Aly Liu | M/V Kestrel | Wednesday, July 22, 2026 | 2:00 pm
It is certainly not every day that we are lucky enough to meet three different families of killer whales in the span of a few hours. Today was one of those days.
M/V Kestrel headed north up San Juan Channel and scanned the sea for any signs of wildlife, when a passenger at the bow pointed into the distance; sure enough, there were 9 black dorsal fins slicing through the water. Two families of marine-mammal-eating orcas displayed consistent surfacings, traveling at a relatively constant speed and direction north up San Juan Channel. It was my first time seeing these guys this season, potentially ever! How cool!
T035A/Lester — female, born in 1998
- T035A1/Opal — female, born in 2010
- T035A1A — born in 2026
- T035A2/Topaz — born in 2013
- T035A3/Garnet — born in 2018
- T035A4/Agate — female, born in 2022
T038A/Dana/Arrow — female, born in 2000
- T038A2/Archer — born in 2020
- T038A3/Quill — born in 2024
Next, we stopped at White Rock, where there were plentiful rock sausages, double-crested cormorants, pigeon guillemots, a single bald eagle, and best of all…two Black oystercatchers! Shoutout to the junior naturalist who found the harbor porpoises that we turned around to take a closer look at. As we approached the second report of two killer whales, we got some beautiful shots of Patos Lighthouse on our starboard side with Mount Baker in the background, her base coated in smoke. Our two new orca friends were:
- T030A/Sequoia — male, born in 1986
- T030C/Salix — female, born in 2005
These siblings are often traveling together, as unfortunately, their mother passed away in 2024. We got to wave goodbye to the original group of whales, the T035As and T038s, as we made our way back down President's Channel towards home. I really hope you all had a great time with us on the water, and that you all wore sunscreen, because wow, it was a scorcher out there today!
Want more information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association? See https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/
Want to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/