Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 17th, 2026 | 2:00pm
It was an incredible day to be on the water! Absolutely beautiful! We headed north in San Juan Channel, but did not have many reports, so we had our eyes peeled for anything. We continued traveling north until we reached White Rocks, near Waldron Island. We wanted to see if we could find some harbor seals. Sure enough, we saw many individuals hauled out just above the water line, and there was also some swimming in the water too! Not only did we see these "rock sausages" as we like to call them, but on top of White Rocks was a bald eagle! We had two unique species of wildlife at one stop! We headed west and cruised along the north side of Spieden Island, again, always looking around every corner for anything that might pop up. Once we reached the Haro Strait, we headed south and slowed down as we rode by Sidney Island and D'Arcy Island. There is a lot of shoreline there, and I swear I probably didn't blink for maybe 5 minutes as I was scanning for any wildlife. It seemed that no whales were in that area. We wanted to end up on the south end of Henry Island, because there was a report of a humpback whale! This individual was already identified as BCX1795, Scuttle, a male who migrates to Mexico for the winter. Scuttle has very identifiable markings on the underside of his tail fluke, believed to be the teeth marks of killer whales. During one of Scuttle's surfacings we had a neat look at his rostrum, and as he curved his back, we could see strands of bull kelp across his body. It was my first time seeing this kelping behavior. Needless to say, I was excited. Scuttle was traveling north along the west side of Henry Island, so we traveled with him for a bit before it was time for us to move on and check out what else we could find. We cruised along the south end of Spieden Island before heading back to the harbor and we had a look at a few Steller's Sea Lions rafted up in the water off Green Point. Today was a wildlife filled day and I was so excited to share this trip with everyone on board.
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/