Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 27th 2025 | 10:00 am
An exciting more of uncertain searching and beautiful calm waters. Every morning, we join in the lookout for whales along with other whale watching and research vessels.
Stop 1: White Rocks
Our first marine mammal friends we encountered were very cute seal pups along the shore of white rocks island. Their cute eyes glowed with fierce adorableness. The pupping season is currently happening with harbor seasons where via embryonic diapause the female time their births together so that pups can be together. As cute as this is, one purpose of having all these pups together would be to ensure that some are more likely to survive predation—such as via transient killer whale. The circle of live is embraced in the San Juan Islands and supports our healthy population of killer whales so we have much thanks for our abundant seal population.
Stop 2: Boundary Pass
While scanning for rumors of whales in the large waterway of Boundary Pass, we found a couple Harbor Porpoise exploring near our boat. These small cetaceans are often mistaken for dolphins but have a blunt face, small dorsal fin, and spade-like teeth. These porpoises are often seen but briefly as they unpredictably surface for a quick moment of just their back. We continued our scan over to the Java Islets – finding more seal pups but also a Bald Eagle! Bald Eagles have become more abundant in recent decades due to the ban of DDT a herbicide that was magnifying through aquatic systems and affecting top avian predators such as Eagles and Osprey by thinning their eggshells. Currently the recovery has been successful and now the Salish Sea has the highest density of Bald Eagles in the lower 48 states.
Stop 3: Salt Spring Island
After almost meeting our time before we needed to come back, luck struck! We caught word of a group of whales somewhat in our area. We raced over to Salt Spring Island to find the T065Bs! This family of Transient Killer Whales consists of a mother (Chunk) and her 3 kids (Birdsall, Corvus, and Rook). The family was on the move, but we had ample opportunity to watch them swim along the shore. The larger male, Birdsall, showed off his tall 6ft dorsal fin which is always inspiring to watch.
What a great morning exploring the islands!