Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | June 27th, 2026 | 5:30 pm
Tonight was a magical evening in glassy waters watching killer whales, what a dream! We departed Friday Harbor and went north to follow up on a few reports near Spieden and the surrounding boundary waters, and were not disappointed in what we found! We cruised past Spieden and continued towards Flattop where we soon saw some black dorsal fins along the rocky shoreline. I was excited to find the T49A family traveling here, a group I haven’t seen since early May when we first met the newest family member T49A7 Nimbus! It was so fun to catch up with this family again, and they seemed to be busy possibly hunting… We watched them meander along the island, and saw some harbor seals resting in the distance. While we didn’t specifically see them grab a seal, they were certainly behaving like they were prey sharing. They were moving quite slow, and would circle around and splash a bit. We saw lots of disturbance at the surface while they were underwater, which is always amazing how stealthy they can be! In the glassy calm waters and perfect lighting, we watched them do this for some time and got to see some little tail slaps and dives. The baby Nimbus was also especially cute every time they all surfaced! I loved getting to see the size comparison with this whale’s big brother Nat, who towers over the rest at only 15 years old. Once they began to continue traveling north, we made our slow departure to continue searching for other wildlife. We stopped at Spieden Island on our way south and saw so many moufflon sheep along the hillside. I can’t remember the last time I saw this many! They especially love this time of day when it’s cooler out to cover the open grassland, while in the hotter times of day they are usually in the forest more. We also saw a bald eagle on our way transiting through this area. The rest of our journey back to Friday Harbor was very peaceful and beautiful, the perfect sunset out on the water. Want 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/