Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 26th, 2025 | 10:00 AM
When we left the harbor this morning, we had no idea where our morning adventure would take us. With only a brief shore report of killer whales from hours earlier, we began heading north towards the Gulf Islands of Canada. We traveled up San Juan Channel, west through New Channel, and made our way all the way to Turn Point on Stuart Island. As we scanned the boundary waters, we heard from a nearby boat that they had found a humpback whale near Saturna Island, so we decided to go get some looks. We were excited to spot the exhalation of the humpback as we neared the area, and got great looks as this individual slowly traveled near the surface. After some waiting, we were treated to a beautiful fluking dive as the whale likely went on a deeper dive to feed. Soon enough the whale surfaced again, and we got more great looks and could even hear the exhalation across the water! Once the whale arched its back again, going on a shallower dive, we slowly left the area to continue our search for killer whales.
We traveled north between Saturna and Pender Islands, and enjoyed a beautiful ride along the Canadian coastlines while scanning around. The other boats we were in communication with suddenly let us know they had spotted some whales a bit south of us, so we rounded North Pender and traveled down towards Moresby Island. We quickly saw these boats in the distance, and once we slowly entered the area we began to see dorsal fins in the distance. I was excited to see that this was once again the T65B Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline! This family has been seen all over the place over the last week, and I was surprised they had made their way this far north since I had last seen them heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca two days ago with another family. This family is always a favorite to watch, with T65B Chunk leading her three kids Birdsall (14), Nettle (6), and Rook (2) through the channel. It’s always a lucky day when we get to spend time with any whales, but it is especially exciting getting to see two different species of whales in one trip AND a Salish Sea favorite matriline. After enjoying some quality time with these whales, it was eventually time to begin traveling back to Friday Harbor. Today’s weather conditions could not have been better, and the ride back through the many islands and channels was perfect for reflecting on our lucky morning adventure trip. Who knows where the 65Bs will show up next time!