Olivia Esqueda | May16th, 2025 | M/V Osprey | 2:00pm
What a quest we had today viewing Bigg’s Killer Whales in Canada! We started out searching north of San Juan Island and into Boundary Pass. With no other confirmed sightings in the area and one report coming in from the Saanich Inlet, we decided to start making our way in that direction hoping the whales would decide to venture a little further east. We weren’t sure if we would make it that far, but since we left the dock about 15 minutes early, we were determined to keep going for it, fingers crossed.
After lots of hard work, and a long [delightfully scenic] transit, we found ourselves just south of Mill Bay in the Saanich Inlet, which is tucked inside Vancouver Island. With no one else around, we re-found two mammal eating orcas, identified as T124C [Cooper, a male born in 1992- also known as AL18] and T037A3 [Spinnaker, a male born in 2012]. While T124C is known to travel independently or with other matrilines/individuals, T37A3 has recently been displaying the same behavior which is similar to a few of his older siblings.
We watched as long as we could before turning back north and working our way in the direction of Friday Harbor. This left room for many wildlife conservation conversations on the way home and showing off the Photo ID Guide on how we can tell each whale apart from one another. Despite being a long trip, we loved the opportunity to see a part of Canada we don’t often see and always think it’s worth it when it comes to whales!