Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion October 3rd, 2026 | 12:30 pm
Today’s stunning day on the water brought us all the way to Victoria to see some Bigg’s Killer Whales! We were hoping to reach this report in Canadian water when we left the dock, so we went south through Cattle Pass to reach the Juan de Fuca. We stopped at Turn Rock on the way to find the sea otter, and saw many birds including a Great Blue Heron by Goose Island. We scanned all across the Juan de Fuca, searching for any signs of whale activity. Some harbor porpoise were also travelling in the area, but we continued on southwest. Eventually we began to slow our speed, because we were approaching the half nautical mile distance from our whale report! We were incredibly excited to start to see their dorsal fins in the distance, and realize which individuals were here… A tiny orange-hued baby was at the surface, and seeing mom’s dorsal fin we knew immediately that it was the T36A1s, with mom Tierna, her 2022 calf Drift, and her new baby that was first sighted in the last few weeks. Along with them were the females of the T137s, the aunt and cousins of T36A1! I have been waiting to see these whales all season; we have seen quite a bit of T137’s son Jack this season with other extended members of the T36s, but today was quite special to see this group. The new baby was quite playful at the surface, rolling around and even doing a tiny spy hop! Mom and big brother were always close by, and it was fun to notice the differences in the notches in the dorsals of T36A1 “Tierna”, T137 “Loon”, and T137D “Wright”. T137C “Tempest” has no notches, so she was the easiest to tell of the adults.
This group wasn’t travelling very quickly, so we got to spend a while observing their travels and the baby’s fun surface behaviors. With our engines off at times, we could even hear their exhalations from a distance. Eventually, it was time to begin to head back towards San Juan Island. I hope this group sticks around the area so we can see this new baby continue growing! We began travelling back east, getting back into scanning mode for anything else on the way home. We stopped at Whale Rocks to see the many Stellar’s Sea Lions hauled out and swimming in the water. With beautiful views of Mt. Baker all day and so many cool animals to see, this was the perfect October day in the Salish Sea!
Want to see more photos from our trips? Visit our SmugMug page at: https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/ More information about the Pacific Whale Watch Association: https://www.pacificwhalewatchassociation.com/