Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | Wednesday July 30th, 2025 | 12:30 pm
The T65Bs are definitely the Bigg’s Killer Whale family of the summer! We have seen them more often than any other family over the last few weeks especially, so today was a treat to get to spend another afternoon with them. We departed Friday Harbor hearing reports of this family in Canadian waters near Sidney Island, so we decided to head in that direction. Since the whales were moving further away, we enjoyed a quick stop to view a bald eagle outside the harbor, but quickly moved on. As we approached Sentinel Rock in Spieden Channel, we slowed to view some harbor seals. We are in the middle of pupping season, so it’s always fun searching the shorelines for seal pups among the group! After some adorable looks at these pinnipeds, we continued towards Sidney.
We arrived in the area that the whales had last been seen, but they seemed to be on a longer dive when we arrived. We joined the other boats in searching the area, and eventually we spotted them at the surface.Just as we were getting dialed in to their direction and speed, they disappeared again on another longer dive. Throughout our whole time with these whales, they continued to surface and disappear, definitely showing off their skills in stealth! Despite their large size and that there were four together, they definitely know how to disappear. At one point, they were traveling at the surface and suddenly made a strong direction change before they were gone again. We assumed they were traveling in that new direction and all spread out to find them again, but as more time went on we thought the whales were gone for good. After a while, we got word from another boat they they saw them surface over a mile away north of us! We picked up speed to catch up for one last look before leaving the whales to continue their sneaky travels further into Canada.