Another week of AMAZING summer weather and orca whales. We saw killer whales on all 11 tours this week, and we are now up to orca whale sightings on 89 out of 102 tours this year…absolutely incredible! While the Pacific Northwest is known for orcas, this year has been extra amazing for orca sightings. The Bigg’s killer whale population has experienced an explosion, a trend we hope will continue in years to come!
I typically list off all of the different families of orcas we encountered during the week of trips, but honestly there were too many this week, so I am going to skip that this week!
On Sunday mornings trip, we were traveling South toward a family of four orcas, when a call came through on the radio that one of our buddy boats had discovered a massive group of killer whales not too far to our west. I immediately altered course and headed that direction, and not long later we arrived and immediately saw a ton of whales. In total, there ended up being about 40 killer whales in this group, the biggest group of Bigg’s killer whales I have ever come across in my lifetime. It was amazing, the whales were social, we saw lots of breaching, tail slapping, and upside down whales. It was an experience I will never forget.
We also had our first full day tour of the year this week on Friday. It was amazing, everything I had hoped it would be. We saw pretty much everything there is to see in terms of wildlife in the Salish sea this time of year. We saw orcas, so many humpbacks, a minke whale, sea otter, elephant seal, eagles, harbor seals, steller sea lions, Tufted puffins, harbor porpoise, and so many other bird species. It was a trip to remember. We have one more full day tour scheduled for September. Hope to see you on it!
What a great time to be immersed in the Salish Sea, we hope to see you for an adventure soon!
