Lauren Tschirhart | June 14th, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 pm
The T100’s is a family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales who have been in the area a lot the past week. Specifically hanging out around Waldron Island. This group of three has been seen circling Waldron for multiple days, creating speculation as to why they may be doing so. The 100s are made up of: - T100/Hutchins — female, born around 1979 - T100C/Laurel — male, born in 2002 - T100E/Tharaya — female, born in 2009 - T100F/Estrella — born in 2014 T100E/ Tharaya, the 17 year old female, doesn’t often travel with the rest of her family. Killer whales can travel 150+ miles in a day, which means members of family groups can sometimes be hundreds of miles apart from one another. Weeks, months, and even years may pass, but the likelihood these family members will link up again are high. We know that their discrete calls can travel far, but how far depends on the topography of the waterways, vessel noise and multiple other factors. So when these family groups inevitably meet up again, I always wonder how it is they found each other. One theory is that they may have pre-determined meet up spots. Was this family group circling Waldron Island waiting for Tharaya to show up? Were they anticipating running into a different matriline of whales? Perhaps T100B/ Freya and her two offspring? These are questions we may never have answers to, yet if there is a T100 family reunion near Waldron Island in the next several days I would not be surprised! The M/V Kestrel departed Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. Our first stop was to White Rock to view some harbor seals. It was low tide, so the north side of the island was just littered with these pinnipeds. Next we cruised into Presidents Channel, which is the waterway in between Waldron and Orcas Island. There we met up with the T100s. We observed these whales as they rounded the north eastern side of Orcas Island, getting fantastic views of Mount Constitution in the background. We departed these whales and continued our circumnavigation of Orcas Island. Next we stopped at a red navigational marker in Rosario Strait to look at a couple Stellar Sea Lions. We then headed west through Upright Channel, making a final stop at Turn Rock to view a sea otter. This otter has been hanging out in this area pretty reliably for several weeks. We watched as this sea otter groomed itself in the kelp bed before returning back to the dock.