The T123 females porposing to catch up with Stanley in Presidents Channel, and Mouflon Sheep on Spieden Island
on 7/11/26 by Lincoln Humphry
July 7 – Naturalist Lauren
We love whales close to home! The T49A’s made quite the journey from yesterday’s trip west bound near Victoria, BC. We caught up with this pod near Carter Point on the east side of Orcas Island. It was fun to see them swim through and around “the sisters”, the small set of islands south of Clark Island. Impressive to see them fit their massive bodies so close to the rocks
We caught two spy hops and countless amazing views with Mount Baker in the background. We cruised through the Sucia Fingers seeing beautiful views of the Chuckanut sandstone there, before heading back to catch up with the same pod for a bit longer. Fun getting to visit the same pod twice.
T49A’s: Nan, Nat, Neptune, Nebula, Charlie II, Nimbus
July 8 – Naturalist Lauren
It was a glorious baleen whale type of day in the San Juans. We made our way into the heart of the islands to catch up with BCX2473: Kiarra Kelly. A humpback I haven’t seen before in 10 years as a naturalist! This individual is about 4 years old and they gave us quite the fluke show. Kiarra Kelly fluked almost every surfacing, always impressive to see. She was quite consistent with her down times, and despite the quite vertical fluke, she didn’t dive very deep. I assume she was finding some good bait balls to feed on.
We departed the scene and rounded Lopez Island ferry terminal, to head south into the beauty of Lopez Sound. Coming through Lopez Pass we watched CRC2702, the gray whale. This individual has been hanging out here for a few weeks and we saw evidence of them feeding. Lots of silt clouds appeared in the water indicating the bottom filter feeding strategies baleen whales utilize. Great to see a healthy gray whale, and experience the lovely smell of whale breath.
A dual species day is always a good one.
July 9 – Naturalist Elliot
Left the dock and headed northwest fast, headed for reports of killer whales near Waldron Island. We came on scene around 12:45 and just as we arrived the whales sped off in the opposite direction! Great example of the second fastest marine mammal really showing its speed.
We eventually got dialed in and we came on scene with the T46Bs, 3 generations of whales. Matriarch T46B/Racksha, T46B2 and her calf T46B2B, T46B4,B6,B7 and B8. T46B2B and T46B7 are the same age (born 2023) but are actually uncle and nephew! And got to see the new baby B8 born 2026. We were lucky enough to stick with them for a whole lap around Waldron. Very cool experience. On the way home we saw banana posing harbor seals at Peapod Rocks and Stellers on the red cans north of Sinclair Island.
July 10 – Naturalist Elliot
Started the day by heading straight north to join some other boats chasing a third party report of three orcas near East Point. Halfway there we found out that rather than joining the chase, we would be all by ourselves. Since we were already committed, it was too late to bail, so we set to scanning. Two hours behind the report the binoculars provided no sign of orcas. Luckily some other boats found orcas heading south towards Beaver Point on Salt Spring Island. We were then able to spend half an hour or so with the T49A’s and even got mugged! Very cool to see those six whales so close. And even up close to A7 the new 2026 calf.(T49A,A3-7).
After our close pass we burned for home with a 10 minute stop at Skipjack Island for harbor seals, we are really starting to see quite a few pups out there at the haul outs!
July 11 – Naturalist Kara
With a full boat, we headed out into Haro Strait on the west side of San Juan Island to catch up with a Biggs report. This was technically a T-party, but they were spread out over 2 miles. Our old reliables, the T123 family (Sidney, Lucky and Darcy) were porpoising at over 10 knots to work on catching up with the male Stanley. While they closed that gap, the pod hadn’t managed to meet up with the T37As and T37Bs by the time we had to leave the scene. We spent some really great time with them, watching these whales almost fully come out of the water to really cruise at high speed.
Our later portion of our trip, we came across the Mouflon sheep on the shores of Spieden Island. This was a neat treat later in the day, because these animals are usually seeking shade in the afternoon. There were a couple dozen of them along the shoreline, grazing amongst the big boulders. These bighorn sheep are native to Cyprus, and were originally brought to Spieden Island in the efforts to create a hunting reserve. While the business was denied and shut-down, the animals were already transported to Spieden Island and have been living and thriving here for the many decades since, with two species of deer.
