Abby | M/V Sea Lion | April 11th, 2026 | 12:30pm
Unlike our trips the past few days, we left our dock in Friday Harbor with gray skies and drizzling rain. We turned north into San Juan Channel and planned to head towards Spieden Island. After maybe 30 minutes of cruising north, the captain and I heard another one of our captains on the radio report a group of killer whales. We are in constant communication with other boats and captains to see what everyone is seeing out on the water. Luckily, this report was just a bit further north in Spieden Channel, which connects with San Juan Channel, so we continued our path. This group had not yet been identified by the time we arrived, but it was not long after that another boat on scene identified them as the T090’s, a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales.
T090/Eagle — female, born in 1980
T090B/Piglet — male, born in 2006
T090C/Tigger — female, born in 2010
T090D/Kanga — female, born in 2017
It certainly was exciting to be present as this group was just recently spotted. Today the T090’s were traveling slowly east along the shore of Sentinel Island, which is just off the coast of Spieden Island. They had surfaced quite a few times just off Sentinel Island, but we certainly kept our head on a swivel with every deep dive because we never know if they will change their behavior or direction. We had great looks of these four individuals today, despite the gloomy weather. Being able to view these Bigg’s Killer Whales in their natural habitat nearly made me forget I was soaking wet on the boat today!
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/