Lauren Tschirhart | May 16th, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30 pm
San Juan Channel was feeling alive this Saturday afternoon. Today we had a rare occurrence, where we got to observe two different traveling groups of Bigg’s killer whales, in the exact same place, but during different times of our tour. That almost never happens! Let me explain… As we left the dock for our 12:30 pm Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour, we got word that the famed T049A’s were spotted just north of Friday Harbor. We began our tour by hanging out with six members of the T049A’s, including new calf T049A7/ Nimbus. After spending some time with this family, we continued north and did a full circumnavigation around Spieden Island, getting the opportunity to view two different pinniped species. First we came across some Harbor Seals at Sentinel rock, then cruised over to Green Point to view some Steller sea lions. The plan was to catch up with the T049A’s once more on our way back to the dock, but they had already made their way into Boundary Pass. While deciding if we were going to re-route or not, we got word that the T090s and the T124A4’s had made their way into San Juan Channel. By the time we caught up with them, they were in the exact spot we saw the T049A’s earlier! It’s not every day that you get to see two different traveling groups of orcas, let alone in the same exact place.