Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 27th, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Humpbacks, Killer Whales, Seals, Sea Lions, Porpoise, and a Sea Otter in one afternoon… Wow! It’s always amazing when we get to see any of the marine mammal species in our ecosystem, but extra special when we see most of them in one trip! We knew of a few whale reports before leaving the harbor, so we began heading towards the one furthest away from us with the plan to work backwards from there. Kestrel’s speed gives us so many opportunities to search and reach different reports, so we zoomed up San Juan Channel into President’s Channel and soon were coasting over the north side of Orcas Island. As we neared Clark Island, we began to slow down as we had reports from another vessel of two humpback whales in the area. Soon enough we saw their big exhalations, and after a few breaths at the surface they both went on beautiful fluking dives! From the unique patterns on their flukes, these whales had been identified as BCY1289 “Monsoon” and BCX2081 “Bandit”, the 2020 calf of a humpback named “Raccoon”. This pair continued traveling taking taking relatively short dives as they made their way northwest. On a couple of these surfacings we could even hear their exhalations across the water – in the calm waters with our engines off, this is my favorite thing to listen for! We departed after these special looks, and continued on towards Sucia where we found some Stellar’s Sea Lions and Harbor Seals. Usually these species aren’t resting in the same area since they different levels of mobility on land (and don’t really interact), but today they chose the same spot to haul out which made for a great size comparison. Stellar’s are the largest sea lion reaching 12ft long, far larger than the small 5ft harbor seal. Getting to see them together was a great reminder at how hard it is to tell size across the water! We moved on from this area towards Matia and back near Rosario Strait, where a trio of Bigg’s Killer Whales had been also traveling…
It was no surprise that once again we encountered the T100s, though this may be the first time I’ve seen them in this area of Rosario. Right as we were getting on scene, we saw a big movement at the surface… What was being propelled??? It turns out the T100s were hard at work hunting a harbor seal! After this disturbance at the surface, we didn’t see the whales come up for some time. When they did resurface, they were all moving in different directions spread out in the area. We saw one big porpoising action from either T100 Hutchins or her youngest T100F Estrella, and then all three began heading further southeast to regroup together. They continued to separate and regroup, milling around the area before we then got to see some tail slaps and fast dives again as they were presumably continuing to prey share. Eventually it was time for us to depart, and as we began to slowly move out of the area saw a quick spyhop from one of them before they went back to milling. Once again, so much fun getting to see this family! We continued south along the Orcas Island shoreline before taking Peavine Pass back towards Friday Harbor. Near Lopez Island, we got great looks at a number of harbor porpoise as well! For our last stop, we went to Turn Rock to find the sea otter resting in the kelp. The cutest way to round out our afternoon full of so many species in the Salish Sea!
Want to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/
More information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/