Abby | M/V Kestrel | May 3rd, 2026 | 2:00pm
Today's trip quite literally left me speechless. We left our dock in Friday Harbor with reports within our range of 3 different whale species. We genuinely had the trip of a lifetime ahead of us. We left the harbor and traveled interisland along the Washington State Ferry route. We passed the Lopez Island Ferry Dock and turned southeast towards Thatcher Pass. Just east of Thatcher Pass in Rosario Strait was a report of a humpback whale. It had been a bit of time since a boat was on scene, so we weren't sure where this whale could be. We turned off the engines and kept our heads on a swivel, but we were mainly trying to listen for its exhale. Just as we were about to move on, the captain spotted it taking a deep dive behind us. We turned the boat around and waited for it to surface again. There wasn't a whole lot of information in the report as to who this individual was, or if it was maybe two individuals. Regardless, we had great looks of their tail fluke as they went on a few deep dives. This humpback kept us constantly looking around because nearly every surfacing it popped up where we weren't expecting it. Although, it was a great example of how we use all our senses when scanning the water. There were a few times when we heard it before we saw it!
When it was time to depart, we continued heading south in Rosario Strait, but we didn't have to travel far because the next report we had was for a gray whale! Today was a double baleen day! It had also been a bit of time since a boat was with this whale, so we started scanning the area of the report. It was not long until we saw the heart-shaped exhale of a gray whale! The captain let us know that the area we were observing this gray whale was just about 20 feet deep, just outside of Lopez Pass! It is hard to believe that such a large creature can be in such shallow water, but gray whales love that for feeding! We stayed for a few surfacings and had incredible views with Mount Baker in the background. We didn't spend much time here, as we still had to get to the next report which was on the northwest side of Lopez Island.
We traveled through Lopez Pass and north in Lopez Sound and rounded the top of Lopez Island and turned southwest into Upright Channel. We had a report of 6 Bigg's Killer Whales! This group was already identified as the T049A's.
- T049A/Nan — female, born in 1986
- T049A3/Nat — male, born in 2011
- T049A4/Neptune — male, born in 2014
- T049A5/Nebula — female, born in 2017
- T049A6/Charlie II — male, born in 2022
- T049A7*/Nimbus — born in 2026
We had absolutely incredible and unforgettable views of this family. They were prey sharing when we arrived on scene and we observed super active baitball activity on the water's surface. We also saw a few tail slaps as well from a smaller individual! The views we had of this group left me speechless and I am so glad that everyone on board was there to observe them with me. It is not every day that we see two different whale species, let alone three! This trip will certainly go down in my books as one of my favorite trip days. I just know that the guests on board today are never going to forget either! As our captain said on board today, we had the whale trifecta!
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/