It was a beautiful sunny day as we left the dock in search of some whales. We originally started our journey in the Georgia Strait. It was quite windy, and while we started the adventure in the Strait, we eventually decided to seek more sheltered waters around the Southern Gulf Islands.

With two boats, we decided to divide and conquer to try and cover as much ground as possible. Eventually, we both headed towards Active Pass, and although our boats were still several kilometres from each other, we both stumbled on a group of orcas. As we were pulling up, we began to suspect that these could be the endangered Southern Residents, and after snapping a few photos, we confirmed it was indeed them. As we do not watch this population of orca, we confirmed their IDs and then continued on our way, searching once more.

The Southern Resident Killer Whales are a critically endangered population of orca with numbers currently sitting around 74 animals. This small population was once heavily targeted for the captivity industry, which created an initial reduction in their total numbers. Today, captures no longer take place, and this population is facing new threats, including a lack of food, pollution and noise pollution. These compounding issues are causing increased calf mortality rates and loss of pregnancy rates, as well as poor body conditions for adult whales.

The particular pod we stumbled across, known as Jpod, has suffered a recent heartbreaking loss with the death of J61. J61 was a newborn female calf born to J35 Tahlequah. When J61 passed in December of 2024, Tahlequah carried her daughter around for at least 12 days. She also had another daughter who passed in 2018. With the passing of that calf, she carried around her daughter for at least 17 days, an act that became known worldwide as “The Tour of Grief” (click here for a news segment on Tahlequah). Tahlequah is a sad reminder that these animals are intelligent and emotional beings who experience deep grief. We hope that by giving them as much space as possible to recover, and with continued conservation goals being made, the Southern Residents can bounce back and have their numbers increase once more.

We continued searching and had several stops for other wildlife along the way. Stinky Rocks, a gorgeous rocky outcrop near Valdez Island, was completely covered by our Steller sea lions. Growling and belching away, these massive giants are always amazing to see. Our male Steller sea lions can reach weights of over 2000 lbs!

On the flip side, our Harbour seals were being as quiet and dainty as always. These tiny pinnipeds tend to snooze the day away, occasionally galumphing their way down to the water to grab a bite to eat. One of today’s seals (ungracefully) decided to dive down to do just that, head first, making their way into the waters to hunt.

On the log booms outside Dodd Narrows, several California sea lions were snoozing the rainy day away. Occasionally, a head or two would perk up, giving us a curious glance before lying back down and continuing their slumber.

While we did not find any whales to spend time with today, rest assured, every guest on board today received one of our vouchers to join us for another tour in the future for another chance at seeing whales!

Photos taken by marine naturalists Aly Kohlman and Val Watson.

April 29, 2025 - Touring the Salish sea