Olivia | M/V Kestrel | August 23rd, 2024 | 10:00 am
Today's 10am trip really put the adventure in Adventure Whale Watch as we departed Friday Harbor in a mix of rain and fog! We began our search for wildlife by heading north along San Juan Island, turning southwest to explore Mosquito Pass and eventually the west side of the island. Despite the rain and cold conditions, we enjoyed the views of Lime Kiln Light House and pushed on towards Salmon and Hein Banks. While these areas did bring flat waters and an end to the rain, we still had no luck in finding any whales. We remained hopeful, and suddenly got an exciting report from another boat that a group of Bigg's Killer Whales were sighted coming south from Canada, so we quickly turned back in that direction! On our way, we got even more exciting news that a different group of killer whales were coming our way from the west, so we turned again to find this closer group.
As we approached these whales, we could see there were 5 individuals in the group, including 2 large males. Since we were the second boat on scene, we had the exciting opportunity to try to identify these whales, and almost immediately we recognized the male T019B (Galiano)! Other whales identified were T037A2 (Inky) and T037A4 (Crinkle). We enjoyed beautiful looks at this group of whales as they slowly traveled through the area, and as we were discussing the multiple matrilines present we were surprised by even more whales approaching us! We spotted at least 4 other Bigg's Killer Whales about a mile to the west, and they slowly came into the area until we were surrounded on both sides, a situation we love to call Whale Soup. Our time was slowly coming to an end, so we took in their beautiful exhalations a few more times until we began our journey back towards Friday Harbor. Despite the cold and rainy start to our trip, this encounter certainly made our long search more than worthwhile, ending the week with another successful adventure!
Interested in seeing pictures from our tours? Check out our SmugMug to see photos from our trips aboard M/V Osprey at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/.