Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | September 26th, 2026 | 2:00pm
This tour left the dock with some very exciting whale reports down South in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We decided to head straight down there without stopping to ensure that we'd make it there as fast as possible. We zoomed down San Juan Channel and through Cattle Pass into Juan de Fuca. The conditions down here were very calm today, which made out transit even shorter! We eventually started to see SO many black dorsal fins in the distance. We had arrived on scene with 13 Bigg's Killer Whales! This is much more than we usually see together, and it was because three separate families of whales were all socializing. The T41s (a new family for me!), T60s, and T69s were all present. We were almost immediately greeted by a breach in the distance! We then saw such a large variety of surface behaviors. This included tail slaps, inverted tail slaps, rolling, pec slaps, dorsal slaps, breaches, and a pink "sea snake" (iykyk). These behaviors continued for several minutes all around us, with one large male repeately performing inverted tail slaps as he swam past us. Then, something happened that truly left me speechless. We observed a young whale (presumably one of the T41 children) vocalize ABOVE THE WATER!!! I have never observed this in my entire life before today. This ecotype of Killer Whales are usually extremely silent since they pursue very smart prey. I had only heard them vocalize under the water a couple of times before, but never above the surface like this. Captain Brian and I couldn't help but smile when we heard it. These were clearly very excited and happy whales during this meeting of families. We continued getting amazing looks throughout the encounter, and were even treated to another amazing breach from one of the big males near the end! We then stopped the boat and watched these 13 whales swim off into the horizon before departing and heading back towards home. We made a stop on the way back to admire the large group of Steller Sea Lions who reside on Whale Rocks in Cattle Pass. These pinnipeds are massive and were quite entertaining on this day. We then slowly cruised between another small island and the Lopez Island shoreline and viewed several Harbor Seals that were hauled out on the shoreline. From there we continued North up San Juan Channel and returned home to Friday Harbor. This was actually my final shift on this specific boat for the season, and I spent the majority of our transit back home thinking about how epic this tour was. It's hard to compare trips since they are all so different and unique, but this one absolutely falls near the top of the list, if not at the very top. What an amazing afternoon on the water!
The IDs and details of the 13 total whales that we saw are as follows:
Bigg's Killer Whales (13):
T41 "Lawrie" (F) b. <1966
T41A "Jemison" (F) b. 1988
T41A2 "Tree" (?) b. 2013
T41A3 "Mola" (?) b. 2018
T41A4 "Cedar" (?) b. 2025
T60 "Panthera" (F) b. 1980
T60C "Yelnats" (M) b. 2001
T60F "Tigris" (F) b. 2012
T60G "Uncia" (F) b. 2019
T69 "Komox" (F) b. 1974
T69C "Kye" (M) b. 1995
T69E "Kodiak" (M) b. 2004
T69F "Kin" (M) b. 2010
This group of passengers was a joy to be out on the water with. We thank them for choosing to spend their day with 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/