Written by Alex
on Aug 13, 2025

Nine Killer Whales by Friday Harbor

Nine Killer Whales by Friday Harbor

August 7, 2025 – We headed north around the top of San Juan Island and made a first stop at Battleship Island where a bald eagle was perched at the top of a tree. We then cruised south through Haro Strait towards Discovery Island off of Vancouver Island. We had a report of 3 Bigg’s killer whales and when we made it over there we were able to see the T18s. After a couple first looks of 3 killer whales, 3 quickly became 9 killer whales! There was an initial blast of surface activity from the whales, which included a full breach! A fellow naturalist was able to ID the arriving whales as the T109As. It was really cool to see socialization between these two groups of whales ranging from full grown males, with really large dorsal fins, to a new calf who is under a year old. They turned east and began crossing Haro so we got to spend a little extra time with them as they led us back towards San Juan Island. On our way home we made a pit stop at whale rock to see the steller sea lions, where a couple of them were battling it out. As we were wrapping up our trip in the harbor, we got a sneak peak of a harbor seal mom and pup swimming near our boat. This was a really fun way to add another species to our trip right at the last minute.

Photographer and Naturalist: Alex Smit – Instagram @Living_the_Dream_Photos

Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Westernprincewildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Alex
on Aug 13, 2025

Nine Killer Whales by Friday Harbor

Latest Blog ...