Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | September 1st, 2024 | 2:00 pm
Our afternoon trip left Friday Harbor in great spirits, ready to search for more whales and wildlife! Based on the sightings of the morning trip, we had an idea of where we wanted to go, so we turned north up San Juan Channel towards Waldron Island. We got some great looks at some harbor seals along the way, which was the perfect prep for the killer whales we were nearing! We quickly caught up with the Bigg’s/Transient Killer Whales north of Jones Island, and were excited to see members of the T046 and T124 matrilines. This group was heading south in San Juan Channel, so we followed along watching them surface together, particularly in awe of the size of T46D Strider and T46E Thor. Before we were about to leave the scene in search of other whales, we got an even closer look at a few of these individuals as they swam right past our boat! Thor’s size became even more impressive as we got an upclose view of his incredible dorsal fin – nothing could top this! Once the whales had moved a safe distance past us, we collected ourselves and slowly turned back north.
We must have had some incredible luck on our boat today because after having that amazing encounter, we found another family of Bigg’s Killer Whales not far to the north! We arrived near John’s Island following up on reports from other boats, and soon saw the members of the T101s! This family of three, made up of Mom Reef and her two sons Rush and Lagoon, treated us to more fantastic looks as they traveled through the glassy, calm waters. We got to stay with these whales for a long time, taking in the scenery of the distant Canadian islands to the north and Mount Baker to the east. Soon enough it was time to start heading back towards Friday Harbor, so we waved these whales goodbye and settled in for the ride home. Our luck was not up yet though, as we were able to get some last looks at our first group of whales on the way back! The T46s and 124s had been traveling south in San Juan Channel and were outside Friday Harbor as we were arriving, so we enjoyed these bonus looks to end our killer whale filled afternoon!
Check out our SmugMug to see photos from our trips on M/V Osprey at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/.