June 23rd
Starting at our go to wildlife spot, Viti Rocks, we saw a couple mother and pups! It was very cute to see, here in the middle of pupping season now. Two sleepy Stellers on the navigation marker, one was pretty large and the other one was a juvenile. Saw a kingfisher and a black oystercatcher fly near the boat.
We caught up with T49As without A1 and A2. First they were weaving in and out of Cliff, McConnell and Reef Islands, then they headed north along the Orcas shoreline. One of them stuck their forehead/face out of the water for a good minute straight. More like a spy stare than a hop. Lots of good looks at eye patches and saddle patches. They were milling once, but they didn’t seem to have caught anything.
We went over the top of orcas on the way home and came down Hail Pass home.
June 24
Cruised by Viti rocks with lots of harbor seals hauled out. Some pretty small ones in the mix, with a variety of fur coloration and patterns. Saw two sleepy sea lions on a channel marker north side of Sinclair.
We gave Rosario a good scan but kept pushing on because of known reports Northwest of Stuart Island. The heart of the Salish Sea was glassy flat calm as we head through Peavine and Harney Channel. We saw two bald eagles perched in a tree on Spieden island, using their height to search for fish.
When we got into Swanson Channel, no other boats were around so we had to relocate the humpbacks that were reported earlier. Thankfully, Cpt. Cassidy had some eagle eyes today and found our mom and calf pair. They kept pushing Northwest along Pender Island. Super fun to see a new calf! Definitely a 2025 babe. We hypothesized it was Graze with her new calf, but both mom and calf were very fluke shy while we were on scene with them.
We kept moving north into Navy Channel, a spot I have never been through, which opened into Plumper Sound. Scanned into the Strait of Georgia and made our way through Sucia and Matia Island. Returning through Hale Passage.
June 25
We saw 9 eagles on Viti Rocks! We usually never see more than 2 or 3 at once. With a range of behaviors from scanning the waters, picking on gulls, picking on each other, and just hanging out and enjoying the views. 5 Stellars on the can too. All sleepy and snuggled in a good cuddle puddle.
Made the right decision to cruise North because we found orcas! First boat on scene with them. There were members of the T46C pod led by Carmanah; and the T75C pod led by Bam-Bam, for a total of 8 whales in the mix. T46C5, born in 2025, was showing off their belly and fluke! So wonderful to see this year’s calves happily swimming with their family. Tsunami, T46C1, has a very distinct dorsal with two notches in the middle half of his 6ft fin. Razor, T46C3, also has some crazy notches. Three on the upper part of their fin.
We caught these two pods just south of Lawrence Point on Orcas and they hung out around North Peapod Rock for about three hours. We cruised around Pea Pods to see who else we could find. Lots of seals and more eagles. We hooked around Rosario toward Towhead Island and we found yet another eagle! We happily got a bit more time with the whales we found, before fighting the flood tide back home around the south side of Eliza Island.
June 26th
We had a lucky day on the water with two whale species! We skipped our standard stops this morning to make our way down Bellingham Channel to meet up with a humpback headed south.
Pepper was ID’d after being a happy consistent whale, fluking for every surfacing! We watched Pepper until they headed into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, then we turned around to take a different way home. I’m so glad we did, as on the West side of Cypress Island, as we were making our way to the Sinclair buoy, a passenger spotted orcas! Instead of stopping for Steller sea lions at the Sinclair marker, we made our way over to be first on scene with the T65Bs. I was able to get an ID on them after a closer surfacing, spotting that missing chunk on the lower dorsal that gives T65B, Chunk, her nickname. Out there today with her kids, Birdsall, Nettle and Rook.
Super excited we had a double species today and that the rain waited until the last minute as we started docking!
https://happywhale.com/individual/11001
June 27th
Early reports told Cptn Jeff that whales were going to be pretty distant for the day, so he started the journey north, skipping our standard morning stops. We cruised by Clark and Barnes where we saw a lot of harbor porpoise in the tidal exchange.
On our way up towards Boundary Pass and Patos Island, we got a third hand report from friends in the area about whales pretty close to us. We went further north than originally planned so we could check out the report, which was the right move, as we found a mom and calf pair of humpbacks. When we arrived on scene, the baby was so active and breached out of the water several times! The pair fluked together for some bigger dives too, and we were able to ID our whales as the legendary Big Mama and her 2025 calf. During our hour with the pair, the calf was very active, poking it’s little chin out of the water, and rolling around.
We left them to their day and continued back south around Patos and Sucia. When we came around the opposite side of Patos, we saw a humpback mother and calf again! We thought Big Mama had followed us from the west side, but it turned out we had a completely different pair! This was later ID’d as Europa and calf.
On the way home, we stopped by Point Migley buoy for two small Steller sea lions, and harbor seals along the North side of Lummi Island. Overall, a very successful day, with TWO mom and calf pairs of humpback whales! And some amazing activity. What a day.
June 28th
Today was a brochure worthy day.
Everything you’d want out of a whale watch, with a solid double species pair of sightings. We started the day with harbor seals on Eliza rock, and so many pups! Then ventured towards active sea lions fighting to keep a spot on one of the navigation markers. Of to a solid standard start.
Reports of fog in the south, so we went through the middle and hung out with the T123s for a long time! We got a couple close passes from T123A, a very large male born in 2000. There are four in the family group, and always such a delight to watch. They have interesting history, and such personalities!
We decided to head north after our time with the orcas to see if we could spot a baleen whale species. We were searching and searching, and out of the corner of his eye Cptn Jeff saw a big splash of water 2 miles away! We immediately went to check it out, and it was Big Mama and her calf! The calf was breaching, peduncle throwing, tail slapping, and more! It was a great time.
June 29th
It was another excellent double species day. We made a typical warm up stop for Steller sea lions on a navigation marker. There were 5 of them on the marker sleeping, and a juvenile that just couldn’t quite get on the marker. He kept jumping and splashing. Eventually he made it on and nudged himself in the middle of the pile. We next went through Peavine Pass and out towards San Juan Channel.
We saw the T123s again today and watched them travel up the Waldron shoreline. We also saw plenty of eagles there as well. The water was such a pretty blue color that the colors of the orcas contrasted quite nicely!
There were reports of humpbacks north today so we went to go look for them too, and stumbled upon the two mom and calf pairs again! One was trending south and tail fluked multiple times, and the other pair was Big Mama and her calf! The calf was breaching, we saw a spy hop, and so much more! These past two days have been so amazing on the water. I can’t believe it.
