Levi Vandebunte | M/V Kestrel | June 19th, 2026 | 2:00pm
On this day there were several reports down in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so we turned South and went that way immediately. Lucky for us, the weather and conditions down there were absolutely beautiful! The first whales that we encountered were quite a rare duo; T125A "Jetsam" and T128 "Flotsam"! These presumed brothers do not visit this area very often at all. In face, this was my first time ever seeing them! These two adult males are absolutely massive. Easily two of the biggest whales in the entire Bigg's population. Our passengers were even treated to what we call the "Money Shot", as these two surfaced with the iconic Mt Baker directly in the background. Eventually we departed from these whales because there were more families of Bigg's nearby. Only a few minutes later, we slowly approached a group of eight Bigg's Killer Whales! This group was comprised of two families; the T64Bs (three) and the T65As (five). These two families are led by matriarchs T64B "Ember" and T65A "Artemis". This group was in a very relaxed state as we arrived. All eight whales were surfacing very slowly and giving us gorgeous looks on the absolutely flat water. Eventually, they switched to travel mode and began heading Northeast. We got a few looks at them on the move before departing. The ID's and details of the ten whales that we saw are as follows:
T128 "Flotsam" (M) b. 1988
T125A "Jetsam" (M) b. 1998
T64B "Ember" (F) b. 2002
T64B1 "Flame" (F) b. 2013
T64B1A "Spark" (?) b. 2024
T65A "Artemis" (F) b. 1986
T65A2 "Ooxjaa" (M) b. 2004
T65A3 "Amir" (M) b. 2007
T65A4 "Ellifrit" (F) b. 2011
T65A6 "Callisto" (F) b. 2018
We saw more than just Killer Whales on this trip though. In between our two whale encounters, we stopped to admire a group of Steller Sea Lions resting on a buoy in the middle of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. These buoys are prime real estate for this species, and this group was fast asleep as we passed by. After we departed from the second group of whales, we stopped at another location to check out even more of these Sea Lions. A small island called Whale Rocks is a great place to find these creatures which was conveniently on our path home. This location had dozens of Steller's, including some absolutely massive ones who likely weighed more than 2,000 pounds! From there, we continued North and returned home to Friday Harbor. This was an awesome day filled with Killer Whales in the San Juan Islands!
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/