Absolutely epic shots of Zephyr the humpback breaching on 6/3/25 by Yves Eberhard.
T123 Biggs Orcas around Lummi Island and Bellingham Bay by Lincoln Humphry.
A majestic eagle and T Party of T124D’s and T124A2s by Kurt Leipold.
June 2nd
It was a slightly windy day crossing the bay, with lots of birds rafting in the wind protection of Lummi Island. Viti had a few cormorants flying across the bow, bringing seaweed back to the nest.
A humpback was found by a passenger in the Strait of Juan de Fuca while we were on the way to more humpbacks further west. Lots of surfacing and circling by all the whales in the same area. We kept seeing high arches on dives, but no flukes, sadly.
June 3rd
Lots of activity at the Sinclair navigational marker today! Three sea lions vying for space, with a few failed jumps.
Our route took us through the middle of the islands today, before we headed south to see two humpbacks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. No one was on scene with them so we had to find them again. But we did, and it sure was worth it! We were treated to an amazing show, with a full breach out of the water followed by several large, lunging chin slaps! The whales started rolling afterwards, with lots of pectoral fins flinging out of the water. Zephyr and an unidentified friend.
Having already had an amazing day, on the way home, we found orcas! Those were new sightings for the day as well, so we got to be with them as the only vessel for a while too. T086A’s and 124D’s.
Lastly, a large raft of birds, and many harbor porpoises were feeding on bait fish off Lummi Island. The porpoises were porpoising quite a bit! Truly awesome day on the water.
June 4th
On the water this morning with a very quiet radio and no clue where we were headed! We took our time looking at harbor seals on Eliza rock, before moving on to Viti Rocks to look at a bald eagle and a ton of swimming pigeon guillemots.
The Sinclair buoy was an active watch today, with a steller sea lion jumping on, and promptly falling off the navigational marker a few times. He was quite a big boy in comparison to the two already sleeping on the bouy, and was quite vocal about his space.
As we scanned Rosario Strait for whales, we finally got the call that 3 pods had formed a T-party up by Patos! We made our way up north and came on scene with breaching youngsters! The 3 pods were spread out, but we saw tail slaps, a spy hop and a few breaches.
T137s-Loon and Jack and family, T124Ds-Field and family, with 2 young whales, T124A2s- Elkugu and family
June 5
A beautiful day to be on the water. Started our trip strong with glaucous winged gulls, double crested cormorants and a bald eagle on Viti Rocks. A great look at the intertidal zone as well.
We traveled onwards, debating whether to go north or south, while stopping at a channel marker to visit with some Stellars Sea Lions. There happened to be a California Sea Lion in the mix. With all the morning reports coming in from the south, we made our decision and headed inner-island through Peavine Pass.
The spectacular Komo Kulshan (Mt Baker), was standing proud and looking beautiful. We rounded the northern end of San Juan scanning for a humpback whale seen earlier in the day and to our surprise we found not one, not two, but three humpbacks traveling together!! Hendricks, Monarch, and Yakima. It has been documented these three like to hang out with each other outside of Nanaimo.
Maybe they were making their way there today. They traveled alongside each other constantly for the duration of our visit, even giving us some pec fin waves and slaps. A sight to behold, that 16ft fin. They eventually waved goodbye as we departed and made our way back to Bellingham Bay.
June 6
Viti rocks had an array of harbor seals, cormorants, and gulls today, while the marker had three Stellars sun napping.
Quickly caught up with the T123s pushing south off of the west side of Lummi Island: T123 Sydney, 123A Stanley, 123C Lucky, 123D Darcy. Great show! Good surfacings, very consistent. Then a spy hop, some playful rolling around, and great views of their saddle patches and eye patches.
Spent some time looking around the Peapod islands at harbor seals, black oystercatchers, pigeon guillemots.
Headed back home with the pleasant surprise of the T123’s making their way into Bellingham bay guiding us home. They gave us great looks as they pushed north, right up next to Bellingham! They definitely took down some prey, not much surface activity of the hunt but lots of bird action at the surface diving down for the scraps.
What a special day to be escorted back home by orcas. We even got to visit with them during the much shorter dinner cruise, as they were right out in the bay from town.
June 7
Set out from Bellingham Bay on a beautiful Washington day! No reports yet for the day, we set off with fresh eyes. We stopped at Viti rocks to gander at the lovely nesting double crested cormorants, glaucous winged gulls, pigeon guillemots. The Sinclair buoy had some sleeping, sunbathing Stellars sea lions hauled out. They gave us great looks at their fore and hind flippers as they were snoozing.
We gave Rosario straight a good scan before heading north on the east side of Orcas Island. Heading north, we got some good reports of two humpback whales heading north in President’s channel. Coming on scene we got a good splash to welcome us! The whales we got to hang out with were no other than Big Mama herself and her 8th calf she has brought into these waters since 1997!
We watched Mama and baby transit between Sucia and Patos island before we set off back towards home giving the outer islands a good look for other critters. Komo Kulshan (Mt. Baker) was proudly making her presence known watching over the Salish Sea. We cruised back into Bellingham Bay via Hale Pass. A great humpback of a day.
June 8th
Favorable reports of whales were called in almost as soon as we left the dock and they were close!
Captain Jeff took us over to Eliza Rocks, where we saw a lot of seals hauled out and a few babies tucked up on the rocks. Lots of them in their banana pose to keep as much out of the water as possible, since the tide was pretty high.
We stalled for a bit to serve an early lunch, since the whales were nearby, so we made some detours to look at the pigeon guillemot nests on the Cone Islands. Lots of birds diving off the cliff and swimming in the water. The PG’s were really active around their nest site today.
Circumnavigated Cypress Island and saw a bald eagle circling low on the water. Finished lunch and made it up Rosario Strait to spend time with the T124D’s and T124A2s. These 2 pods have been spending a lot of time together recently, which is great, because there are 3 youngsters in the group! The whales spent a lot of time with the 7 of them surfacing together, which gave us great looks at the size comparison between mom’s and their babies. Because they were so close, we got to travel with them for about an hour as they made their way up Rosario strait and along the west side of Lummi Island.
On our way back in, we stopped at the Sinclair buoy to look at Stellar sea lions. There were four on the buoy today, all very sleepy. The smallest Stellar I have ever seen was tucked up next to a pretty large one, which made their growth look so impressive! This youngster wasn’t a baby, but didn’t look much older. The Stellars were all using each other as pillows and ignored the boat completely while we watched them, they looked quite comfortable. What a great day.
