Upper Left: Chainsaw approaching us on 7/2 by Allen Nichols
Upper Center: Flapjack spy hopping on 7/2 by Lincoln Humphry
Upper Right: Cerulean and BCY1157 traveling together on 7/2 by Lincoln Humphry
Bottom Left and Center: T36 Biggs pod right off shore in Bellingham Bay on July 4th by David Abraham
Bottom Right: T36 Biggs pod off of Boulevard Park in Bellingham Bay by Leo Solomon
June 30th
It was a beautifully calm day on the water. Perfect weather to be out whale watching. There were no reports as we left the dock, but Captain Cassidy on the Friday Harbor trip spotted two humpback whales in Rosario Strait! Before we started heading for those whales, we hung out with a couple of Steller sea lions on the Sinclair can. They were pretty sleepy. There was one large male and a smaller juvenile.
We came on scene with the HBs very early in the day, so we got to spend lots of time with them. This was a mom and calf pair, very common this year, and of course the baby was quite spunky. There was so much surface activity happening. We saw countless tail throws, pectoral fins, a little spy hop, and the baby stuck their head out of the water many times!
After about 40 minutes on scene, the mom Europa, Decided to show her baby how it is done, and we got to see absolutely massive breaches from that big lady! It truly brought tears to my eyes. Seeing this remarkable animal fling itself out of the water over and over again is an unforgettable experience! After Europa breached, the calf also started to breach too. What an incredible show.
We spent a bit more time with them, and then went under Deception Pass bridge as it was nearby and conditions were favorable, and then headed north to go home. Throughout Bellingham Channel we saw so many harbor porpoise and some harbor seals. We eventually stopped at Eliza Rocks and saw a pair of bald eagles and lots more harbor seals!
July 1
What a beautiful start to July, truly feeling like summer today. It was quite warm and sunny on the water. No reports as we started our day, making it a bit of a treasure hunt out there. Two immature eagles on Viti Rocks and one mature one causing a ruckus with the gulls and cormorants. Lots of harbor seal pups out of the water rolling around with each other. So fun and cute to see this year’s pups growing big and strong. Saw two sleepy stellers on the Sinclair can. Great looks at their massive fore-flippers and their extremely sensitive whiskers. A nice full start to our day.
Ventured onward through Peavine Pass and were happy we did so! As soon as we made it into “cross sound” in the middle of the islands, reports of orca whales were coming in, heading north in San Juan Channel right near us! We cruised through Upright Pass and started heading north ourselves meeting up with the orcas east of Point Caution.
They were booking it pretty quickly north as we were getting on scene with them. After a few surfacings they hit the breaks and demonstrated some great circling behaviors making us think they were taking down some prey. They quickly moved on from one spot of circling to another.
The pod we were with was none other than the T46B’s. With 8 members in this pod lead by Raksha (T46B) herself. Raksha is a very successful mom having had 7 calves in her 37 years of life. Her youngest, T46B7, Tala, born in 2023. There were two 2023 calves, soon to be juveniles in the mix and one 2025 calf (T46B31) born to T46B3, Sedna. We cruised home through President’s channel, around the south side of Matia Island and back to the bay via Hale Passage.
July 2
With some shore reports very close to home early this morning, we had high hopes of finding some orca whales today. We headed towards the south side of Lummi island to start our day. Thankfully, another PWWA boat picked up the early morning report, so we didn’t have to search. It’s always fun seeing whales minutes from home!
We caught up with T63-Whidbey, and T65-Chainsaw (a legendary 47 year old male with a serrated dorsal) along with T36-Flapjack, and the T36B’s lead by Tatertip. Tatertips 3 kids and newest grandkid were also present; the youngest whale, T36B1A, Maple, born this year!
They gave us great looks. We saw some spyhoping, a total of 6 times, some proposing behavior because of it being a bit choppy today, and lots of great views of eye patches, saddle patches and dorsal fins.We wrapped up with the orcas after one close pass by Chainsaw himself, showing his head just before dipping under the boat! Passengers got to see just how large of a whale he is.
We ventured on to see two sleepy Stellers on a channel marker. Probably the smallest Steller’s Captain Cassidy or I have ever seen, cuddled up next to a very large male. We took a peak at the Cone islands, where the beginning shots of free Willy were filmed. Great looks at a bald eagle perching high in the trees. Many pigeon guillemots in the water and on the cliff side serenading us with their cute high pitch chirps
A new report of humpbacks nearby came and we retraced our path back into Rosario Strait to find Cerulean and BCY1157 traveling south together! They were very consistent with their direction and showed lots of fluke. A double-species day is always a good one.
