Kelly | M/V Osprey | Saturday, May 17th 2025 | 12:30pm
Peak season is officially here! Whales are showing up all over the Salish Sea. We took a quick left out of Friday Harbor and motored up San Juan Channel to investigate a report of killer whales in Canadian water. On our route to Canada we slipped over the top of San Juan Island and into the Haro Straight. This bigger body of water gave us a few quick looks at some harbor porpoise, swiftly surfacing off our starboard side.
Not long after passing the border we started to see large black dorsal fins in the distance! This group of Biggs killer whales were identified as the T123's made up of:
- T123 Sidney 1985 F
- T123A Stanley 2000 M
- T123c Lucky 2012 F
- T123D D'Arcy 2018 F
This family is a staff favorite, it's always exciting when we have the opportunity to spend time with them. The lovable group of 4 swam north, miles off Vancouver islands shoreline. The were making their way to some harbor seal hotspots next to Sidney and D'Arcy Island, yes- the islands that mom and her youngest offspring are named after! So cool to see these two next to their namesakes!
On our way back to the harbor we caught views of a large group of harbor seals lounging on Sentinel Island, countless bald eagles, Steller sea lions and Mouflon Sheep.