Welcome, welcome to the official kickoff report for our 2026 whale watching season!
We’ve been itching to get the sea back under our feet, and to introduce folks to all the beauty and wildlife around the Salish Sea. Early spring has been offering us a GREAT time to get out and explore!
This report is going to cover the first TWO weeks of the season, and we have seen some familiar fins in this time span–but also a couple new surprises!
Bigg’s killer whales have been encountered on most of our trips since 4/1 and include the T34s with the T37s (7), T46Bs (with a new calf = 9), the T49As (with a new calf, too = 6), the T71Bs (2), T90s (4), the T123s (4), and the T124Ds (4), for a total of 36 individuals! The T49As and the T90s made several forays around the San Juans and the outer islands and were seen on multiple trips. The T46B8 and T49A7 calves are thought to only be a month to 6 weeks old at this point, and they’ve been such a delight to watch!
Spring also brings a small group of gray whale visitors into the Salish Sea for some “pit stop” feeding before they continue further north into Alaska and the Bering Sea, and we’ve seen several near the Deception Pass and west Oak Harbor areas over the last two weeks.
It’s not quite humpback season yet, but that hasn’t stopped a few stragglers from making their way into this area on the early side. It was thought that the two moving through Haro Strait in early April off of San Juan Island were juvenile whales, and since they aren’t of breeding age just yet, it’s perfectly normal to see them this early in the season. A treat, though, as typically we don’t begin to see many more until late May/early June.
We’ve been thrilled by how many Steller sea lions have taken up some of their usual haul out spots around the San Juans. They’ll be making their migratory exodus before we know it, pushing off to breeding rookeries outside of the Salish Sea and northbound in just a few weeks. We will likely retain some of the younger Stellers that aren’t able to breed yet, but for now, we’re enjoying their “dog piles” and grumping and growling at full max!
We’re excited to see what the next week brings us!
Hope to see some of you out there with us!
