Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | August 16th, 2026 | 12:30pm
We left the dock with some distant reports of whales, but no firm plan for our trip yet. We began moving North into some waterways that had not been searched much yet. Just a few minutes after leaving Friday Harbor a fellow PWWA vessel spotted some dorsal fins near Saturna Island! The whales were moving South towards us, which was super convenient. We continued heading North to hopefully see these animals. We made one stop on our way at a small island called White Rock. We saw several Harbor Seals hauled out on this island near the shoreline looking cute as always. After talking about these pinnipeds and getting great looks, we resumed our path North towards the whales. Not long after leaving the Seals, we were welcomed with several Bigg's Killer Whales swimming past us! We originally believed there to be two families of whales present (9 whales total), but after reviewing photos that we took it was confirmed that there were THREE families in the group (15 whales total)! This is a much larger group than our tours usually get to see, and we always feel so lucky when we get to watch multiple families travel together. This group had a great mix of some huge adult males, several adult females, and even some very young calves! The weather and water conditions were absolutely perfect, which made each surfacing from these whales magicial. We spent some awesome time viewing these amazing creatures before eventually departing and heading back towards Friday Harbor. We made one stop to explore the shoreline of Spieden Island. We saw several species of land animals grazing on the hillside, and multiple Bald Eagles perched in the trees! After this we cruised down San Juan Channel and returned back to our dock. What an awesome day out on the Salish Sea!
The IDs and details of the 15 Killer Whales that we saw are as follows:
Bigg's Killer Whales (15):
T19 "Nootka" (F) b. <1965
T19B "Galiano" (M) b. 1995
T19C "Spouter" (M) b. 2001
T35A "Lester" (F) b. 1998
T35A1 "Opal" (F) b. 2010
T35A1A (Not yet named) (?) b. 2026
T35A2 "Topaz" (?) b. 2013
T35A3 "Garnet" (?) b. 2018
T35A4 "Agate" (F) b. 2022
T49A "Nan" (F) b. 1986
T49A3 "Nat" (M) b. 2011
T49A4 "Neptune" (M) b. 2014
T49A5 "Nebula" (F) b. 2017
T49A6 "Charlie ll" (M) b. 2022
T49A7 "Nimbus" (?) b. 2026
This group of passengers was a joy to be out on the water with. We 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/