The T124’s with the new calf actively hunting, and vocal seals on May 25th.

May 25

A standard start to the day, with some hauled out harbor seals on Viti rocks. They were doing the classic banana pose. We also stopped by a navigation marker to check out some snoozing sea lions.

We went through Peavine Pass to catch up with some whales near Jones Island on the west side
of Orcas Island.
They turned out to be the 124A’s. We got to see their new calf, who still has some orange pigment.
As the day went on, they became more active and were porpoising out of the water to catch their meal. They started to show some excitement when they were feeding: spy hops, tail slaps, and even a breach!

It turned out to be a great day on the water.

May 26

Early in the day we got info that there was a humpback in Rosario, and a group of Orcas near Colville Island. We chose to go view the Orcas first, just in case they went West with the tide. We didn’t want to miss them. The group we saw were the 1375A.
This matriline has a local favorite whale: 137A Jack. He is easily identified, because of the two notches in his large dorsal fin. With him was his mom Loon, and two sisters Wright 137D, and Tempest T137B.
When we got on scene, it looked like they were catching some Z’s. They were slow-moving and resting.

On our way back, we got to view the humpback that was spotted in Rosario Strait. We saw some pretty awesome tail flukes. This humpback appeared to be a pretty young whale who hasn’t been away from mom for too long. We ended the day seeing a Stellar on a navigation marker.

It’s always a good day to see multiple whale species in a day.

May 27

As is often the case, our first wildlife encounter was with Stellars, but instead of being hauled out, they were in the water as we made our way up the west side of Lummi Island to meet up with the gray whale that has been in the area. The one said to have a mild spinal curve. The whale had short down times and was active at the surface, with great views of their dorsal ridge.

We saw two active groups of transient orcas traveling together up in Boundary Pass. The T123s with Stanley, and the T124As again. The whales were very erratic in movement, following the current.
We got great views of all 8 whales surfacing together, including a spyhop and the new calf.

Lots of Stellars on buoys and harbor seals on our way back.

Whales seen this weekend:

T123- Sydney
T123A- Stanley
T123C – Lucky
T123D- Darcy

T124- Kittiwake
T124A6 – Kasum
T124A7- 2021 female calf
T124A1- 2024 unknown calf

T137- Loon
T137A- Jack
T137B- Tempest
T137D- Wright

One unidentified Humpback
One unidentified Gray Whale