Kelly | M/V Kestrel | Friday, May 25th 2025 | 2pm
The weather was nearly perfect as we took a right out of Friday Harbor and pointed south. Our first wildlife encounter of the day was a humpback whale just off Salmon Bank. In just the past week, humpbacks sighting have become more and more frequent! This is exactly the time of year they began making their way into the Salish Sea from their winter breading grounds in either Hawaii or Mexico. This humpback was likely feeding here at salmon bank, a known hotspot for the small schooling fish they love to eat. This humpback was surfacing quite frequently, giving us incredible looks with each breath. As the perfect finale to our encounter, the whale arched for a deeper dive and flashed us its beautiful tail fluke.
Next, we set out for an iconic Salish Sea location, Whale Rocks. This is a known hot spot for Steller sea lions and today was no exception, the areas eastern rock was crawling with these charismatic pinnipeds. This was rather unusual as the sea lions are usually occupying the western rock…. curious. The new location did not seem to have any impact on their behavior as they were up to their usual antics which in include bickering, belching and napping.
For the grand finale we approached the location of 5 Biggs killer whales identified as the T75B’s and T68:
- T75B Pebbles 1994 F
- T75B2 Jasper 2015
- T75B3 Rubble 2017
- T75B4 Petra
- T68 Yakataga 1970 F
The 75B’s are frequent Saish Sea visitors but this is my first time seeing T68! Rather unusual this is older female was traveling with this young family. We watched this group of 5 as they gracefully swam into Upright Channel and just past the Lopez ferry dock. Our last look was certainly the most memorable, as all 5 surprised us off our port side and swam up to our bow. Another perfect finale!