Kelly | M/V Osprey | Sunday, May 18th 2025 | 12pm
My very first Adventure Tour of the year was filled with incredible wildlife encounters! We started the trip with a stop in Rocky Bay for some harbor seals. A rocky cluster hosted over 50 harbor seals, lounging on the rocks or swimming in the shallow water close by. Guests loved seeing the wide variety in coat patterns unique to the Salish Sea!
Next stop, killer whales! Only about a 5 minute cruise north, a group of killer whales identified as the T19's came into view. This family is made up of 3 whales including:
- T19 Nootka 1965 F
- T19B Galiano 1995 M
- T19C Spouter 2001 M
This is group 3 was swimming south in Speiden Channel, moving extremely slow. Nootka's two boys towering over her with their 6ft dorsal fins. This is fun family to watch because it is very easy to identify each member. Nootka has the shortest dorsal fin by far, Galiano has a very distinct curve at the top of his dorsal fin and Spouter has a pristine triangular fin. This family hardy made any distance the entire time we watched them, seemingly stuck on the "treadmill", when the current is moving strong against their path of travel.
On our way back to the harbor we cruised by Speiden Island. A large group of both juvenile and mature bald eagles flew over head. Just as we focused on the Steller sealion swimming along the shoreline, a river otter began to scurry down to the waters edge! During all of this, we still had the killer whales surfacing in the distance off the starboard side, it was a true wildlife smorgasbord!