Lauren Tschirhart | August 4th, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 pm
From a sea otter at Turn Rock, to mating harbor porpoise in Salmon Bank, to a Great Blue Heron at Shark Reef… Today’s Adventure Tour was filled with incredible wildlife sightings! Our trip began by heading south in San Juan Channel and cruising over to the kelp beds of Turn Rock. There we spotted an adorable sea otter grooming itself while rolling around in the kelp forest. We didn’t stay with this otter long, as Captain Vaun and I could see cetacean exhales in the distance! Two orcas had been spotted cruising along the Lopez Island coastline. It’s not often we’re seeing orcas in the first 10 minutes of our trip, so we eagerly crossed San Juan Channel and made our way on scene. The two orcas we were observing are known as T077C/ Neftail and T077E/ Misneach. They are siblings, and are a part of the Coastal Bigg’s population (the marine mammal eating eco-type we see out here). We watched these whales as they hugged the shoreline, eventually making their way into Upright Channel. We continued observing these whales as they made their way east in Upright, swimming right under the Lopez Island Ferry Dock! We waved goodbye to these whales and headed back into San Juan Channel. We then went over to Cattle Pass to do more wildlife viewing. While in Cattle we went to Goose Island, where we observed harbor seals, Pelagic and Double-Crested Cormorants and even got to see a bunch of Glaucous-Winged Gull chicks (how cute). We then dipped down into Salmon Bank to scan for more whales. No joy on any large cetacean sightings, but we did witness a harbor porpoise fully breach out of the water! This is something I've only seen one other time in my six years with San Juan Safaris. These porpoise usually only display this behavior when they are actively mating, which is super rare to witness, so I was proper stoked!
We continued back north towards Whale Rocks, getting great looks at some Steller Sea Lions. Lastly we cruised through the “lazy river” AKA Shark Reef and floated through this abundant kelp forest. There we saw more harbor seals, a bald eagle and even a Great Blue Heron!
More information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/