Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 | 2:00 PM
Today's afternoon Adventure Whale Watch was easily one of my top trips all season. We left Friday Harbor and headed south in San Juan Channel, soon stopping at Goose Island to view harbor seals and many sea birds. We continued through Cattle Pass and into Salmon Bank, where we searched for signs of baleen whales among some bait balls. With no signs of whales here, we decided to keep moving south towards some reports of Bigg's Killer Whales, and eventually we reached a group of 8 individuals. This was two different matrilines, the T65Bs and T75Bs, which we have seen quite a lot this month! We watched the families travel a bit sporadically through the area, and we wondered if they were hunting when they suddenly picked up speed and spread out. We got another report of more killer whales a few miles south of us, so we guessed that these families might be going to meet up with them. With this new information, we decided to go check out these other whales and see what might happen.
We zoomed a few miles south, and soon found a few boats in the area that were estimating there were about 9 individuals spread out quite a bit. At first we watched a group of about 5 whales moving through the area, but then we continued a bit closer to a group of three that were traveling close together. We were watching these whales travel alongside us, when suddenly they turned right towards us! This trio swam right up to our starboard side and passed underneath the boat, allowing us to see them underwater! This incredible (and rare) close up view allowed us to also see that one of them was carrying a seal in its mouth! The whales continued moving away from us, bringing their dinner with them. We could not believe this had happened to us! Based on the reports from other boats, we believed these to be members of the T37s, but I am still working on verifying that based on the close up photos our passengers got. Once they were further away, it was time for us to begin traveling back north towards San Juan Island and wave goodbye to these beautiful whales.
On our way home, we made a quick stop by Smith Island to try to catch some glimpses of Tufted Puffins. While we were looking at these cute birds, we heard from a nearby boat that they had seen the blow of a large baleen whale in the area! We began scanning the area, and soon got eyes on a large blow in the distance. We originally believed this was a humpback whale, but as we approached and got to see the back of this whale, we realized it was a Grey Whale! This was only my second time ever seeing a Grey Whale in these waters, so I was very excited to see one spending so much time at the surface! We watched this whale surface a few more times until we had to continue heading north. With a quick stop at Whale Rocks to view Stellar's Sea Lions, we rounded out this wildlife tour with a total of around 12 to 15 Bigg's Killer Whales, 1 Grey Whale, many harbor seals (dead and alive), multiple puffins, a few harbor porpoises, and sea lions. This trip was truly one I will never forget!