Lauren Tschirhart | May 28th, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 pm
The M/V Kestrel departed the dock for our 2:00 pm Adventure Tour and headed north in San Juan Channel. We had an exciting first stop in mind… A few days ago a dead Steller’s Sea Lion washed up on the south side of Spieden Island. Getting out in nature and going whale watching gives you the rare opportunity to view the circle of life, live and direct. This dead pinniped has been serving as nourishment for several birds of prey. After observing this feeding frenzy we cruised northwest along the Spieden shoreline. We slowed down once again to view what looked like a very pregnant harbor seal. Harbor seal pupping season is right around the corner, pretty soon the Salish Sea is going to be littered with seal pups galore!
We continued on, making another stop at the picturesque Turn Point lighthouse on Stuart Island. As we made our way over the top of Stuart we started to see dorsal fins in the distance. This report was of 7 Bigg’s Killer Whales, made up of the T123’s and another group of three that had yet to be identified. We assumed it was the T124A4’s, as they are a group of three that had been traveling with the T123’s yesterday, but it was yet to be confirmed. As we got on scene I noticed two very distinct nicks on one of the whales dorsal fins. That whale had two youngsters in tow. This was definitely T124A4/ Sabio and her two daughters T124A4A/Strix and T124A1A/ Sabine. We watched these whales as they zig and zagged across Boundary Pass. I was hoping they were scouting for a snack, as they kept turning towards White Rock. It didn’t seem like these whales were hungry, as they actually slowed way down and it started to seem like they decided to take a nap. We waved goodbye to these whales and headed for home.