Lauren | M/V Kestrel | Friday, June 20th, 2025 | 2:00 PM
Our Friday Adventure Whale Watch and Wildlife tour was about as exciting as they come. Captain Eric and I were jazzed when we got word that the T065B’s and the T075B’s were found not far from the Friday Harbor dock. These two young families have been swimming around the Salish Sea together the past several days.
The M/V Kestrel headed north and made our first stop at Sentinel Rock in Spieden Channel. Sentinel Rock is one of our favorite places in the San Juans to view harbor seals. We didn’t know it at the time… but about an hour later we were going to witness a harbor seal predation event! Could it have been one of the seals we were just viewing at Sentinel?
As we were watching these harbor seals, we could see several whale watching boats just north of Henry Island. We slowly made our way over towards Henry. As we began viewing these whales, they seemed spunkier than normal. I couldn’t tell if they were just socializing or possibly strategizing for a hunt. As we were watching these whales head east in Spieden Channel, one of my guests pointed out that there was a Harbor Seal that surfaced not too far from the whales. This seal didn’t look like it had a clue that there were several killer whales right behind it. Suddenly the whales picked up speed and dove in the direction of the seal. We saw a swift change in direction and then began to see some splashing. We then witnessed one of the whales Spyhop in the distance! It was incredible!
Next these whales started to circle each other, an indication that they could be prey sharing. They circled each other for a good 15 minutes, sharing their meal. After snack time was over, we encountered more surface behavior! There were several tails slapping the water, a backwards head lunge, and another spy hop! There’s nothing quite like experiencing nature first hand and watching an apex predator at work. It was a truly remarkable tour.