Written by Alison
on Jul 05, 2026

Triple Play!

Triple Play!

June 18, 2026 PM – Today was a “Triple Play!” Three species of whales in one trip! But first things first, we had to stop and check out the Steller Sea Lions at Whale Rocks. There has been one massively big male down there lately. He was on the rocks again surrounded by younger and much smaller Stellers. After he decided to go for a swim we headed east looking for some Bigg’s Killer Whales that had been sighted earlier in the day. As we approached the area we encountered a Humpback Whale. We watched it for several minutes through a few surfacing sequences. I later ID’d the whale as “Gretzky!” According to HappyWhale, Gretzky was first spotted in 2017 so is at least 9 years old. Captain JB had been keeping tabs on the Orcas and now they were just a mile away. We got to watch 3 members of the T100 family group which included Hutchins, the 47 year old mother, her oldest son, 24 year old Laurel and 12 year old Estrella who is the youngest of her 3 daughters. The other two have dispersed and one has already had 2 calves of her own. We had a beautiful encounter as they headed north just off the Lopez Island shoreline. Now for the triple play! While we were watching the Orcas we could see a blow off in the distance. It was a Gray Whale! We puttered over that way and got some distant looks before heading for home! A beautiful day for a triple play!

 

Photographer and Naturalist: Alison Engle – Instagram: @AlisonEngleArt – Website: www.AlisonEngle.com – Instagram: @WesternPrinceWildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching Adventures

Written by Alison
on Jul 05, 2026

Triple Play!

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