Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 14th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
What a gorgeous day on the water, full of so many different species in our incredible ecosystem. There were some whale reports in Canadian waters when we departed the dock, so we began our travels south towards Victoria. We were immediately greeted by stunning views of Mt. Baker as we entered San Juan Channel, and saw many sea birds and seals as we neared Cattle Pass. We continued our cetacean scanning as we entered Salmon Bank and the greater Strait of Juan de Fuca. The conditions today were perfect for searching for baleen whales in these banks, and as we searched for elusive minkes we did spot some harbor porpoise popping up at the surface! We continued on towards another PWWA vessel that was on scene with some Bigg’s Killer Whales in the distance, and soon got on scene with a pair of familiar dorsals! It was T77C Neftali and 77E Misneach! This duo had covered some distance since I had last seen them yesterday near Sidney. I have a lot of questions about this matriline since none of the kids travel with their mother T77… Why are they all dispersed, and why did 20 year old Neftali end up with his 10 year old sibling? While we may never really know why, I love seeing these two travel together and thinking about their strong sibling bond. The pair was slowly moving southwest, but had some sporadic direction changes so we were able to get some amazing views of them underneath Mt. Baker. We watched them for some time, getting extra special looks as the only vessel on scene with them for the majority of our encounter. Once another boat arrived, we began to leave the area making our way back towards San Juan Island.
Not too long after heading towards Cattle Point, we spotted some larger exhalations over a mile ahead of us… Another pair of whales, but this time it was two humpbacks! Unlike killer whales, humpback whales are usually solitary animals so it was exciting to see two travelling together along the banks. They were taking short dives, and one was definitely larger than the other. We got amazing looks at their dorsals, and one semi-fluking dive in our encounter. Since we were not getting a full fluke, it was difficult to identify these whales just based on their dorsal fins so they remained anonymous for the extent of our trip… However, another PWWA vessel was able to identify them later as CRC-18015 “Honu” and the 2025 calf of a whale named Smiley! We watched them for a few surface intervals before continuing on towards Cattle Pass. We saw a Stellar Sea Lion on a can nearby as we turned, and stopped at Whale Rocks to see many more on the rocky island and playing in the water. Today was full of so many fun wildlife encounters, and it’s always special to spend time with multiple whale species in the same trip!
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/