Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 23rd, 2026 | 9:00 am
Captain Vaun and I began our morning as the first PWWA vessel searching our area for whales on our 9:00 tour, which meant that anything was possible! We departed Roche Harbor and decided to head north east toward the boundary waters, pointing towards Waldron Island. We stopped at White Rock to view some harbor seals and a bald eagle that was being harassed by a group of gulls. It’s always amazing how the smaller birds can intimidate an eagle to leave the area! This was also a great stop to scan the many waterways that intersect in this area, so we took our time admiring the seals and looking all around us. We slowly departed the rock to continue moving north, and as soon as we got back up to speed Captain Vaun spotted a tall black dorsal in the distance! This was such an exciting find… we had found killer whales!! We slowed down immediately even as we were still quite far away, and waited to see how many whales were in the area and what was going on. Once we determined these to be Bigg’s or Transient Killer Whales, we continued moving closer towards our 200m limit.
The best part about being the ones to find whales is that we had the opportunity to identify which family this was! This was a group of 3, with one large male and 2 smaller individuals. We already had a guess based on the three we were seeing and their location near Waldron Island, but we waited to confirm until we got an up close look at the large male’s dorsal with our binoculars... Lo and behold, it was once again the T100s! This family must love the area near Waldron, I have lost count of the number of times I have seen them in the vicinity recently. T100C Laurel looked especially impressive today in the calm waters as the trio was circling around seeming to be finishing a meal. A few birds were in their midst swooping down to pick up scraps, and we watched the whales continue to circle around and even tail slap a few times. They continued moving towards Waldron, and at one point we got to see a spyhop! Once they moved into travel mode, they headed up the shoreline. We got to hear their exhalations when they suddenly pushed offshore in our direction – what an amazing encounter! We left scene after this, elated at our time with these killer whales especially as we were the only vessel on scene for most of it. We moved west in the boundary waters, heading towards Turn Point lighthouse on Stuart Island to admire the views of Mount Baker and many adorable pigeon guillemots splashing around in the glassy green waters. To end our morning of searching, we stopped along Spieden Island to see more bald eagles before we returned to Roche Harbor.
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/