Olivia | M/V Osprey | August 24th, 2024 | 12:30pm
Luck was on our side today as we encountered two different species of whales in the Haro Strait! We left Friday Harbor and began our search for whales going south through San Juan Channel. As we neared Cattle Point we stopped for a look at some harbor seals and sea birds, which are great signs of our productive ecosystem out here!
We continued our travels to the north west following up on some earlier reports of various whales in the area, and as we traveled through the Haro Strait we found ourselves with 2 humpbacks! While we didn’t stay very long with these whales so we could reach a different report of a killer whale ahead of us, we got some amazing looks as they traveled at the surface and were able to identify them as BCY0409 Yogi and BCX1658 Bullet. We departed after seeing some beautiful fluking dives and continued north west.
After a bit more travel we reached our third whale of the day, a lone Bigg’s Killer Whale! This male was easy to identify as T049A1, Noah, based on his large unique dorsal fin. We traveled north with Noah along Vancouver Island, marveling at his size as he cruised through the area. This was a great opportunity to compare aspects of toothed and baleen whales, and learn more about the Bigg’s population in the area. Soon enough it was time to begin our trek northeast back towards San Juan Island, enjoying some bonus looks at harbor porpoises before ending our trip with sunny skies in Friday Harbor!
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of the wildlife from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/.