Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | August 31st, 2026 | 2:00 pm
We had quite an adventure today, ending August with lots of whales and wildlife near San Juan Island! When Captain Brian and I departed the harbor, we had some reports of killer whale activity in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We headed south, taking Cattle Pass and travelling across the banks to reach the first report that was furthest away. Today’s beautiful conditions made it easy to scan in this large strait, and once we made it south enough it soon became obvious that there was a pair of two large Bigg’s Killer Whales in the area! We slowed our speed a half mile away, and began to assess the behaviors and diving times/direction of these two males. Through photo ID, these whales had been identified as two quite familiar individuals… T49A2 Jude and T65A3 Amir were travelling together! I hadn’t seen either of these boys for some time, and the last time I saw Amir he was with the rest of his family. Jude is more well known as a lone male, usually travelling with other lone males or by himself even though we have seen his mom and younger siblings quite often this summer. It was also very sweet knowing both of these boys were born in 2007; maybe they are long time friends in the region! Whatever the reason they were together today, they didn’t seem to be in a hurry as they slowly traveled south east together. We got some amazing looks (and listens) before we decided to head out of the area and work our way back north towards another whale report… A few hours before we got there, Jude and Amir had been hanging out with another 7 Bigg’s that had all went north towards San Juan Island.
We zoomed north, pointed towards False Bay. Eventually, we began to see a few boats scattered in the area with whale warning flags out. We scanned along the shoreline, until we saw a number of black dorsal fins. One large dorsal immediately stood out, and I was very excited to see that it was T137A Jack! He was travelling with his extended family; his grandma T36 Flapjack with her daughter T36B Tattertip and her other calves and grandcalf Maple! We have seen Jack with this group a few times this season, so it was definitely a fun surprise that they were back near San Juan Island together today. They were quite spread along the coast, and travelling rather quickly. After a bit, they turned and scared a bunch of birds from the surface, and then began circling about… It is unclear if they were attempting a hunt here, since they then continued some sow travel. After a bit longer, the whole group then disappeared on a longer dive and we were unsure where they ended up. Definitely a fascinating change in behavior for the group! It was about time for us to turn back towards Cattle Point anyways, so we slowly departed the area. We made it back to Cattle Pass and went to Whale Rocks, where we got some of the best looks at Stellar Sea Lions I’ve ever had! A trio swam towards our boat, lifting their heads out to check us out before swimming past. To top it all off, we headed in towards the Lopez shoreline and enjoyed a fantastic “lazy river” experience, checking out harbor seals and birds as we floated by. With August ending, I can’t wait to see what adventures September brings us 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/