Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | June 28th, 2026 | 2:00 pm
Today was truly a killer whale adventure tour! Before leaving the dock, we had many different reports of whales in our area but we didn’t know just how many we would end up able to see. Since every hour is different on the water, we decided to head out towards some exciting reports in Rosario Strait and then see what was going on once we got out there. On our way there, we slowed down near Lopez Island ferry dock because there were Bigg’s Killer Whales in our path! From a half a mile away we could see these whales surfacing, a pair of brothers identified as T128 Flotsam and T125A Jetsam. I have been waiting to see these two for some time, and today finally got to meet this iconic duo! These two are especially large males in our population, and the distinct notch in Jetsam’s dorsal fin really stood out. We watched a few breath cycles before leaving scene to reach our other report, but little did we know this would not be the last of our time with these two…
We continued zooming towards Cypress Island taking Peavine Pass to Rosario, and once we rounded Sinclair we began to see more signs of whale activity. There were a total of 12 Bigg’s Killer Whales here from a few different matrilines, and they were a bit spread out when we first made our approach. One group had the familiar T123s, while a bit ahead of them was the T75Bs travelling with T77D, and T46B3 and B3A were also somewhere in the mix making this a T-Party! They were definitely having a fun time socializing as we began to see more splashes at the surface from each group near and far. Tail lobs, slaps, and a few breaches made this such an exciting encounter! I had not seen the 75Bs since last year, so this was also such a fun reunion with another beloved family and their relative T77D. The 46Bs and 123s are also relatives, so even more of an exciting family reunion! We got to sit with our engines off for some time as the whales were not really traveling anywhere. Getting to hear exhalations and the sounds of tail slapping is so special! They continued socializing for a while, showing off a few cartwheels and little breaches before slowly continuing their travels east past Lummi Island. We departed soon after to begin our trek back towards Friday Harbor.
On our way back across Rosario, we ended up with more whales! A group of 5 Bigg’s Killer Whales had been making their way south along the Pea Pods and Orcas Island, so we slowed down to take a look at who was traveling here. It was the T46B1s and their relative 46C2! Not only were we getting to see more whales, but they were more relatives of some of the whales we had already seen (the 46Bs and 123s). This group was quite different from the last party; they were traveling slowly together with 46C2 slightly off to the side. This was such a great contrast to all the activity we had seen, and a more typical family encounter. We watched these whales for a few surfacings, getting to admire another 2025 baby, before continuing our path back to Friday Harbor. We reached Turn Island and stopped to see some harbor seals resting on some rocks… before being reunited with T125A and T128! This pair had been slowly traveling towards Friday Harbor since we had seen them hours before, and soon after getting on scene we witnessed a few behavior changes from their usual slow travel. They made some faster movements, splitting up and joining together, suggesting they were working on catching dinner! We saw some interesting surfacings, including some rolling at the surface, a quick tail in the air, and one of them brought his whole face out of the water once while coming up for a breath. This was amazing! They continued changing speed and dive times/directions, but carried us south a bit. What an incredible way to end our trip! Eventually we said one final goodbye to these boys, before entering Friday Harbor. We saw a total of 19 Bigg’s today, definitely a stand out trip of the season!
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/