Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | June 17th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
It seems like we are back in our warm weather and glassy waters streak as today was an exceptionally beautiful day in the Salish Sea! Getting to watch whales in glassy, green water while hearing their exhalations will never get old. We traveled towards Rosario Strait today to catch up with a report of some Bigg’s Killer Whales. The amazing water conditions allowed for perfect scanning conditons as well, so we searched along the interisland route. We found a bald eagle resting on a tree, and then thorugh Peavine Pass we stopped to look at many harbor seals resting on a rocky shoreline. From there we continued not much further south along the Blakely Island shoreline until we began to see some exhalations of whales. We had found a group of 3 orcas, photo identified as the T124A2s! This trio has been seen all over our region recently, and we got amazing looks as they glided through the calm waters heading north. We followed along this group until they crossed towards Orcas Island, and then as they continued up that shoreline we made our turn back into Peavine to head west. We had another report of some whales close to Friday Harbor, so we hoped to reach this as well!
In our transit between Lopez and Blakely, we saw a few harbor porpoise surfacing. This is also why I love glassy waters, because it makes this species much easier to spot and enjoy some quick surfacings together. We continued inbetween Orcas Island and Shaw, hoping to catch up with these other whales as they were moving north in San Juan Channel. Once we reached the channel, we began to scan and soon saw some exhalations and black dorsals along the San Juan Island shore. This was a group of 6 Bigg’s Killer Whales, and this specific family was fun to see today since they are the extended family of the 124A2s we had already seen… T124A, the mom of 124A2, was here with 3 of her other calves and 2 of her grandcalves! While we do know all of these whales transit through our region, it is really cool to see whales that we know are related to one another in two very different locations. Perhaps both groups will meet up soon in a larger family reunion? Excited to see what these whales get into next!
Wanting 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/