Olivia Ellman | M/V Sea Lion | May 28th, 2026 | 12:30 pm
Some days on the water are the most unexpected, action packed trips… When we left the harbor today, we had reports of some killer whales in the south so we decided to head in that direction. We knew that they had been hunting a sea lion earlier in the day, so we figured that by the time we got there they would be hanging out in the area pretty tired out. I was excited to get out there and see what these whales were up to!
On our way towards Cattle Pass, we spotted many harbor porpoise in the glassy waters, and also saw some harbor seals on some of the small islands. All of the mountains were out around us, and the Olympics made the perfect backdrop to Cattle Point Lighthouse. We continued cruising south, scanning for any baleen species near Salmon Bank, and eventually spotted some of the boats in the distance that were watching these killer whales. While we were still a mile out, I could see some large splashes in the distance… This was only the beginning of our splashy encounter! As we made our way onto scene, slowing our speed at a half mile and approaching up to 200m, we could see that these whales were definitely not tired or slow moving. There were 8 whales, made up of the T65A and T64B matrilines, and it was difficult to tell them apart at first as we immediately saw many splashes as individuals were porpoising and thrashing at the surface! It turns out that these whales were still actively hunting, and it seemed like the younger whales were taking the lead as we noticed the largest dorsals of 65A2 and A3 (brothers Ooxjaa and Amir) were more on the outskirts of the action and their younger sisters and the young females of the 64Bs were the ones splashing the most. T65A4 Ellifrit was particularly in on the action as we saw this 15 year old female porpoising and propelling herself out of the water many times!
Suddenly the whales slowed down and began disappearing on some longer dives, and we wondered if they were done… As we were scanning for their next surfacings, we spotted something else at the surface, and realized it was the California Sea Lion they had been hunting!! It was unclear if this animal was still alive at this point, or just severely injured, but we saw the body at the surface a number of times before the whales moved back in. At this point, the action started all over again! This made me think that perhaps this was a great teaching moment for these younger whales to learn how to hunt in this way, and maybe both the moms and older brothers of the 65As were helping support the other young females. The sea lion was thrown in the air among all the chaos and splashes, and we got so many amazing looks at these whales jumping out of the water I could not believe it. Once they slowed down again, it was time for us to start to exit the area. We waved goodbye to these powerful whales, and made our way to Whale Rocks to see some Stellar’s Sea Lions. A great way to end our wildlife sightings for the day, and getting to see a live stellar really showed how much effort it can take for those whales to hunt a sea lion versus a harbor seal. This was definitely one of my best days on the water, and I will not be forgetting this action packed trip!!