April 19, 2026 – With plans of visiting The Nature Conservancy’s Yellow Island Nature Preserve today we headed north after leaving Friday Harbor. There was a strong ebb against us so we sailed tacking back and forth close to Shaw Island up the channel. One of our passengers enjoyed taking the helm. On the south side of Yellow Island we dropped anchor and used our tender to go ashore. The wildflowers are in full bloom and look incredible right now. It’s a perfect time to visit. After exploring the island and boarding Peniel again we saw a report of orcas coming south near Johns Island. We put the idea to passengers to extend the sail to see the orcas and it was a go for the orcas. We got on scene abeam of Gull Rock. The orcas, the T123’s, are a family of four Biggs/Transient mammal eating orcas and are very well known for visiting our area. We had some great first looks before breaking away to check out the Steller sea lions at Green Pt, Spieden Island. We noted a branded sea lion (526Y) hauled out amongst the resting group catching some Z’s. There were many Bonaparte’s gulls in Spieden Channel. We resumed course down San Juan Channel and met up with the T123’s again who were in slow resting travel. However, near Yellow Island they started hunting briefly before continuing south. Crossing the channel to Pt Caution we heard some loud bald eagle vocals and found 3 eagles in a Douglas fir tree. Rounded the corner and returned back to Friday Harbor.
All Aboard Sailing
Whale Watching Sailing from Friday Harbor through the San Juan Islands – and beyond!
