Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | August 16th, 2026 | 5:30 pm
Sunsets are picturesque no matter what out here, but it’s especially special to see whales during this time! Our sunset tour departed Friday Harbor and traveled north up San Juan Channel. We had some exciting reports of Bigg’s Killer Whales in the Haro, so we wanted to get out to maximize our daylight time. Once we got through Spieden Channel we turned a bit south to follow along Henry Island. In the distance we began to see dorsal fins at the surface… a group of 12 Bigg’s were traveling together! Two different matrilines, the T35As and T49As, had been making their way south together. Both of these families have lots of young whales, including one 2026 baby in each! T49A3 Nat stood out as the largest among them all, but otherwise it was hard to tell who was who as they were clustered together. After a couple of dives, suddenly I noticed we only had the 6 members of the T35As still near us… With a bit of scanning, we could see that the 49As were now much further away along the shoreline. I wonder what made them split up like that! We remained with the 35As, and got beautiful looks at them during each surface interval. The calm waters allowed us to really enjoy our time sitting with our engines off as the family was travelling slowly. We got our last looks before their longer dive and then we had to turn back. Once we got into Spieden Channel to see some harbor seals, the sunset was also at its peak of beautiful colors with a dark red sun on the horizon… Stunning! We also saw many moufflon sheep on the Spieden hillside, and discussed the many rumors and conspiracies about this island. We returned to Friday Harbor right as the light was fading; we could not have asked for a more beautiful evening 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/