Welcome to the Whale Report Blog

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | August 30th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Today was another beautiful day to be out on the water searching for wildlife! We left Friday Harbor with some exciting reports ahead of us, so we began by heading east along the ferry route between Shaw and Lopez Islands. As we traveled along Decatur Island, we were happy to find the whales we had heard about earlier, which ended up being Bigg’s or Transient Killer Whales! This family of three turned out to be the familiar dorsals of the...

Lauren | M/V Kestrel | August 30th, 2024 | 10:00am

As many of our 10:00 am Kestrel tours start, we left the dock without a firm report of whales. Luckily, we are a part of the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA), which is a private sightings network that includes professional whale watchers, researchers and biologists. In the morning, PWWA members will divide and conquer the different water ways and report our sightings. None of the whales we see out here are tagged, and we don’t use any kind...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | August 29th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Happy Friday from the M/V Osprey! Our afternoon trip began by heading south out of Friday Harbor, following San Juan channel down to Cattle Pass. We stopped near Cattle Point for some looks at a group of harbor seals relaxing in the sun, and even saw a Stellar’s Sea Lion swimming by! We continued past Cattle Point Lighthouse and turned west, and as we traveled across Salmon Bank we spotted a Minke Whale! This elusive baleen whale, lovingly...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 29th 2024 | 2pm | 

I knew were likely to see two different whale groups when we left the harbor on this beautiful Friday afternoon...but I not expect that we were going to see 4 different groups, totaling 13 INDIVIDUAL whales! The stars were certainly aligned. 

The first whales we encountered were of the baleen variety, humpback whales to be precise. Typically, our humpbacks are solitary as they make their way through the Salish sea along their migration route. Not...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | August 29th, 2024 | 12:30pm

We left the dock in Friday Harbor with high spirits and great energy for the day ahead of us! Our search led us to the north along San Juan Island, and after not too long we found ourselves nearing a report of Bigg’s Killer Whales! We approached the eastern side of Spieden Island and quickly saw a group of five whales coming right towards us! We got amazing looks at this family as they swam right by our boat multiple times, and we easily...

Kelly | M/V Kestrel | August 26th 2024 | 2PM

Aboard the M/V Kestrel on our 2pm Adventure tour, we left Friday Harbor with high spirits and turned left to zoom up San Juan Channel. We heard a rumored report of whales around Coal Island, just off shore from Sidney, BC. We quickly curved over the top of San Juan Island and made our way straight across the Canadian border. As we neared Coal Island the rain began, and quite frankly...it never stopped. This amount of participation is unusual for this...

Maxx K. | M/v Osprey | August 28th, 2024 | 12:20pm 

Bigg’s Killer whales have a typical range from SE Alaska, straight down the coasts of Washington and Oregon to Northern California. However, they don’t seem to follow a typical “migration” in the ways our Humpback visitors do. Different families seem to pass through at different times of year. Were still learning about how they move and with all the incredible data collection that happens in this region, we may begin to further understand...

Olivia Esqueda | M/V Kestrel | August 28th, 2024 | 2:00pm

Today was an amazing day out on the water with the family of Bigg’s Killer Whales known as the T049A’s. We first started our tour off by traveling from San Juan Channel into New Channel, just north of Spieden Island, where we saw Bald Eagles, swimming Harbor Seals, and Mouflon Sheep grazing by the water. It wasn’t too long after that when we first spotted the Transient Orcas swimming around in the North Haro Strait. 

Soon after we arrived...

Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | August 27th, 2024 | 12:30pm

Today’s afternoon trip was certainly one to remember! We left Friday Harbor with an excited group of passengers and started our search for whales to the east. As we followed along the ferry route between the islands of Shaw, Lopez, and Blakely, we got some looks at a bald eagle and adorable harbor seals swimming through the channel. We maintained our course to the north east following up on some reports of whale activity, and as we rounded...

Lauren | M/V Osprey | August 26th, 2024 | 12:30pm

“Fogust” has been loud and proud this week in the San Juan Islands. We left foggy Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop came quick as we noticed a beautiful bald eagle perched on a tree right outside the harbor. We love seeing bald eagles out here as they serve as a reminder that there is hope for species that were once endangered. Bald eagles were de-listed from the endangered species list back in 2007, 35 years...