Top Row: T123’s on 5/23/26 in Bellingham Bay by Kurt Leipold
Bottom Row: T60’s and T69D2 on 5/22/26 near Sidney Island by Lincoln Humphry
Naturalist Kara all week
May 22nd
We had to make a far run today. Orcas were reported heading west into Canadian waters around Sidney Island. We had many sightings of harbor porpoise on our journey, before coming on scene with the T60s: Panthera, Yelnats, Tigris, Uncia, joined by T69D2. They were slowly traveling south, but surfacing all together in a fairly tight cluster. We found some sleepy Stellars and a few swimming harbor seals on our voyage home.
May 23rd
The weather was so choppy today, but Captain Michael was able to get us into some stable waters by Lummi and south into Padilla Bay. We were very lucky to avoid the three foot chop crossing Rosario, because we had two types of whales right here at home base! The T123 orcas (Sidney, Stanley, Lucky, Darcy) were sleepy surfacing, but with the whole family together, and right in Bellingham Bay. We also spent some time with a gray whale down in Padilla Bay in 12-15 foot waters. It’s cool watching them in shallow waters and get to see interesting action we don’t see in deeper waters, like some side rolling, and a little wave from the tail flukes as they scooped mud.
May 24
Sunny day for Ski to Sea and whales in the bay! An iconic early summer whale watch, with the T123s again hanging out in the south of Bellingham Bay. We came on scene just as they had a successful hunt! Lots of headstands, tail slaps and rolling. They moved into a slow and spread out travel pattern soon after. A close look at Stanley ended our show!
May 25th
Stormy weather had us tacking (pointing the bow with the wind) across the bay, with lots of spray over the bow! It was a fun and adventurous, but very bumpy journey on our way to see some Stellar sea lions on the Sinclair buoy. We were able to watch the sea lions for just a little bit before we headed for calmer water in the center islands.
Lunch was in smooth seas, and we heard from PWWA friends that they found our whales from the weekend, over by Moresby Island in Canada. We headed off to watch the T123s again in a new space, but doing the same fun activities! Slow travel but super close knit.
