Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | May 10th, 2026 | 2:00 pm
When we left the harbor, I had no idea that today’s trip would end up being one of my most memorable! We began by heading north in San Juan Channel, and quickly reached reports of the T49A Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline. We stopped for some quick looks, but continued on to search for some other reports we had heard about. Our search brought us into the outer islands near Patos, and we found a trio of Bigg’s from the T124A matriline; T124A, A6, and A7. We got a few looks at these whales, but they were quite elusive and began taking long dives and changing directions, so after a while we decided to continue on and go back to find the 49As again. On our way south, we stopped to see harbor seals and bald eagles.
We reacquired the 49As near Green Point in Spieden Channel, and noticed moufflon sheep on the hillside along with many Stellar’s Sea Lions hauled out on the rocky shore. At first the family of 6 whales appeared to be in a bit of a treadmill, not moving very fast, but that suddenly changed when they began moving quickly towards the shoreline. We watched them begin their coordinated attack, confirming this as a hunt when we saw a sea lion surface in their midst! The whales splashed as they made fast turns and changed direction, and T49A3 Nat seemed to have taken the lead as he dove towards the sea lion. It was incredible how coordinated these whales were, and even though the sea lion did surface a few more times, we could see that it did not have much time left… The whales moved a bit offshore and disappeared on some longer dives, and then the birds began circling, signifying that the whales were prey sharing beneath the surface. Nat lunged at the surface a few times giving us amazing looks at his power and size! Once the activity quieted down and the family seemed to be slowing, it was time for us to begin to head back to the harbor. Any hunting activity is special to see, but this hunt was particularly exciting! I can’t wait to see what the 49As get up to next as we’ve seen them quite a bit the last few weeks.