Impromptu trip and fingers crossed for some New Year's whales!

Last year we had to wait 23 days for our first field encounter with Bigg's killer whales - this year we only had to wait 2!

We headed out with Maya's Legacy Whale Watching with some Whale U alumni for an impromptu trip and fingers crossed for some New Year's whales. It took a little bit of searching, but thanks to a delayed tip, some "whale math", and a gut feeling, we were able to find the T77s in Sidney Channel, BC. I only saw the T77s once in 2025, so they were an unexpected family to be the first of 2026!

The family of 4 was in steady travel mode at first doing 5-6 minute dives, but suddenly some splashing ahead caught our eye. It was a Steller sea lion enjoying a meal, which seemed to catch the T77s' attention. But then another dorsal fin popped up much closer to the sea lion....did somebody dart ahead? No! It was actually another orca entirely: T73A2 Ogopogo! Where did you come from?

There was a bit of surface activity as all five whales came together including a few lunges at the sea lion, but lucky for the pinniped, he was near a reef and was able to climb onto a submerged rock, which led the orcas to move on quickly.

The rest of the encounter was a bit bizarre. On three separate occasions someone on board was certain they saw more dorsal fins in the far distance, but despite many of us scanning, none of those times could we clearly pick up additional whales again. We assume the rest of the T73As were probably around somewhere (all 4 of them have been around of late), but we were never able to confirm more than the 5 whales.

Nothing is ever routine when it comes to orcas, so it felt fitting to kick off the year with an encounter that left us with many more questions than answers!