Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Haleigh | M/V Kestrel | July 29, 2021 | 2:00pm

I feel grateful for every day I spend on the water. On certain trips like today, it makes me think we all had some good karma in our favor. Calm waters and sunny weather made for an enjoyable departure headed inter-island. Passing through Orcas Island and Lopez Island, Mount Baker revealed itself for the most picturesque PNW image. We rounded through Peavine Pass, turning north towards Pea Pod Rocks. Lumped around the edges like a pack...

Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 07/29/2021 | 2:00pm

    Today was wild, y’all. Captain Pete and I had no idea what to expect when Sea Lion left Friday Harbor. There were rumors of Bigg’s Killer Whales north of us off the south side of Lummi Island but as we know, whales stay rumors until you see them yourself! We carried on taking the inter-island route, up and over Lopez and through Obstruction Pass. We passed by numerous harbor porpoises during the journey as they surfaced for air in our...

Maxx K. | M/V Kestrel | 07/28/2021 | 2:00pm

    Kestrel zoomed out of Friday Harbor and began racing towards the mainland, wrapping up and over Lopez and down and around between Blakey and Decatur Islands. It has been a week or two since I’ve been on Kestrel and I’ve forgotten how fast this vessel can fly! Within 40 minutes we were slowed down and already approaching a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales that were making their way southbound along Whidbey Island. 

By the time we arrived...

Jordan | M/V Osprey | 07/28/2021 12:30pm

What a fantastic day out on the water! Somewhere wore their lucky whale socks because we saw not only one but two different species of whales!!

As the crew and I headed down south, we passed through the San Juan Channel. As we scanned the Lopez Island shoreline, we quickly found a humpback whale!!

The behemoth cruised through the water effortlessly as he headed out through turbulent waters to open sea. His breathe shot out high above the...

Maxx K. | M/V Osprey | 07/27/2021 | 5:30pm

    Osprey left Friday Harbor heading north this evening. Our morning trip left a family of Bigg’s Killer Whales off Lime Kiln on the west coast of San Juan Island. A mere three hours later this same family was reported up and over Orcas Island, approaching Sucia Island. It took us a little over 40 minutes to reach them: 

T037A Volker (1994, F)

T037A1 Inyo (2007, M)

T037A2 Inky (2009, —)

T037A3 Spinnaker (2013, —)

T037A4 Crinkle (2015, —)

Abby | M/V Osprey | 7/25/2021

Captain Gabe, Alexandria, Laura, and I left Friday Harbor with no sightings or reports of whales in our waters. It was clear early on that we would head north in search of nutrient-rich waters and potentially some baleen whales. We all clutched our binoculars and crossed our fingers for exhales to present themselves like confetti across the calm evening waters.

Harbor seal pups lifted their heads as we passed rocky haul-out sites. Harbor porpoise...

Abby | M/V Osprey | 7/25/2021

Captain Gabe, Alexandria, Laura, and I left Friday Harbor with no sightings or reports of whales in our waters. It was clear early on that we would head north in search of nutrient-rich waters and potentially some baleen whales. We all clutched our binoculars and crossed our fingers for exhales to present themselves like confetti across the calm evening waters.

Harbor seal pups lifted their heads as we passed rocky haul-out sites. Harbor porpoise...

Jordan | M/V Sea Lion | 07/25/2021 10:00am

What a lovely day out on the water.

Captain Pete and I headed south down the San Juan Channel and out towards open waters. We searched around the southern shores of Lopez Island looking in calm waters for any blows. Not finding anything just yet, we spread our search further south out into open waters.

We stopped by some rocks where we spotted Steller sea lions! These huge pinnipeds climbed up the steep rock face and barked at each other as...

M/V Osprey | Friday, July 23rd | Naturalist Alexandria 

We had a beautiful day I don’t know water this evening! As we left Friday Harbor we had a report of orcas down south in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Any trip where we start out with a report doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything but it is always a good start! I like to consider it being cautiously optimistic. I say that because we work with a network of captains on the water if one spot something we all hear about it, so leaving...

Abby & Maxx | Sea Lion | 6/23/2021

Whale, whale, whale. Hello there! Abby here.

I just got back from this stellar trip and am now on a complete orca high.

Captain Pete, Maxx, and I zipped out of Friday Harbor to find the T037A’s in San Juan Channel.

• Volker T037A (Female, 1994)
  
  • Inyo T037A1 (Gender Unknown, 2007)
  • Inky T037A2 (Male, 2009)
  • Spinnaker T037A3 (Male, 2013)
  • Crinkle T037A4 (Gender Unknown, 2015)

As we headed south through San Juan Channel, travelling parallel to our...