Lauren Tschirhart | July 7th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm
Our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour today completed a full circumnavigation of Orcas Island. We departed Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. We made our way in between Jones and Orcas Island and then cruised into President’s Channel. While boating through President’s we got great looks at several harbor porpoise surfacing on the port side of our vessel. We made our way into Rosario Strait and were heading for Barnes and Clark when we started to see dorsal fins in the distance. These fins belonged to members of the matriline the T049A’s. The whales present were:
- T049A/Nan — female, born in 1986
- T049A3/Nat — male, born in 2011
- T049A4/Neptune — male, born in 2014
- T049A5/Nebula — female, born in 2017
- T049A6/Charlie II — male, born in 2022
- T049A7/Nimbus — (?) born in 2026
T049A7/ Nimbus was acting super spunky and playful. This 2026 calf was splashing and porpoising all around. These whales spent the entire afternoon milling right in front of Mount Baker! We got incredible looks as they surfaced in front of the iconic snow capped mountain peak. Matriarch T049A/ Nan stole the show as she spyhopped on three separate occasions while we were on scene! Witnessing surface behavior from this marine mammal eating eco-type of orca is not something we see everyday, so it’s safe to say we were stoked! We departed these whales and made our way towards Peapod Rocks. The Peapods are a known haul out site for some of our local harbor seals. We observed these seals as they were sun bathing on the shoreline and even got looks at a bald eagle sitting on the rocky edge. We finished our circumnavigation of Orcas Island and made our way back to Friday Harbor.
Want more information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association? See https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/
Want to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/