Over the last 7 days, Bigg’s killer whale sightings have kept pace with those that we have seen in the last two weeks prior. While we have had several family groups making their rounds around the central Salish Sea, we welcomed in some “first of the year” sightings to our Blue Kingdom crew. This week, guests encountered roving male T49C who was spending some time with the T99 family, the T65As with T65A5 (Indy) in tow (he’s usually roaming on his own, as well, so this was a special treat); the T34s and T37s, T65Bs, T73As, T75Bs, and two members of the T38s (C&E) – roughly 34 different individuals spread across these tours.
We also had a private tour that decided they wanted to head west into the Strait of Juan de Fuca to visit with the humpback whales that have been hanging out and feeding in that area. The weather window was marvelous and everywhere you turned your head there were exhalations, flukes, backs, and bodies at the surface. Guests got to witness “flick feeding,” where a humpback was using its massive flukes to stun forage fish by swishing that powerful tail through a group of them, then circling back in to feed! We don’t tend to see this behavior too often, with lunge feeding being the more “regular” form of feeding seen here, so a treat for our crew, as well. Humpbacks that we were able to identify during this encounter were: Split Fin and Divot (two siblings, and two of Big Mama’s offspring–traveling very closely with one another!), Zig Zag and her 2025 calf, Sandstorm, Orion, and then 3 2022 calves that do not yet have common nicknames: the 2022 calf of humpback Marlin, the 2022 calf of humpback Alto, and the 2022 calf of humpback BCY1075. If I had to pick a favorite encounter from this week, this was absolutely it. The strait was like glass, the overcast skies made for a mercury-like tinge to the water (and wonderful lighting for photos), exhalations and splashes could be heard for miles, and it was often impossible to choose just where to look. We were definitely in “humpback heaven.”
A few other “firsts of the year” this week included several minke whale sightings near Salmon Bank (offshore of the south end of San Juan Island), and our first few harbor seal pups! Summer is definitely in full swing and we never know what we’re going to encounter on the water, which it makes it that much more exciting.
As always, we’ve cherished these amazing sightings and can’t wait to see what this next week will bring us!
