Levi Vandebunte | M/V Sea Lion | June 28th, 2026 | 5:30pm
This tour left the dock a few minutes early, which worked out perfectly because two Killer Whales had just passed by Friday Harbor! We left the dock with the sun shining and had a short ten minutes transit down San Juan Channel. We entered Griffin Bay which resides on the East shore of San Juan Island and were met with a lovely sight, two huge black dorsal fins! These fins belonged to a pair of presumed brothers; T128 "Flotsam" and T125A "Jetsam". These two are not regular visitors to the Salish Sea, but popped into the area about a week ago and have clearly been loving it because they're still here! These two spend most of their time up in Alaska, but appear to be in the midst of a vacation to the San Juan Islands. Let's hope they make it an annual trip!
Both of these adult males are absolutely huge. I personally believe that Jetsam is the biggest Bigg's Killer Whale that I've ever seen. The size of his incredibly unique dorsal fin shocked me each time he came up for a breath! We watched these two follow the South shoreline of Griffin Bay. The lighting was immaculate and we got plenty of looks at both dorsal fins right next to each other. We even watched them cruise through a kelp bed and surface with a bunch of it draped over their fins/backs! This is a behavior called "kelping" and these whales absolutely love doing it. They are extremely tactile animals! We watched them exit Griffin Bay and continue down San Juan Channel. They gave us a beautiful view of Cattle Point Lighthouse behind them as they swam past it and into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We stayed for a few minutes longer before finally departing these two impressive whales.
The IDs and details of the two whales that we saw are as follows:
T128 "Flotsam" (M) b. 1988
T125A "Jetsam" (M) b. 1998
After leaving these whales, we made a stop at a pair of islands called "Whale Rocks" for some awesome looks at tons of Steller Sea Lions. They were sleeping all over each other as the last sunshine of the day hit their bodies. From there, we explored the bottom coast of Lopez Island. We spotted a massive Bald Eagle's nest tucked high up in a tree, but there was no sign of the eagle. We continued searching and about five minutes later we spotted them! The Bald Eagle's white head stood out against the green trees behind it. It was perched in a tree a few hundred yards past the nest. From there, we cruised back to Friday Harbor to put an end to a magical sunset tour. I absolutely love being on the water at this time of day, and am so thankful to have shared this experience with everyone on board!
We had such a great time with this group of passengers and thank them for choosing to spend their day with us here at San Juan Safaris!!!
Wanting 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/