Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | August 22nd 2025 | 10:00 am
A great morning to be out looking for whales! Every morning trip begins with anticipation and excitement as no whales have been found yet and we get to try and predict the best areas to search based on yesterday’s movements and groups.
Today with a combination of luck and skill, we found the whales early on! This was near the Darcy islands and the group of 5 we found were the T049As! The mother of this group, Nan, is 39 years old and currently travels with her children as transient killer whales normally do. The children seen today included Nat, Neptune, Nebula, and Charlie II. Charlie II is a young 3-year-old who is quite the acrobat, often seen jumping himself out of the water with what I see as joy and glee. We stayed with these whales much of our time and even got to watch some hunting behaviors, spy-hopping, and tail slaps. At one intimate moment, four of them came up at once within earshot of their synced breaths making the noise feel quite close to us. This came after an especially long dive where we expected them to come up on the other side of the boat, so it was a jolt of surprise and excitement.
Afterwards we circled the entirety of San Juan Islands and got great views of Lime Kiln and Cattle Point Light Houses with Mount Baker in the background. We finished our trip at Whales Rocks and got to see a multitude of large male Steller’s Sea Lions battling it out for space and playing on the rocks. This species is the largest sea lion in the world and has a skull similar in size and shape to a Grizzly Bear. The larger sagittal crest atop the skull gives surface area for muscle to attach and allows more vertical bite strength than our other pinniped Harbor Seal. One main difference between seals and sea lions is their skeletal structure allowing a wider range of upper body movement in sea lions whilst seals are restricted much like a person in a sleeping bag when they are out of the water.
We returned to Friday Harbor and had a blast! What an amazing trip. The Salish Sea provides endless wonder through its connected community of land, water, and wildlife which we are part of.