Lauren Tschirhart | July 28th, 2026 | M/V Kestrel | 2:00 pm
We had some out-of-town visitors in the Salish Sea today! Members of the CA027 matriline (aka the T135’s) were found traveling with a group of Coastal Transients. All in all, we witnessed 11 killer whales, from four different matrilines, enjoying the waters of Fidalgo Bay. Seeing California Transients in the San Juan Islands is a pretty rare occurrence. There is only one species of killer whale, but they are divided into different ecotype’s, and within the ecotype’s, they are divided further into population segments. The population of Bigg’s (or Transient Killer Whales) that we see here are part of the Coastal Bigg’s population. These whales most often frequent the waters of Washington State and British Columbia. There are two other populations of Bigg’s in the eastern North Pacific, which are the Alaskan Transients and the California Transients. These populations do not usually come this far north (or south), but every once in a while, you get lucky enough to see them vacationing in the San Juan Islands.
Aside from the excitement of seeing new (to me) whales, I was also excited because T036 and the T036B’s were found traveling in this large group. I have not seen this family all year, and they are one of my absolute favorites! I was lucky enough for my nickname to be picked for T036B1’s 2025 calf. T036B1A is named Maple, after her great-grandmother T036/ Flapjack! T036/ Flapjack isn’t always seen traveling with the T036B’s, so I was thrilled when we got word that all four generations were present.
The M/V Kestrel departed Friday Harbor and went on an inter-island cruise. We wanted to make sure we headed straight to the report, as these whales were already east of Anacortes. Once we got on scene, we got word from another Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) captain that these whales were busy trying to knock a harbor seal off of one of the refinery floats! Orcas synchronize their swimming to knock seals off of ice floats in Antarctica, but that is not a behavior that is often observed here. These whales unfortunately abandoned this pursuit before we got there. Upon arrival, these 11 individuals were milling around each other looking social and surface active! We were greeted with several splashes, a couple moonwalks and a whole lot of action from big boy T137A/ Jack. This 26-year-old male was busy tail lobbing and inverted fluke slapping! He even swam on his back bringing his huge pectoral fins out of the water and clapping them in the air. Seeing an orca pec slap is not something we encounter often, so I was over the moon! After social hour finished, these whales seemingly committed traveling northeast. After our insane encounter, we headed back west making a final stop at Turn Rock to view a sea otter lying in the kelp bed. We also observed an adult bald eagle perched on a green navigational marker. What an amazing tour!