Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 23rd, 2026 | 12:30 pm
Today’s cloudier skies and cooler temps compared to yesterday were a welcome surprise for our trip today! Even with a bit of wind, we had great spotting conditions and were excited to head towards Rosario to follow up on a report of some Bigg’s Killer Whales. We made our way through Upright Channel and continued to the narrower Peavine Pass which led us into Rosario. From there we turned south and traveled along the Blakely shoreline until we began to see some exhalations and splashing in the distance. A pair of Bigg’s was travelling in the area! We caught up to them and watched as they were moving forcefully at the surface… perhaps they had been hunting? This pair had been identified as siblings known as T77C “Neftali” and T77E “Misneach”, two whales I have seen recently in other parts of the Salish Sea. Despite not knowing why they travel separately from their mom and other siblings (who also all travel separately), I love that these two are together and 20 year old Neftali takes 10 year old Misneach along with him.
Our encounter continued to be very exciting as they sped up and approached a small island off the shore that had lots of harbor seals around it… We watched the whales pop up among the bull kelp, and saw some interesting behaviors as they split up and converged together around the island. Suddenly Neftali started rolling on his side, and we got a glimpse of his “sea snake” on his underside! Male killer whales are known to do this, but I wondered why in this moment he chose to show off… Nevertheless, I was very excited to capture this moment on camera and share on our photo page for everyone to see! The siblings then continued onward, travelling much slower though some birds were continuing to circle and trail them so I wondered if they were still eating along the way. Once they finally committed to heading west into Thatcher Pass, they stayed close to the shoreline of Blakely and we began to depart from here. We searched the rest of the way east for any other wildlife, and made one last stop at Turn Rock to see the sea otter that has been hanging out there!
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/