Aly Liu | M/V Osprey | Wednesday, August 5, 2026 | 12:30 pm
The sky above the glassy water was incredibly hazy today, the air was warm, and the Salish Sea full of wildlife. We headed north from Friday Harbor up San Juan Channel and circumnavigated San Juan Island thru Haro Strait, where two fifteen-foot blows erupted at the surface. It was two animals with one of the largest appendage-to-body-length ratios of any known animal! Humpbacks! These whales teased us with their arching backs repeatedly, before finally spoiling us with a fluke at the end of our time together.
Photos of the underside of that fluke, in combination with our photo-identification book of humpback whales, allowed us to identify one of the whales as “Octo” (BCX1920). The second humpback fluked for another vessel after we departed, who let us know it was “Seltzer” (BCY1274), first spotted in 2021.
We waved goodbye to Octo and Seltzer and continued back north along the West Side and through Mosquito Pass, where we paused to check out a haulout of Harbor seals. Our last stop of the day was the south side of Spieden Island, where we viewed Mouflon sheep from France, and of course, our majestic bald eagles.
Check out the photos from today at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/
More information on the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/