Levi Vandebunte | M/V Osprey | July 27th, 2026 | 1:30pm
We left the dock and pointed North out of Friday Harbor on this trip. We travelled up San Juan Channel and turned Northeast into Presidents Channel. We saw quite a few Harbor Porpoise on our way up! This is an excellent area to see them, and there was no shortage today. We continued on our way as we had a whale report a bit North of here to catch up to. Eventually we arrived to Sucia Island and just beyond that was a family of Bigg's Killer Whales! It was the T100s, who have been absolutely loving the San Juan Islands this summer. The family of three whales is led by their mother/matriarch "Hutchins". She travels with her son "Laurel" and her youngest kiddo "Estrella". The gender of "Estrella" is still unknown. These three were travelling East, and passed by a large rock with several huge Steller Sea Lions and Harbor Seals hauled out on it. Shortly after passing this rock, we noticed the whales changing directions and circling a bit. We have no way of knowing for sure, but they very likely could have been hunting during this time. We watched them for a few more breath cycles before departing to try to see another species of whale. There were two Humpback Whales travelling North not far, so we cruised over there and were welcomed by "Bandit" and "Monsoon". These two whales are both just a few years old, and migrate here from Cabo, Mexico each year to feed. The conditions were beautiful and we got some amazing looks at these two with the North Cascade mountain range behind them. We even got to see several flukes as they went down for deeper dives! Eventually, we said goodbye to this duo and began out journey back home. We docked the boat while recapping an awesome trip. Not many of our trips are fortunate enough to see two different species of whale, so we were all very excited!
The IDs and details of the five whales that we saw are as follows:
Bigg's Killer Whales:
T100 "Hutchins" (F) b. 1979
T100C "Laurel" (M) b. 2002
T100F "Estrella" (?) b. 2014
Humpback Whales:
BCX2081 "Bandit" (Gender Unknown) b. 2020 (Mexico)
BCY1289 "Monsoon" (Gender Unknown) b. 2021 (Mexico)
This group of passengers was full of enthusiasm and great questions. We 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/