Olivia Esqueda | June 3rd, 2026 | M/V Osprey | 12:30pm
We had a small, but amazing group of folks on the water with us today which made the trip feel very special! We headed north through San Juan Channel with a slight chill in the air, transiting through Spieden Channel and cutting up across the north Haro Strait. This brought us right past Turn Pt Lighthouse (with views of Mount Baker in the background!) and aiming for Swanson Channel. This big body of water brings us north into a series of small islands nestled in Vancouver Island in the general direction of Salt Spring Island. It was in Swanson Channel that we came across the T036A’s who had just met up with both T049A1 and T049C! This totaled around seven Bigg’s Killer Whales traveling around together. The matriarch in this group was T036ALeland, a female born in 1990 who had three of her calves and one grand-calf in tow! T049A1 Noah, a male born in 2001 has been buddied up lately with T049C Nielson, a male born in 1998 and have been spotted traveling with multiple different matriarchs in the previous months on the water!
We continued traveling north with this group as the clouds started to darken and spring rain began to fall- reminding us we are still in the Pacific Northwest. After saying goodbye and heading back south, we all looked through the photo ID catalog which is the primary tool we use for identifying these individual whales and found ourselves back at Spieden Island as the rain lifted.
Spieden Island always brings lots of wildlife! We saw heaps of juvenile Bald Eagles and adult Bald Eagles hanging in the air, the treetops, and right on the ground. Hauled out where the shoreline meets the water, we saw a large group of Harbor Seals and as we cruised along, we even spotted Sika Deer and Mouflon Sheep grazing on the island- and a few by the water as well! Right as we re-entered San Juan Channel, we even spotted Harbor Porpoise swimming around!
As soon as we returned to the dock, the sun came out and it suddenly felt SO warm! It truly was a well-rounded day with weather AND wildlife!
Wanting 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/