Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 23rd, 2026 | 2:00 pm
After a successful morning whale search, Captain Vaun and I were confident we would find whales again for our afternoon trip. As the day went on, more reports had come in and we were excited to check out some rumors in Rosario Strait. Today was also a particularly hot day, so it was wonderful to be zooming on the Salish Sea again! We departed Friday Harbor and made our way east in between Lopez and Shaw and then through Peavine Pass. Mount Baker led us in the right direction, and this beautiful volcano was visible for most of our travels. Once we reached Rosario, we turned north to point towards the eastern side of Orcas Island. Among the pea pod islands, we spotted a tall black dorsal fin! As we got closer, we noticed a number of other smaller dorsals in the mix as well… This was two different families of Bigg’s Killer Whales! The group of 7 had been photo identified as the T123s and T124A2s, which was apparent as soon as we saw T123A Stanley. I am always so excited to see this family, and it was even more fun getting to see them travel with this other family as well. The group was traveling in line with Mount Baker so we got some stunning views of them. They were milling around a bit at first, but eventually committed to heading further east towards Lummi Island. We followed along for some time, enjoying the company of the whales and talking lots about their family and social structure. I wonder how long these two families will travel together before splitting up once again?
We departed the scene after one final look of them swimming towards Mount Baker, and before picking up too much speed stopped to see some sea lions resting on a red can marker. I hadn’t seen sea lions in some time, so it was great to see this pair resting in the sun. We continued further south in Rosario, taking Thatcher Pass back west so scan some new channels for other wildlife. Once we reached Shaw Island, we slowed to view a bald eagle nest but no eagles were in the area. Soon after we found a small rock island with a number of harbor seals resting on it, our second pinniped species of the day! We also finally saw a bald eagle in a tree top to round out our animal sightings. We cruised between Shaw and Orcas before turning back into San Juan Channel to return to Friday Harbor.
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/