Noah and Jude in the Saanich Inlet

May 14, 15, 2025

T049A2, Jude (left), and T049A1, Noah (Right) May 14

T049A1 (Noah) (left), and T049A2 (Jude) (left) May 15

T049A2 Jude May 14

Three whales in the Inlet May 15. Possibly Noah, Jude and an unknown!

On May 14, 2025 after photographing Tempest off ȾXENNI (Waldron Isl.), we heard of whales heading south from Cowichan. We made our way to the Saanich Inlet and observed the notorious Noah and Jude, T049A1 and T049A2 travelling together. It is not common for killer whales to be in the Saanich Inlet, and as such, vessel traffic was heavy and not on alert for whales, making it a big job to try to prevent close encounters and strikes. We attempted to reroute at least 5 vessels away from the whales, and photographed multiple avoidance distance infractions.

On May 15, our team observed Noah and Jude in the Saanich Inlet again! This time, we observed the whales from land. During our first observation, the whales were heading south and were about 5 km away from us on the opposite side of the Inlet. We managed to snap a few photos, with three whales in the photo. We waited patiently and the whales turned around, making a closer pass on our side of the Inlet, allowing us to ID them as Noah and Jude, but they were without the third whale, who remains unknown. This marked the 4th time this month we have seen these brothers, and the 3rd time this month we have observed them in the Saanich Inlet.

All photos are taken with a 200-600 zoom lens.