Lauren | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, July 16th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
When departing Friday Harbor, we have three route options to choose from. We can go north in San Juan Channel, we can go south in San Juan Channel or we can head east aiming for Upright Channel, the body of water between Lopez and Shaw. Most days we are aware of whale reports before leaving the dock, but today that was not the case. Every whale report we had heard of was too far out of our range. These are the days when whale watching really feels like pure luck. We ultimately decided to head north. There was a shore report of some killer whales that came in earlier in the day near Schwartz Bay between Prevost and North Pender. Going to look for these whales was likely the best shot we had.
The M/V Osprey made its way up San Juan Channel, pointed towards North Pender. We cruised along the east side of Spieden and made our way into Boundary Pass. Luckily, a fellow Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) vessel found the whales that were reported from shore earlier! Deciding to go north was a smart move. We made our way on scene with five unidentified Bigg’s Killer Whales. We quickly realized that we had the T065B’s (a family of four), but there was also another whale in the group and I was having a hard time figuring out who that individual was. They had a very distinct dorsal fin, with two major notches near the top of it and one small notch near the base. Another boat was able to ID this whale as T037A1/Inyo. Inyo is an 18 year-old female who is not usually seen traveling with the rest of the T037A’s. We watched as these whales headed south towards Turn Point Lighthouse on Stuart Island. Turn Point is the most northwest point in the continental United States (aside from Alaska). Watching the whales surface right in front of this scenic lighthouse was absolutely gorgeous. We observed these five whales as they headed south. The lighting conditions were so perfect that we got the opportunity to see the whales' entire bodies underneath the surface of the water. Even from 200 yards away you could clearly see their white markings moving underneath the surface. It was a remarkable encounter. On our way back to Friday Harbor, Captain Gabe spotted some harbor seals on the shoreline of Spieden Island. I quickly noticed that in the group of seals there were two mom and pup pairs! These were my first harbor seal pup sightings of the season. I was stoked!
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of all the wildlife from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/