Weekly Whale Report: 07/27/26-08/02/26

The last week of July brought whale watching to new heights with some very unusal and exciting acivity!

Eleven orcas swam under Deception Pass Bridge Tuesday morning. Included among them, were the T135 pod, visiting the Salish Sea for the first time on record, leaving their tropical southern Californian waters for some colder seas.

56-year-old orca (and great granny!) T36, Flapjack, (seen above) took to the sky, showing us age really is nothing but a number. And a gray whale made an appearance outside our marina in Burrows Bay, reminding us that migrating whales don't always follow the same timeline.

What a week indeed!

Species Seen This Week

Across 18 tours this week, we encountered:

Killer whale - Total: 22

Humpback whale - Total: 7

Gray whale - Total: 1

Individual Whales Seen This Week

Killer Whale:

We encountered orcas 16 times and identified 22 individuals across 8 matrilines.

These included:

• T36s

• T37 & T37A2

• T69E

• T75s

• T75Bs

• T100s

• T135s

• T137s

Humpback Whale:

We encountered humpback whales 6 times and identified 4 out of 8 humpbacks seen.

These included:

• Bandit

• Billiard

• Monsoon

• CRC-22930

Gray Whale:

We encountered 1 unidentified gray whale.

If you want to see more photos and videos from our tours, check out our social media accounts! Find us on Instagram @outerislandx, TikTok @outerislandexcursions, and Facebook as "Outer Island Excursions".

Photos From This Week:

Mon. 07/27/26; Humpbacks: Monsoon & Bandit

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

Tues. 07/28/26; Orcas: T36s, T69E, T135s, & T137A

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

T137A Jack

T137A Jack

T36B4 Auk drowning a seal

T36B4 Auk (right) cuddling a sibling--Photo credit: Naturalist Sam Wallace

Tues. 7/28/26--Seen from Deception Pass Bridge

Orcas: T36s, T69E, T135s, T137s

Wed. AM 07/29/26; Orcas: T75Bs

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

Left to right: T75B3 Rubble, T75B4 Petra, &T75B Pebbles

T75B Pebbles

T75B Pebbles

Wed. PM 07/29/26--Orca: T69E Kodiak; Humpback: Bandit

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

Photo credit: Guest Jon Scholl

T75B2 Jasper eating a seal

T75B2 Jasper chomping down

Fri. AM 07/31/26 PM--Orcas: T36s

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

T36B4 Auk taking to the sky

T36B4 Auk

T36B4 Auk porpoising

T36B1A Maple doing a back breach

Handstand!

T36B4 Auk

T36B4 Auk

Clearly the most acrobatic of the group, T36B4 Auk

Fri. PM 07/31/26 PM--T36s

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor

Left to right: T36B1 Bhotia with grandma T36 Flapjack

36B2 Greenfelder (left) with niece T36B1A Maple (right)

Left to right: T36B2 Greenfelder, T36B4 Auk, T36B Tattertip, & T36 Flapjack

T36B Tattertip & T36B4 Auk

T36 Flapjack in front of Mount Baker

Great grandmother T36 Flapjack taking to the sky!

Sun. 08/02/26--Orcas: T46B3, T36B3A, & T46B6

Photo credit: Naturalist Megan MacGregor