The whales were diving in a zig-zagging pattern, there was some circling behavior by some of the younger whales, and there were lots of birds in the area. It was...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 06/07/19 | 5:30 Sunset

As we gathered for our tour, I noticed how wonderfully small our group was! We definitely were lucky to have lots of space to walk around the boat and chat with new friends! Captain Gabe and I took the Sea Lion out of Friday Harbor and headed off in search of some wildlife!

Luckily, we heard reports from other whale watching boats right off the bat! So, we sped off towards the east. We had a fantastic tour of all the islands as we wound...

I have recently uprooted back to the United States after living in New Zealand for a year and a half and decided I wasn’t ready to give up that beautiful scenery. I discovered the San Juan Islands after an impromptu trip with my best friend and decided not only is it incredibly similar to my life down under, but it was a place I needed to be!  Therefore, I packed up my Red Band gumboots in my favorite Osprey backpack and moved out here at the very beginning of May. Being a hard...

Erin | M/V Sea Lion | Friday, June 7, 2019 | 12:00 PM

What a phenomenal day it was out in the Salish Sea! We saw so many different types of wildlife, and the sun decided to show itself as well! We began our trip heading south toward Cattle Point. When we got to Cattle Point, we got some great views of Cattle Point lighthouse. Then we attracted our attention toward Whale Rocks, where there were Steller’s sea lions hauled out on the rocks and swimming in the water around them. There...

Olivia | June 6th, 2019 | M/V Sea Lion | 5:30pm

What. A. Night. This was the most incredible tour I have had thus far! Captain Gabe and I barely made it out of the harbor; “barely” as in we never had the chance to pick up speed because the family of Bigg’s Killer Whales (T65B’s and T137’s) we saw during the morning tour had traveled about 20 miles north since then and were now directly in front of Friday Harbor. This was extra incredible because our passengers have all traveled far...