Lauren | M/V Osprey | Thursday, June 26th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
Our first stop today on our Classic Whale Watch and Wildlife tour was to Goose Island, to observe a slew of harbor seals and several different bird species. Today we had an insanely low tide, -3.1 to be exact. We have a massive tidal flux here in the San Juans, at times up to 13 feet! This means that at different times of day there is actually a different amount of islands that make up the Archipelago. At low tide, there are 743 island formations that pop out of the waterway. Due to this crazy low tide, we were able to see an abundance of harbor seals at Goose Island. The right most point of Goose Island jets out at low tide making it the perfect haul out site for those pinnipeds. Seals have a fused pelvis and small fore flippers, making it difficult from them to maneuver on land. Therefore, low tide usually provides more “hoistable” rock face. We were notified that the T036’ and the T099’s were found over by Victoria, so we left the harbor seals and began to head that way.
Getting the opportunity to observe the Bigg’s Killer Whale family the T036’s always means it’s going to be a good day for me. Thats because T036B1A/Maple is one of the calves I had the privilege of naming! This encounter skyrocketed from good to great as we were blessed by a very surface active Maple!
We made our way into Canadian waters and started to see other Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) vessels in the distance. We had gotten word from another captain that these whales were having fun socializing. I was crossing my fingers that they’d still be surface active by the time we got there. Luck was on our side because as we approached we started seeing splashing in the distance and we were greeted by a tiny killer whale torpedoing out of the water! The T036’s have two very young whales in the group. There is a two-year-old male, T036B4 named “Auk” as well as T036B1A/Maple who was born in the early months of 2025. Maple still has that distinct orange hue that brand new killer whales calves have, so it’s fairly easy to tell her and her uncle apart. We watched lil’ Maple as she tail lobbed, cartwheeled and fully breached out of the water! Uncle Auk, who was also behaving energetically, was never too far behind her. The T036’s are made up of…
- T036/Flapjack — (F) ≤ 1970
- T036B/Tattertip — (F) 1998
- T036B1/Bhotia — (F) 2009
- T036B1A/Maple — (F) 2025
- T036B2/Greenfelder — (?) 2013
- T036B4/Auk — (M) 2024
- T036B1/Bhotia — (F) 2009
- T036B/Tattertip — (F) 1998
This special family is one of few that frequently travel four generations strong. We also had the T099’s present, who although have a different alphanumeric designation, are actually part of the extended T036 family! T099/Bella is thought to be the daughter of T036/Flapjack! Making this encounter one big family reunion! It’s no wonder they were so busy socializing.
We had a blast as these whales made their way east across Haro Strait. After our time with these 11 Bigg’s, we slowly made our way back towards Cattle Pass to view some Stellar’s Sea Lions at Whale Rocks. After our sea lion stop, we got word that a humpback whale that had been seen traveling in the area earlier, had just been reacquired in Griffin Bay! What immaculate timing! We only had time to get a few looks at this humpback, but we were lucky enough to see it fluke! Due to photo-identification, we learned that this whale’s name is BCX1706/Pepper from the breeding population down in Baja. Four generations of Bigg’s Killer Whales, two species of pinniped, and a surprise humpback… Not to mention a breaching baby! What a 10/10 experience!
Check out our SmugMug to see photos of all the wildlife from today’s trip at https://sanjuansafaris.smugmug.com/