Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | August 25th, 2024 | 12:30pm
Summer weather came back today as we departed Friday Harbor under sunny skies! We took a left out of the harbor heading north in San Juan Channel, and quickly caught up with a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales traveling close by! This family of four turned out to be the T075Bs, consisting of mom Pebbles and her three calves born in 2015, 2017, and 2021! We enjoyed our sunny cruise up the channel with them as they traveled along the shoreline on short dives. Since these whales were so close to San Juan Island, we got to spend a long time admiring them and discussing their family dynamics before continuing north in search of other wildlife.
We continued our trip further north, and soon found a small island with lots of harbor seals! It was great to see these marine mammals hauled out relaxing in the sun, and was an important reminder of the circle of life as they are the number one food source for the killer whales we were just watching. Our healthy harbor seal population is a big reason why our Bigg’s population is also thriving here, so we love to see everything in the ecosystem at work!
We got to see more of this as our search continued to the west along Spieden Island and we found more harbor seals along shore and multiple bald eagles in the treetops. Though they were further away, these large birds were easy to spot as their bald, white heads were shining at us in the sun. We also spotted some of Spieden’s more unusual wildlife, including Moufflon Sheep! Soon enough we continued on back to the south, and ended our trip back in Friday Harbor.
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of Pebbles and her family, and other wildlife, from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/.