The T109A’s along Frost Island and vicinity on 8/21/26 by Lincoln Humphry
Aug 17 – Naturalist Elliot
Such a great day! We left the dock and headed straight into the fog. We went through the middle punching through several fog banks before catching up with the T49A’s in the Strait of Juan De Fuca near Hein Bank. They were a little squirrely and travelling in a wide spread with long downtimes, but Nat T49C (the largest bull currently travelling with the group) kept surfacing close to us until the very end when they all surfaced near the boat after a long downtime. On the way home we went on a minke search near Salmon Bank to no avail, but saw lots of Heerman’s gulls and a pile of sea lions on whale rocks.
Aug 18 – Naturalist Lauren
What a gorgeous day on the water. Beautiful conditions, flat calm waters, and orca whales. We caught up with the T49A’s heading north up the southwest side of Stuart Island. They traveled closely together, giving us fun views of all the different dorsal fin heights. Super fun to see this pod as Nimbus, Nan’s newest calf, was born this year! They gave us quite the goodbye with a peduncle throw from one of the older kiddos, a spy hop and lots of splashing and direction changes. All under the Turn Point lighthouse. incredible displays of their strength and power.
We saw harbor seals at Skipjack Island and Clements Reef. Clement’s was also populated with 7 Steller sea lions. Fascinating perspective of the smallest and largest pinnipeds we see in these waters. We also saw 7 common loons in Hale Passage on our way back to the bay. A rich wildlife day indeed.
Aug 19th – Naturalist Kara
A fellow PWWA member sent out a radio call invite to a T-Party happening in the Strait of Georgia! We took ourselves on the long journey up into Canada to join a 5 pod, 25 individual orca whale social gathering. These whales were quite spread out, but busy with all sorts of fun behaviours, tail slapping, head standing, porpoising and a few breaches! We also saw some potential for mating, so we’ll have to wait 18 months and see what happens. Our large group of whales today were members of the T35s, T36As, T49As, T63 and T65 (Whidbey and Chainsaw) and the T100’s. Overall, a lovely and lucky day on the water.
Aug 21st- Naturalist Kara
What a lovely day on the water! We made our way through Obstruction Pass to find our first whales of the day. The T109As (the Runaways) were found this morning in the middle of the ferry lanes, napping, and slowly traveling the Lopez shoreline. We watched their behavior change from deep dives and a slow journey to a quick hunt and finding something to eat. The orcas were circling, with high back arches and some upside down swimming as they caught their lunch.
On our journey around the islands to look for other wildlife, we actually came on another pod of orcas. We were first on scene with these whales, so we spent some time working on identification and pictures for this group. These Biggs orcas were a bit more elusive, with big direction changes and long dives. It was fun to watch an entirely different family, and we finally got an ID on T36A, T36A1 and T65A5 (Indy). Cool to see two pods in one day, and get to ID one!
August 23rd- Naturalist Elliot
Incredible day on the water, After a great thunderstorm yesterday evening we left the dock in cloudy weather. We went to see the sea lions on the Sinclair buoys and saw 3 males, the smallest one get knocked off and the largest of the three displaying the final step in his digestive process.
We caught up with an interesting group of orcas at Point Lawrence (The T99’s and T37A4) and stayed with them as they crossed Rosario Strait eastbound, and hugged the Lummi Island shoreline for almost 2 whole hours. After a long downtime during the crossing we were surprised with a surfacing right off the bow! Just incredible to see those animals so close. We closed out the day with Harbor Seals at Eliza Rock and headed for home.
