Abby | M/V Kestrel | April 24th, 2026 | 1:00pm
A beautiful day out on the water today! We turned left in San Juan Channel and headed north to begin our trip. Our first stop was Green Point on the southern end of Spieden Island. We had great looks of a raft of Steller's Sea Lions in the water, as well as numerous individuals hauled out on shore. Shortly after our time with the Steller's, we ventured over to White Rock to hopefully find some harbor seals. We did, which is good! We were having such a wildlife-filled day! There were dozens of rock sausages (our fun way of referring to harbor seals) hauled out on the shoreline. I can't forget to mention the bald eagle that was perched on top of the rock as well. It was a picture-perfect moment. Not long after soaking up the views of the seals, we continued our trip to the northwest towards North Pender Island. We had a report of four Bigg's Killer Whales! This group was already identified as the T090 matriline.
T090/Eagle — female, born in 1980
T090B/Piglet — male, born in 2006
T090C/Tigger — female, born in 2010
T090D/Kanga — female, born in 2017
The water was so calm, and we had perfect sea conditions to get some great looks of this family. We had two individuals that kept surfacing on our port side while the other two were surfacing on our starboard. It was neat to be able to see them traveling like this and it certainly kept everyone on board today eager to see where the killer whales would surface next. As we were on scene with the Bigg's Killer Whales, we had a report of a humpback whale off the west side of Henry Island! So, we thought, what a special treat to get some time with a humpback on our way back to the harbor! The other boats that were first on scene with the humpback tried to get an ID, and they eventually let us know that the humpback was unidentified, and not much was known about this individual. This humpback was first seen in the Salish Sea just last year, and they were still unnamed. Again, the glassy water allowed us to have some great views of the dark shiny body as it surfaced. We also had the incredible opportunity to hear it exhale a few times. It was so quiet today, and with the peaceful water and engines shut off, the sound of a whale exhaling is like no other. Unforgettable. Just before we left, the humpback went on a deep dive, and we had another picturesque moment of its tail fluke. A perfect way to end the trip!
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/