Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 31st, 2025 | 2:00 PM
This afternoon’s Adventure Whale Watch left Friday Harbor in high spirits as the skies cleared and gave us a beautiful, sunny cruise up San Juan Channel. Our first stop was at White Rocks, where we saw two bald eagles and a number of harbor seals! We got great looks at the many varieties of colors of the seals, and even saw a few swimming in the water around the island. We then continued our travels north, past Waldron Island and towards East Point of Saturna Island in Canada. As we approached the area, we saw a number of dorsal fins surfacing and were thrilled to find a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! There was a total of 12 individuals, and through photo ID we learned that this group was made up of both the T46B and T123 matrilines. The two moms of these groups (T46B Raksha and T123 Sidney) are presumed to be sisters, so this was one big family reunion! The 8 members of the T46Bs had three younger calves, two born in 2023 (46B7 and 46B2B) and one in 2025 (46B3A), so it was extra exciting to see these tiny whales surfacing among their siblings, moms, cousins, aunts, and grandma (T46B). The small whales made T123A Stanley, the only mature male in the group, look even more impressive as his large dorsal stood out above the rest. The group was traveling closely together and slowly moving south west, and they treated us to a few closer passes that allowed us to hear their beautiful exhalations and even see their large white eye patches. We did notice a number of harbor porpoises surfacing nearby as well, but the whales didn’t seem interested in going for a meal as they continued to slowly travel away from us. Eventually it was time to begin our trek back towards San Juan Island, so we watched their dorsals disappear on a longer dive before leaving scene.
We made a brief stop at Speiden Island for some looks at a few Stellar’s sea lions and many more bald eagles, including some pairs clasping talons in the air! This rounded out our beautiful, wildlife filled day, and we returned to Friday Harbor to enjoy the rest of the sunny evening.