Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 12th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
This week has been full of so many fun encounters, and multiple species of whales all around San Juan Island! Today’s travels led us north in San Juan Channel towards a few reports near President’s Channel. As we entered President’s, we slowed down in the hopes of finding a Humpback whale, scanning all around for any exhalations, dorsals, or flukes. After a few minutes, we saw a blow in the distance ahead of us… and realized it was actually two humpbacks! This was a very exciting find as this was a mom and calf together; my first humpback calf of the season! The pair was traveling slowly up the channel, with the baby spending more time at the surface while mom was below. We got amazing looks at them side by side, really noticing the size difference of about 50 ft long mom and 15 ft baby. Through photo ID, we knew these whales were part of a famous humpback family tree. Mom Divot was Big Mama’s first calf, making this new calf one of Big Mama’s many grandcalves! We eventually watched them slowly travel away from us, and we made the turn back towards the west side of Waldron Island. There were reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales close by!
We made it into the area of the killer whales and scanned everywhere for their signature black dorsals. This was a group of three whales, and they were all spread out around the area. Once again through photo ID we knew who this group was; a well known matriline the T100s, with mom Hutchins and two of her calves Laurel and Estrella. Laurel is a full grown male, so he stood out the most as they all slowly traveled towards Waldron. They remained spread out for some time, and one of the females suddenly was pointed right at our boat off our port side. We remained stationary with our engines off, and after she disappeared on a longer dive she suddenly popped up on our starboard with the two others! All three stayed close together after that, and we watched them continue to meander towards the Waldron shoreline. After these amazing looks, we began to leave the scene and make our way back south. We stopped at White Rock to find numerous harbor seals, and a pair of bald eagles. Another day of gorgeous weather and lots of marine life!
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/