Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Abby | M/V Sea Lion | May 1st, 2026 | 12:30pm

A beautiful day to be on the water! We turned left out of Friday Harbor and traveled north in San Juan Channel. We rounded the north end of San Juan Island with beautiful views of Roche Harbor on our port side and Spieden Island at our starboard. We were headed to a report that was traveling north along the west side of Henry Island. As we rounded McCracken Point on the northwest side of Henry Island, we could see some other vessels that were on scene...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | April 27th, 2026 | 1:30pm 

It was a fruitful day for whale reports here the in the Salish Sea, with multiple sightings to investigate in our general radius! Not to mention it was naturalist Abby's birthday! We do believe in birthday luck here at San Juan Safaris... To start our journey we took a right outside Friday Harbor and made our way south in San Juan Channel. As we maneuvered into Cattle Pass, a humpback whale came into view! We watched this graceful giant come up for...

Abby | M/V Sea Lion | April 26th, 2026 | 12:30pm

The beautiful weather never gets old! Another sunny day with calm waters. As we headed south in San Juan Channel, we had a very quick glimpse of what we think was either a harbor porpoise or minke whale. So many of us on board had a split second before it went under again. It just goes to show how much everyone on board works together to spot things because it can happen so quickly! We turned west to travel along the south end of San Juan Island...

Olivia Esqueda | April 25th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm

Continuing our streak of beautiful weather in the Salish Sea, we headed south today past Cattle Point Lighthouse and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The water was calm and we were gifted with sharp views of Mount Baker, the North Cascades, and the Olympic Mountains. 

We headed far west today past Victoria, B.C to see one of my personal favorite matrilines of Bigg’s Killer Whales- the T019’s [formerly referred to as the T018’s]. These...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 25th, 2026 | 2:00pm

I could not have asked for a better trip today. The sun was shining, the water was calm, and we already had some reports of whales in our range before we left the dock. However, before we saw some cetaceans, we had a surprise visitor towards the southern end of San Juan Island! An infrequently seen species of pinniped was spotted on Goose Island, a female elephant seal! We don't usually find elephant seals in these waters, so it was an incredible...

Olivia Esqueda | April 24th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30pm I know we each say this often as the season goes on- and truly, it’s never a lie as people, weather, and wildlife are ever changing- however, today was one of my favorite trips of the entire season. Our whole passenger group was phenomenal, with backgrounds in biology, ties to the island, newcomers who have been waiting and working hard to see whales, and a constant curiosity for not just one thing, but everything. That is what’s...

Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 24th, 2026 | 1:00pm

A beautiful day out on the water today! We turned left in San Juan Channel and headed north to begin our trip. Our first stop was Green Point on the southern end of Spieden Island. We had great looks of a raft of Steller's Sea Lions in the water, as well as numerous individuals hauled out on shore. Shortly after our time with the Steller's, we ventured over to White Rock to hopefully find some harbor seals. We did, which is good! We were having such...

Olivia Esqueda | April 23rd, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 11:00am

What a fun midday trip to kick off the end of the year with the Friday Harbor Sophomore class! Taking a break from their state testing, we had them out on our vessel for a field trip right on their home turf. 

Traveling inter-island, we aimed for Eastsound (the middle of the horseshoe on Orcas Island) where we had an early morning report of the same whales we saw the day before all of way over by Victoria, B.C. On the way, we passed heaps of...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | April 20th, 2026 | 1:30pm 

We left Friday Harbor with nothing but a solo whale report potentially too far into Canadian water for our boat to transit. Wasting no time, we began our journey heading north in San Juan Channel, quickly slipping into President's Channel. As we cruised into the bigger body of water between Waldron and Sucia island, I heard chatter on the our local radio- fellow naturalist Abby spotted something in the distance! Through Binoculars and with Abby's...

Kelly | M/V Osprey | April 18th, 2026 | 1:30pm 

I was beyond excited to head inter-island and investigate a whale report just outside Bellingham Bay. The whales reported where the infamous T419's a mysterious NEW (Yes, new) Bigg's killer whale family that was first reported off Vancouver city last month. Made up of:

• T419 — female
• T420 — male, born around 2012
• T421 — born around 2021

Since then, the group of three has made their way down to Seattle and back, seen traveling both alone and with other...