Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 7th, 2026 | 2:00 pm
We had an epic adventure today as our search for whales took us all the way towards Whidbey Island, one of my furthest trips so far this season! We left the dock prepared for some winds and waves, but ended up in beautiful conditions throughout all of our travels. Our trek started by heading towards Lopez Island and following the coastline into Lopez Sound. All of these small island channels are great spots for possible whales and other wildlife, and we searched for any exhalations and dorsal fins as we made our way towards Rosario Strait. We had a report further south that was continuing in that direction, so we continued zooming to that area. We crossed Rosario with ease, and approached Whidbey Island. It was here that we slowly made our way on scene to a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! This group of 6 whales was clustered together at first, steadily traveling south. Through photo ID we learned that this was a group that is part of the T124A matriline; sisters T124A2 and T124A4 were traveling together with each of their two calves. It is always so fun to get to see families hanging out together, since each mom usually travels with just her own kids. They began to change directions and spread out a bit, which was an interesting switch up.. Soon these cousins began having some fun together and splashing around at the surface! We saw lots of fast movements, sometimes even porpoising out of the water showing off their incredible speed and strength. This activity continued for our whole encounter, where they would disappear on some longer dives and then pop up again to splash around. After a while we had to begin to make our way back towards Friday Harbor.
Since we were this far south, we got to stop at Smith Island to search for puffins! This is the only place to reliably find either Tufted or Horned Puffins, and we got to see 5 Tufted swimming near the island. We then pushed north, scanning all the banks for any signs of baleen whales along the way. No luck finding other whale species (unless you count many harbor porpoise!), but we made it to Whale Rocks and got to see Stellar’s Sea Lions! One individual had its flipper sticking up out of the water, which looked just like a killer whale dorsal fin but is one way these guys like to thermoregulate their bodies. Many others were splashing around in acrobatic moves – another fun wildlife encounter! We made one final stop near the harbor to search for the Sea Otter that’s been hanging out nearby, rounding out our day full of the cutest (and fiercest) animals. What an amazing day!
Wanting to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/
More information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/