Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | June 21st, 2026 | 2:00pm
This tour headed East out of Friday Harbor and began taking a similar route as the ferries do to get between San Juan Island and Anacortes. The only difference is that the M/V Kestrel is much quicker than those ferries, so it only took us about 25 minutes to arrive in Rosario Strait! We then travelled South for a few minutes and arrived on scene with a group of 10 Bigg's Killer Whales! This group was comprised of the T46B family which is made up of nine whales. The mother/matriarch of this family is named "Raksha", and she travels with six of her own offspring, and two grandbabies! This family is one of the bigger ones in the entire population, as most families consist of 3-6 whales. The T46Bs also had a lone adult male with them, T49C "Nielson". "Nielson" has a massive dorsal fin that stands roughly six feet tall, which towered over the other nine fins present in this encounter. The ID's and details of the ten whales that we saw are as follows:
T46B "Raksha" (F) b. 1988
T46B2 "Akela" (F) b. 2008
T46B2B "Takaya" (F) b. 2023
- T46B3 "Sedna" (F) b. 2011
- T46B3A "Munro" (?) b. 2025
- T46B4 "Quiver" (M) b. 2014
- T46B6 "Sol" (F) b. 2019
- T46B7 "Tala" (?) b. 2023
- T46B8 "Pi" (?) b. 2026
T49C "Nielson" (M) b. 1998
This group was fighting some strong currents and decently large waves while travelling South, but conditions improved as they entered the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I especially enjoyed watching the youngest calf in the group, "Pi" surface amongst their older relatives. This calf is the youngest known calf in the entire population at the moment, and was born just three months ago in March! We eventually departed and wrapped around the bottom of Lopez Island. As we turned right into San Juan Channel, we stopped at Whale Rocks to admire some Steller Sea Lions. These pinnipeds are absolutely massive, and we got an amazing view of the biggest one there slowly climbing out of the water. He crawled all the way up to the top of a rock formation and promptly laid down for a nap. It is remarkable how mobile these creatures are when they are out of the water. From there we slowly travelled up the side of Lopez Island as we got some great looks at a Bald Eagle perched in a tree above us, as well as some Harbor Seals hauled out of the water. From there, we returned to our dock in Friday Harbor and wrapped up the trip. This day was filled with SO many Killer Whales which we absolutely love!
We had such a great time with this group of passengers and thank them for choosing to spend their day with us here at San Juan Safaris!!!
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/