Elle | M/V Osprey | July 8, 2022 |12:30PM
Today we made our way up to Canada following reports of a family of Bigg’s killer whales near Saturna Island. On our journey, we got to see a few harbor porpoises pop up in the San Juan Channel. We found a group of seven orca whales towards the eastern end of Saturna Island. They were hugging the shoreline, allowing us to admire the contrast between the pale color of their 10ft tall exhalations and the dark rocks and trees behind them. The whales decided to split into two smaller groups and the larger group got curious about our boat and popped up about ten yards off the port side of our boat.We stopped our engines to let them continue on their way undisturbed and hear their powerful breath. All the orcas kept moving east, into an Exclusion Zone, then past East Point lighthouse, then split again to move around Boiling Reef. We held our breath as we watched them scope out a harbor seal haul out there, perhaps looking for their next meal. The whales decided against a hunt and continued into open water, towards the strait of Georgia. We said goodbye there and enjoyed looks at harbor seals and birds as we returned to Friday Harbor.