Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Monday, June 30th 2025 | 2:00 PM
Another hot summer day! Perfect for zooming around the islands in our high speed vessel the M/V Kestrel. Our first stop of the tour was at White Rock, a known hot spot for harbor seals. Today was no exception, the rocks were peppered with the pinnipeds. There is a big distinction between seals and sea lions, the most prominent difference being their skeletal structure. Sea lions also are MUCH more vocal, if anyone has every spent time around California or our Steller sea lions, you know what I mean. Typically it is dead quiet when we're watching our harbor seals, but today we heard quiet a few vocalizations! One particularly loud moment erupted as two seals got into a spat at the waters edge.
Next, we slipped over the border into Canadian water. A report of 4 Killer whales lead us into the Haro Straight, just past D'Arcy Island. This family was identified as the T69's and made up of:
- T069/Komox — female, born around 1974
- T069C/Kye — male, born in 1995
- T069E/Kodiak — male, born in 2004
- T069F/Kin — male, born in 2010
This is a very special family! Not only are they rare visitors here, but they also have 3 large males in the family! There are only a small handful of families that have this many big bois. It never fails to amaze me when those massive 6ft fins rise from the water. We watched these whales gracefully swim up Sydney Channel, taking their time and occasionally splitting from one another and grouping up again. On our way back to the harbor we stopped to Mandarte for fantastic looks at the largest bird nesting colony in the Salish Sea.