July 3
Today was a no whale day but it was still a wonderful day out on the water! We started off the day with two juveniles and one mature bald eagle on Viti. They were hanging out on the eastern cliff face of the island and the other birds seemed anxious. Many harbor seals, including a mom and pup cuddling together on a rock that might have been too small for them both. We saw 4 sea lions on the Sinclair navigation marker too.
Captain Michael and I were not taking our eyes off of the water, as we were trying our hardest to find a whale. We went north above the outer islands and into Canada, then turned and we ended up at Skipjack Island. This is another harbor seal haul out site with a beautiful background, with lots of pigeon guillemots in the water.
There were a lot of harbor porpoise on our way back to town. It was calm enough to see them super clearly, and we got a couple of close encounters, which was a lot better than nothing!
July 4th
Happy 4th of July! Today was such a memorable day. Captain Casey got a call early in the morning that there were whales in the bay, and just thirty minutes into our trip we were with orcas! This is the fastest I have ever been on scene with these animals, and it was such a delight. We got to hangout with orca whales for about 45 minutes right off the bat today, and they were the T36s. This is a family group of six, with a 2024 calf and a 2025 calf! It was so much fun to see the littles. They were giving us great looks, and they were split into two groups most of the time on either side of the boat. Such a cool experience.
After this, we headed straight towards Bellingham Channel where the T99s were picked up. We followed them down the coastline, and they were exhibiting some interesting behavior. They were all traveling together, then all of a sudden they started milling and we see a BIG cloud of red in the water. We did not get to see what they got for their meal, but I hope they enjoyed it. After that, one of the females started swimming on her side with her pectoral fin straight in the air! They went back to a normal travel mode, but the big male left the group and came right up next to our boat!
We left these guys to their busy orca schedule and we went to look at sea lions. There were at least 5 in the water, and 4 up on the buoy. There was one male who seemed like he was guarding his space, because he would not let another sea lion up there. We saw them hop on the marker so many times to no avail. We also heard lots of vocalizations and lots of splashing in the water.
On our way back into town, we ran into the T36s again and they swam right in front of Taylor Dock, Fairhaven, and Marine Park! They were truly taking us back home. Epic Indepence Day.
July 5th
Early reports of whales today had us heading through the middle of the islands to be able to make it to the NW side of Spieden in time. We made a brief stop at the Sinclair buoy, where we saw two Steller sea lions fighting for the remaining free spot on the marker. They were being funny pulling each other off the marker from the water, splashing around and then trying to jump back up.
It was a pretty trip through Obstruction and Pole Passes, with looks at Madrona trees, cormorants and pigeon guillemots.
We caught up with the T65Bs up in Swanson Channel. We were the only boat on scene, so we had to spot them ourselves. We scanned the area for about 5 minutes before we finally found them! We were able to spend around an hour with them, seeing a few behavior changes from travelling to resting and ending with a hunt! T65B1, Birdsall is a young male that gave us a few close passes before joining up with mom, Chunk, and siblings Nettle and Rook.
We saw a spy hop and a few tail slaps as they found something to hunt, before having to journey home. Stopped on the north side of Waldron to look at seals and pigeon guillemots.Came home through Hale pass to check out the other side of Lummi island. Beautiful, calm day on the water too.
July 6th
Early reports had whales super far north this morning! We skipped all the regular stops to make sure we had time on scene with the whales. As we cruised through the Strait of Georgia, we scanned all around for any whale signs. We saw harbor porpoise, and huge rafts of gulls and rhinoceros auklets. We did end up pushing all the way to that north report, where we came on scene with humpbacks Malachite and Strike. They gave us lovely flukes, backed by Mount Baker before we headed back home, still scanning.
We lucked out on the way back and came across Bigg’s orcas coming out of point Roberts! Super lucky day to have to travel so far, and get to see 2 types of whales.
Flotsam, Jetsam T125A and T128 with a group of females/youngsters. Later IDd as T36A1s, 35As, and 38As. We ended up with 84 miles of travel today. Lucily it was a lovely, flat and calm day on the water with amazing views into Canada and Mount Baker, flukes from the humpbacks and two massive male orca fins surfacing together .
