Logan Stecker | M/V Kestrel | July 28th 2025 | 2:00 pm
Total we got to see most of the prey animals for transient killer whales in our area before getting to watch the whales themselves!
It all started with a harbor seal floating around the dock before we left. This cutie was doing backflips and was even present at the dock when we returned.
Stop 1: Whale Rocks
We began our first wildlife viewing by observing many Steller’s Sea Lion on Whale Rocks. These giants were quite vocal to each other as they pushed each other around and swam about. On our commute we encountered multiple harbor porpoise as well.
Stop 2: Salmon Bank
The next spot was a shallow underwater peninsula off cattle point where there were many bait balls of fish being pushed to the surface by diving and surface feeding birds. Here we were lucky to find Minke whales popping up all around us! They were giving us good looks, and this may be my first boat where everyone got to see them due to their abrupt and erratic surfacing.
Stop 3: The Strait of Juan de Fuca
Getting into larger choppier waters, we found a family of transient killer whales moving quickly along. This family of 4 is the T065Bs, a group of a mother named Chunk and 3 kids (Birdsall, Corvus, and Rook). We followed them as they changed directions many a time before making a quick escape further down the strait towards Victoria.
Stop 4: The Lazy River
On our way back we stopped at a buoy to see 5 Steller’s Sea Lions lazing about surrounded by nesting Pelagic Cormorants. We then went down a costal side of the San Juan Channel that is playfully called Lazy River or Seal Alley because on a vessel like Kestrel you can float down it gently and watch many seals on either side and we got to view quite a few.
Returning from a trip seeing seals, sea lions, porpoise, minke whales, and Transient Killer Whales is quite the haul! What a great day on the water!