Lauren Tschirhart | September 10th, 2026 | M/V Sea Lion | 12:30 pm
What’s going on with the T035A’s? There has been a lot of buzz with this family lately, as the family has expanded, but no one is quite sure who the new calf belongs to. Did T035A/ Lester have her fifth calf? Or did T035A/ Opal have her first? Regardless of who the little tyke belongs to, this baby was bringing all those aboard the M/V Sea Lion an immense amount of joy.
Our Classic Whale Watch & Wildlife Tour departed Friday Harbor and headed north in San Juan Channel. We were following up on a report of a group of Bigg’s Killer Whales that were spotted heading west in Spieden Channel. This group turned out to be the T035A’s which consists of 6 whales. Their individual designations are as follows:
- T035A/Lester — female, born in 1998
- T035A1/Opal — female, born in 2010
- ?(T035A1A* — born in 2026)?
- T035A2/Topaz — born in 2013
- T035A3/Garnet — born in 2018
- T035A4/Agate — female, born in 2022
- ?(T035A5* — born in 2026)?
- T035A1/Opal — female, born in 2010
These whales were at the surface quite a bit, as they had their new calf in tow. Aside from mystery T035A5/T035A1A we also had T035A4/ Agate surfacing quite a bit. At age four, she is still quite small, and was launching her little head out of the water with every surfacing. The photo I chose for this blog is a perfect example of the kind of surfacing's we were witnessing!
After getting great looks at this family of 6, we continued along the Spieden Island coastline where we observed a ton of wildlife. We saw harbor seals, fallow deer, mouflon sheep and even a beautiful bald eagle.
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/