We’ve had a very busy spring and summer this year with lots of people wanting to get out of the house and into some whale watching.  The whales have been fantastic too.  It has been a record year for Bigg’s killer whale sightings, especially in Puget Sound.  Many families have been circling around in our neck of the Salish Sea for months now.  The T65As, T37s, T34s, T37As, T137s, and T128/ T125A have been the orca families we’ve seen the most this year, with the T65As taking the top honor of most frequent.  Humpback whales and minke whales are also back in our area too and have been providing some great viewing when they stay on the USA side of things.  We’ve even had one new gray whale that decided to stay past the normal springtime window, even after all his/her new whale friends left to continue their migrations.  CRC2362 was first documented by us this year and we hope he decides to make Puget Sound a regular stop in the future.  Enjoy a selection of photos that we’ve taken from recent weeks.  Photographer/Naturalist, Bart Rulon

T37B1 (Lance) races to catch up to his family after trying to catch some auklets.

Gray whale, crc2362, first seen this year, decided to stay into the summer. Here he/she breached near Hat Island.

A humpback whale breaches, likely having just returned from a long migration northward.

T65A3 (Amira) races at 30mph-ish with his girlfriend for the afternoon, T37B (Harald).

The T65A pod in front of Seattle.

T65A2 (Ooxjaa) breaches in Puget Sound

Orcas and Mount Rainier.

T37B1 (Lance) races to catch up to his family after trying to catch some auklets.