Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | Thursday, June 12th 2025 | 2:00 PM
Today's afternoon trip took our breath away, especially if you're a porpoise…
When we left Friday Harbor, we were excited to begin searching for wildlife along San Juan Channel. We made our way to Spieden Island and got to see a number of bald eagles and harbor seals. We circled around Spieden and soon reached a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales! This was one of my favorite families the T123s, and we could see Stanley’s large dorsal fin standing out from a ways away. As we approached the group, we saw a number of harbor porpoise in the area, and were excited to see if the whales might begin hunting them.
Soon after getting on scene, the whales began circling and traveling a bit faster. When we saw Stanley surface behind a porpoise, we knew we were in for a show. We got to see a few spyhops from one of the whales, some tail splashing, and soon enough we could assume the family was prey sharing. However, what we didn’t expect was to get to see part of the porpoise! Bigg's Killer Whales are known to leave the lungs of porpoise behind after prey sharing, but it is pretty rare to actually see it. I got to check off a big season goal of mine to see this happen, as we got the greatest look of all time at the lungs floating right next to our boat! This was a pretty gruesome sight, but such an amazing look into the precision and skills in hunting that these whales have. After the family finished their meal, they slowly traveled around Green Point and we got some amazing last looks as they surfaced near our boat. Once they moved further away, we waved goodbye to these porpoise killers and slowly made our way back towards Friday Harbor. Captain Vaun and I could not believe our luck today, and both of us will not be forgetting this trip any time soon!