Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | September 24th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
We are fast approaching rainier days in the Salish Sea, but a little precipitation couldn’t dull our excitement to be on the water searching for whales! When we departed the harbor, we had a rumor of a pair of killer whales travelling south in Canadian waters north of us, so we decided to head in that direction. We made our way up towards Stuart Island, and suddenly got an exciting update from another PWWA vessel… A group of 3 Bigg’s Killer Whales had just been found a couple miles out ahead of us! We slowed down once we were half a mile away, and saw a very large dorsal fin in the distance. We noticed a wide spread within the group, and saw they were travelling pretty fast still heading north. For a while we were viewing them from a ways out since they were going fast than our 7 knots that we maintain when in half a mile range, but we had a feeling they might be in pursuit of something and would slow down soon… Soon enough, two of the individuals had slowed down and were looking to be converging together, and at this range it was unmistakable which family we were looking at. Once again, the T18s had showed up in the San Juans! T19 Nootka, the matriarch, was converging with her son T19C Spouter while T19B Galiano was still pretty far away. Nootka and Spouter suddenly were circling in the area, and we got to see some impressive action as we realized what was happening. The pair was hunting harbor porpoise! Through the chaos of their fast surfacings and even rolling at the surface, it was difficult to tell how many porpoise, but we did see a small triangular dorsal surfacing among them, and even noticed one jump out of the water at one point. They continued this activity for some time, until slowing down and taking some longer dives. They were likely prey sharing after a successful hunt, and we watched as they continued circling during each surfacing. Eventually, we also noticed Galiano was slowly making his way towards them. Before we departed, Galiano and Nootka were surfacing together while Spouter had moved further away. The social dynamic of this family is always amazing to watch, as most often they are split off from each other with the boys taking turns being alone or closer to mom. This encounter was such an exciting surprise for the day! We departed the area to head back south towards Turn Point and then into Spieden Channel. There were some adorable harbor seals resting along the shoreline, and we saw a beautiful bald eagle in one of the trees. In the rainy weather, there were lots of Moufflon Sheep, Fallow and Sika Deer out and about on the hillside, including a large ram. We continued searching for anything else as we made our way back towards Friday Harbor, and returned to the dock after another exciting and wildlife filled afternoon.
Want 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/