Written by Alison
on Aug 02, 2026

Northwest Day on the Water

Northwest Day on the Water

July 2, 2026 PM – We headed south on the afternoon trip. Our first stop was to check out the Steller Sea Lions on Whale Rocks. Next it was on to see the a family group of Bigg’s Killer Whales, the T65B’s. We encountered them as they were heading south a couple miles off shore of Whidbey Island. We saw the T65B’s, which included the 33-year-old mother named Chunk, her 15-year-old son, Birdsall, 6-year-old son, Corvus, and the youngest, who is 3, named Rook. They had been on a pretty steady course but then started changing directions and started heading towards Smith Island. It is always cool to see the nick at the base of Chunk’s dorsal fin and the scratch patterns across all of their saddle patches. Eventually it was time to say goodbye to the whales so we headed over to Smith Island. There were lots of birds and we found a Sea Otter hanging out in the Bull Kelp. This makes it 2 Sea Otters in the inland water of Washington State which is actually really rare. We hope that they decide to stay! The tower standing next to the abandoned building was built as a replacement when the 140 year old light house fell into the sea due to erosion in 1998. It is now used as a weather station, an automated navigational aid and a Bald Eagles nest. Today we got to see both the adults perched on the tower and the chick in the nest! After a great NW kind of day on the water, we headed back to Friday Harbor!

Photographer and Naturalist: Alison Engle – Instagram: @AlisonEngleArt – Website: www.AlisonEngle.com – Instagram: @WesternPrinceWildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching Adventures

Written by Alison
on Aug 02, 2026

Northwest Day on the Water

Latest Blog ...