Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | June 20th, 2026 | 12:30pm
This tour headed North out of Friday Harbor. We stopped for a great look at tons of Harbor Seals that were hauled out on a rock formation. Some of them were sleeping, while others were swimming around in the nearby water. From there, we only had a few minutes of travel to arrive at a family of Bigg's Killer Whales! We set our eyes on the T100s, which is a family of three. The family consists of mother/matriarch "Hutchins", son "Laurel", and youngest "Estrella". We watched this family travel Northeast for a bit cutting through some strong currents. Then suddenly they pulled a quick direction change and flipped back to moving Southwest! A number of things could have caused this, like a seal swimming by (aka lunch) or possibly they sensed another group of whales miles away! We spent a while with these whales and got some great looks, then departed to hopefully catch another family! Luck was on our side today as the T123s just happened to be travelling the same direction as us on the way home. This meant that we got to stay with them for a bit too. This iconic Salish Sea family is led by mother/matriarch "Sidney", and she travels with her three living offspring "Stanley", "Lucky", and "Darcy". Stanley is one of the biggest adult males in the entire Bigg's population, so we always enjoy watching him! The ID's and details of the seven whales that we saw are as follows:
T100 "Hutchins" (F) b. 1979
T100C "Laurel" (M) b. 2002
T100F "Estrella" (?) b. 2014
T123 "Sidney" (F) b. 1985
T123A "Stanley" (M) b. 2000
T123C "Lucky" (F) b. 2012
T123D "Darcy" (F) b. 2018
We eventually had to leave the T123s and head back to Friday Harbor. We said goodbye and ended the trip with a quick 10-15 minute transit back to the dock. This was an awesome day filled with tons of Killer Whales and beautiful weather! We had such a great time with this group of passengers and thank them for choosing to spend their day with us here at San Juan Safaris!!!
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/