“Springing into the Salish Sea” Trip

And springing right in, we did.

I think most of us here in the PNW, at the end of April/early May, are waiting for that moment where we can say, “Spring is FINALLY here!” And to kick off such an occasion, I arranged for a boating excursion departing Anacortes with the hopes for beautiful weather, scenic views, and an open mind and willingness to soak in whatever it was the day may have in store (though fingers are always crossed for a whale encounter).

This is the mindset I extend to participants for these excursions; wildlife is wild and unpredictable, and in my opinion, one of the reasons that witnessing animals in their natural state is so incredible. I believe that the 16 participants that came together for this epic, “maiden voyage” excursion (first boating excursion for Sea to Sky Guiding!) not only feel the same way, but brought ALL the enthusiasm and wildlife juju with them that conjured up a trip we could all only dream of.

To start, the weather was gorgeous; blue skies, almost completely cloudless, a little breezy, and what one would venture to say was warm for a mid-May day. This would make for calm, picturesque waters throughout our excursion. To top the weather, many participants that gathered were personal friends, past colleagues, previous students of mine, or related to/friends of one of the described. We were also boarding Sounder, a RHIB (rigid-hull inflatable boat) owned and operated by a husband-and-wife team that offer exceptional, respectful, and educational tours around the central Salish Sea (via Blue Kingdom Whale & Wildlife Tours). The entire line-up of people for this excursion love, respect, advocate for, and deeply enjoy many environmental and wildlife facets of the Salish Sea, and I couldn’t have been more honored and excited at the serendipity this trip curated. The sense of belonging and community felt instantaneous.

Now, for the trip report!

Sounder departed Skyline Marina in the midafternoon. As we were loading up into the vessel, Captain Tyler had received a report of killer whales that were in Rosario Strait just west of the North end of Cypress Island, which wasn’t too far from our starting point. The whales were making a northerly trek but did not appear to be in any hurry, so we stopped to enjoy other wildlife along the way.

Our first encounter happened just outside of the marina in Burrows Pass. There was a strong current flooding into the pass and some harbor porpoises were taking advantage of the forage fish that were being corralled through the fast-moving area. Typically, harbor porpoise are very boat-shy and elusive, but today it was mealtime and they didn’t seem to be bothered by us stopping to visit. For many on board the vessel, this was the first time that clear, crisp photos were obtained of this five-to-six-foot marine mammal, as they were surfacing higher than usual to fight against the tidal shift, and doing so in a repetitive manner as they continued foraging for food. There were also a number of birds as we left the marina, including Double-crested cormorants, Pigeon Guillemots, and Glaucous-winged Gulls. A harbor seal also poked their head up as if to ask what we were doing just drifting in the pass.

Continuing into Rosario Strait and turning north, we crossed the ferry lanes and found ourselves between Blakley Island to the west, and Cypress Island to the east. We passed more auklets and gulls, spied a couple Bald Eagles, and then two Pacific Loons were found in a bait ball of birds with Eagle Cliff as our backdrop—a beautiful, rocky overlook point on the northwest side of Cypress. We were getting closer to where the whales had been reported, but before we covered the remaining distance, we stopped to visit with some Steller sea lions and Pelagic Cormorants who had taken up residence on a nearby channel marker.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen 6 of these massive marine mammals (adult males can weigh up to 2,500 pounds!) on the same marker at the same time before! Mostly either resting, trying out yoga poses, or protesting over who else should get a spot on the coveted can, these sea lions were definitely entertaining to watch!

For as much as we collectively love the seabirds, gulls, pinnipeds, porpoises, the sunshine, calm waters, and the wonderful views, I could feel the anticipation brimming among passengers as we made our turn away from the channel marker and in the direction of the whales. Even though many of us on board have seen these magnificent creatures many times, there’s always something awe-inspiring when in their presence.

Here in the Salish Sea, two unique communities of killer whales utilize these waters to forage for their preferred prey; endangered fish-eating Southern Resident killer whales rely mostly on salmon, with a strong preference for Chinook, while thriving Bigg’s killer whales have a more varied diet of marine mammal prey like seals, sea lions, porpoise, and other small whales. Bigg’s killer whales have been keeping a near-constant presence somewhere in the Salish Sea for the last several years, and they are also having calves at such a rate that almost every Bigg’s encounter I’ve had this year (over a dozen, thus far) has had an individual that’s younger than four years old in the group. Today would be no different, but equally as exciting!

We came upon the reported group to find six individual Bigg’s killer whales traveling together. T86A1 (“Nahani”) and her calf T86A1B (currently no nickname), with T124A1 (“Bonapartes”), her aunt, T124D (“Field”), and her aunt’s two offspring - T124D1 (“Salish II”) and T124D3 (currently no nickname). This was an interesting group composition with whales from three different matrilines, and it also consisted of two young whales: T86A1B born in 2023 and T124D3 born in 2021. Most of the descendants from T124 are matrilines and individuals that frequent this area of the Salish Sea year after year, but the T86As were a new matriline for me, and I found that they have been sighted around the San Juan Islands, but also up in southeastern Alaska with regularity, too.

*If you’re wondering how we identified the individual killer whales we sighted, we used a photo-identification catalogue created through Fisheries and Oceans Canada that contains photos of each living individual in the Bigg’s population through 2019 (publication date). Each photo shows the individual whale’s dorsal fin (fin along the whale’s back) and their saddle patch (gray area just behind the dorsal fin that is as unique to each individual as human thumbprints are to each individual human) in profile view; these natural markings can be matched down to the individual level. See the graphic I created of this excursion’s group of killer whales, below!

We spent over an hour trending north with this group at a leisurely pace, and then left them between Matia Island and the northeast side of Lummi Island when we turned back south. During our encounter, the whales were grouped up and trending north, northwest, and a few times we thought they might be looking for a potential meal. Both of the calves were easily identifiable, their short fins and little bodies popping up higher above the water than the adults when they surfaced to take a breath. The calm waters and bright lighting made for some beautiful photos, and as the only tour vessel on the water with this group, their exhalations were heard and enjoyed by all aboard. Each of the six orcas were photographed and identified through the following photos:

*ALL MY PHOTOS ARE SHOT WITH A TELEPHOTO ZOOM LENS + 2x EXTENDER (ROUGHLY 700mm) AND FURTHER CROPPED FOR CLOSER LOOKS; THE VESSEL REMAINED AT 200+ YARDS FROM THE WHALES AT ALL TIMES, ABIDING BY “BE WHALE WISE” GUIDELINES FOR VIEWING BIGG’S KILLER WHALES FROM A VESSEL.

Turning south for departure meant saying goodbye to the whales, but I think most of us did with full hearts. We headed back exactly the way we came, counting more bald eagle heads in the trees and seeing some more distant and zippy harbor porpoise fins as we went. The views of the Cascades and the backside of Orcas Island were stunning. We would find ourselves crossing the ferry lanes once more, turning into Burrows Pass, and then entering the marina, all of us abuzz with the day’s finds. And while the wildlife sight-seeing portion of our excursion was wrapping up, trivia and sweet treats courtesy of Sugar Mama Cafe in downtown Anacortes awaited us and would allow for an extended time to commune with like-minded people. It’s safe to say that trivia was hard but funny, the food and cookies were delicious, and a few new friendships were formed during the process. This is exactly what I had hoped to foster and look forward to a potential repeat trip in the near future!

Special thanks to everyone who made it out for this trip and invited others to come along! Your support is inspiring and I’m SO grateful! Until next time :)

*Community Photos at Sugar Mama Cafe courtesy of Candace Gavin