Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Sunday, June 15th 2025 | 2:00 PM
Heading south in San Juan Channel, our first stop was for our ever so lovable harbor seals. This haul out site near Turn Point provided a perfect example of the wide variety in coat patterns unique to the Salish Sea. Some seals pitch black, others snow white and every mixture in between! Moving further down San Juan Channel, through Cattle Pass and into the Straight of Juan de Fuca we eventually came on scene with 4 killer whales identified as the T37's, made up of:
- 037/Rocky III/Pizza Fin — female, born in 1979
- T037B/Harald — female, born in 1998
- T037B1/Lance — male, born in 2012
- T037B3/Slice — born in 2023
The matriarch of the family, T37 also known as "Pizza Fin", mostly sustained separation from the other three in the family. At times, she was over 1/2 mile away from the group...maybe grandma needed some alone time?
Out next destination was a group of 7 orcas off the west side of San Juan Island. This group included members of the T65B's and The T75C's:
- T065B/Chunk — female, born in 1993
- T065B1/Birdsall — male, born in 2011
- T065B2/Nettle/Corvis — born in 2019
- T065B3/Rook — male, born in 2023
- T075C/Bam-Bam — female, born in 1998
- T075C3/Flint — born in 2021
- T075C4Slate — born in 2023
This group appeared to be napping, giving us gorgeous slow-mo looks at each dorsal fine with every surface. The largest fin in the group belonged to T065B1, this teenage likely just reached his sprouter phase; the growth spurt period in a male orcas life in which they quickly develop that massive 6ft dorsal fin. We finished off the trip heading north around the top of San Juan Island. As we pulled back into the harbor we had officially circumnavigated San Juan Island!