We had another adventurous week on the water, sometimes really going the distance (literally 109 miles round trip on 7.3.25!) and other times pulling right out of the marina to find whales not far from us (Rosario Strait, Guemes Channel, Samish Bay). Part of the excitement of a whale and wildlife tour is knowing each day is going to be different and full of surprises!
At this point, we are not surprised that Bigg’s killer whale sightings are still dominating the majority of our tours, and guests are certainly delighting in seeing them (so are we!). This past week we continued to spend a little time with a few Bigg’s killer whale families that are feeling like familiar friends: T36 and the T36Bs, T65Bs, T99s, and the T123s made up the majority of our killer whale sightings this week; the T37As made a short foray down into Puget Sound where they spent some time both in Holmes Harbor and Penn Cove, off of the east side of Whidbey Island. This family group had oldest offspring T37A1 “Inyo” in tow, though she often spends the majority of her time traveling with other orcas outside of her core matriline. T37A3 “Spinnaker” was not with his family, but we saw him back in mid-May hanging out with T124 “Cooper,” so it seems he’s getting ample independent time in this season. T37A2 “Inky” has grown quite a lot over the past couple years and may still have 3-4 years of growing until he’s finished! All in all, wonderful to meet up with this group, and timely, since the sightings data shows a trend of them popping into the Salish Sea around the first week of July over the last several years. Other Bigg’s that we caught up with as they circled back into the central Salish Sea include: the T36As (without T36A1 and her offspring), T63 “Chainsaw” and T65 “Whidbey,” the T49As without A1 or A2, and T49A2 on his own, doing his roaming male thing. Totaling all of the individuals we spent time with over the last seven days, our killer whale count is at 37 individuals!
As far as humpback whales go, Big Mama and her 2025 calf were still hanging around the northern reaches of our range in the souther Strait of Georgia, and so we were able to spend time with both of them again. We also had a few humpbacks who we were unable to identify–mostly because we were in some “sporty” water and these whales didn’t fluke. This past week we had quite a bit of wind that created some wind-waves and choppy seas. The humpback whales we encountered during that time seemed to play in the swell a bit. We had one individual that continually threw the back half of their body (think cartwheel motion) into the breaking waves, over and over, sending sea spray out in a long trail behind them. See our photos for one of those epic half-breaches!
With summer in full swing, we’re always excited to see what each trip out on the water brings!
