Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 17th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
We have been loving these hot summer days on the water, and it’s always exciting to get to spend time with some whales! We departed Friday Harbor with reports of whales to the east in Rosario Strait, so we began traveling that direction. The interisland route is always a beautiful cruise, and the perfect place to search for wildlife along the many coastlines. We routed through the scenic Obstruction Pass before finally reaching the larger body of water of Rosario. The most recent reports showed the whales had moved more north, so we continued following the coast of Orcas Island. We spotted many harbor seals on some of the smaller islands, which was the perfect precursor to reaching their biggest predator, a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! This family was identified as 4 members of the T36A matriline, with mom Leland and three of her kids 36A2, A3, and A5. They were slowly traveling northwest together, giving us stunning looks as they passed underneath Mount Baker. We could not have asked for better conditions and views of this family, and enjoyed our final looks at them at the surface before it was time to begin leaving the area.
After waving goodbye to the whales, we continued west across the top of Orcas Island and then south into President’s Channel. We continued scanning along these shorelines, and soon enough were back in Friday Harbor to conclude another beautiful day on the water.