Olivia Ellman | M/V Kestrel | July 3rd, 2025 | 2:00 pm
When we left the harbor on today’s adventure trip, no one could have predicted the day we would have. There were reports of multiple groups of Bigg’s Killer Whales at the northernmost part of our range in the Strait of Georgia, so we weren’t sure if we would make it to them or not. Since these whales were so far, we headed towards Canadian waters not planning to make any stops. While it was a trek to get up there, it was so beautiful traveling along the Gulf Islands and through Active Pass. Eventually we reached the Strait of Georgia, and continued traveling northeast across the channel viewing the city of Vancouver in the distance. We finally began seeing boats in the distance, and soon enough the whale fun began. We approached the scene knowing there were estimated to be 15 to 20 Bigg’s Killer Whales spread out in the area, including the iconic Chainsaw and members of the T65Bs and T46Bs. We got great looks at many of these individuals, and it was so exciting having so many whales in the area. Suddenly, we noticed a much smaller looking dorsal and different type of blow, and realized there was a humpback in the mix! We were shocked to see the humpback among so many Bigg’s; while they do hunt marine mammals, we typically do not see Bigg’s hunting humpbacks in this area. The Bigg’s definitely seemed to be harassing the humpback as they continued surfacing nearby surrounding the humpback. The many Bigg’s seemed to be split into two main groups, with a group of about 6 including Chainsaw spending more time closer to us and another group of at least 8 in the distance. The groups would alternate spending time around the humpback, and at one point we could see surface activity from every direction we looked at all these different groups! The humpback seemed to be rolling around at the surface and was moving strangely even when the killer whales appeared to be further away from it. At the same time as the humpback was rolling around, we saw splashes in the distance from both groups of killer whales, including tail lobs and spyhops. We watched the humpback continue to move weirdly at the surface, not appearing to be taking any deep dives and still rolling at the surface. Eventually, the group of Bigg’s that had been further away approached the humpback again and seemed to be surrounding it. We could not tell what was happening beneath the surface, so we could only speculate if the humpback was injured or not, and whether the killer whales were attempting to kill the humpback or not. The Bigg’s could have been trying to tire out the humpback to eventually predate on it, but these types of hunts typically last many hours. Sadly, we had to start heading back south to begin our long ride home. While we don’t know what will happen to that humpback over the next few hours and overnight, we felt incredibly lucky to witness such an amazing interaction between the two species.
On our way back through Active Pass, we got some lucky last looks at another matriline of Bigg’s Killer Whales! The T49As had been with the larger group earlier in the day, but had split off by the time we got there. We got some great drive-by looks at these whales as they traveled close along the coast heading back towards the Strait of Georgia. Since we had such a long way back to Friday Harbor, we quickly had to continue our travels and waved one final goodbye to the whales. Captain Vaun and I had such an awesome time on this once-in-a-season (or a lifetime) trip, and we hope one day we’ll learn the fate of the humpback among the many Bigg’s killer whales in the Strait of Georgia.