On Episode 27 of After the Breach podcast co-hosts Jeff and Sara share all about the most recent sightings from the Salish Sea. It has been a busy few weeks whale-wise and the duo felt they needed to catch up about it almost as soon as they had finished recording the previous episode! Dive in with them as they talk about the families that have been…

Episode 26 of After the Breach Podcast finds co-hosts, Jeff and Sara, reunited after Jeff’s trip to the Silver Bank to swim with humpback whales at the largest breeding ground in the world for North Atlantic humpback whales. Jeff shares some of the amazing highlights from his time there, including swimming with a singer and spending time viewing a …

On Episode 25 of After the Breach Podcast, co-hosts Jeff and Sara welcome back their friend and colleague, Gary Sutton. Aside from being a captain in the Salish Sea he has also been working with OceanWise as a researcher and he joins in to talk about the research he’s a part of and some exciting upcoming projects. Before they get into that the thre…

Episode 24 of After the Breach is a long-awaited FAQ episode. Co-hosts, Jeff and Sara have been collecting questions from listeners and guests to Maya’s Legacy Whale Watching for a while and now they’re going to sit down and answer as many as they can. This will be the first FAQ episode but with the amount of questions received there will eventuall…

Episode 23 finds co-hosts Jeff and Sara back home in Washington State after their visit to Bremer Bay, Western Australia. Join these (more than) slightly jet-lagged whale enthusiasts as they chat once again with their friend and colleague, April Ryan, about their trip down under. This will be the last episode dedicated to their January trip though …

Episode 22 of After the Breach finds co-hosts, Sara and Jeff, still down in Bremer Bay, Western Australia with their friend and colleague, April Ryan. They have had so many encounters over the past two weeks and there’s so much to share! This time around the three of them share a quick highlight reel of just a few of the things that have stood out …

Episode 21 of After the Breach finds co-hosts, Jeff Friedman and Sara Shimazu, coming to you from on the road. The two are down in Bremer Bay, Western Australia for the month of January and with them is their colleague and episode guest, April Ryan, who joined them on Episode 8 “Orcas Take a Minke Whale”. The three have been out on the water nearly…

On this episode of After the Breach podcast, hosts Jeff Friedman and Sara Shimazu are joined by Monika Wieland Shields from Orca Behavior Institute to recap the season in numbers. We discuss sightings data for both Southern Resident killer whales (salmon eaters) and Bigg's killer whales (marine mammal eaters), and recap some incredible stories from…

In mid-August two killer whales were observed to be trapped in Barnes Lake, near the small community of Coffman Cove, in Southeast Alaska. Through an amazing collaboration between residents of Coffman Cove, NOAA, scientists and others, the whales were successfully rescued and guided back to open water on September 29th. Jared Towers, director of Ba…

The Center for Whale Research (CWR) is dedicated to the study and conservation of the critically endangered Southern Resident killer whale population and also study the thriving Bigg's killer whale population. Joining us as our guests from CWR are Research Director, Dr. Michael Weiss, and Orca Survey Lead, Dave Ellifrit. We cover a variety of topic…

There is often something special about September whales. Mid-August through mid-October is a favorite time to view whales in the Salish Sea, typically with an abundance of orcas, humpback whales and many days of beautiful fall lighting. Sara and Jeff begin this episode by sharing some highlights of this year's September whales, including a humpback…

We are back! Sara and Jeff found time to connect for a new episode to talk about some of the latest amazing sightings and our upcoming photo workshop & all day tours on September 23rd and 24th. We talk and tell stories throughout the episode about how many different groups of orcas have been in the area over the last few months. We share a brief up…

On this episode of After the Breach podcast, hosts and professional guides, Jeff Friedman and Sara Shimazu, talk about a recent interesting encounter they had on May 20th with two brothers from the Bigg’s killer whale population, T125A and T128. Also joining us is returning guest, Monika Wieland Shields from the Orca Behavior Institute (OBI) who wa…

The collaboration between whale watching companies in the Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) and other groups makes whale watching in the inland waters of Washington state and British Columbia unique, resulting in some of the most responsible whale watching on the planet. Erin Gless, the executive director of the Pacific Whale Watch Association…

Following up on our last episode where we discussed the low genetic diversity of Antarctic Type D killer whales, in this episode we chat about another recently published genetics paper that focuses on killer whale populations in the Northeast Pacific, including Southern Resident, Northern Resident, Alaskan Resident, Offshore and Bigg's killer whale…

Sub-Antarctic "type D" killer whales are a very distinctive and rarely encountered ecotype of orcas found in the offshore waters of the Southern Ocean. Jared Towers, director of Bay Cetology, joins us in this episode to discuss his fascinating encounter with a group of "type D" killer whales and a recently published paper, “Type D” killer whale gen…

We are back on San Juan Island after our winter offseason. People often ask us what we do during our offseason. We go whale watching in other parts of the world! Daven joins us on this episode as we share stories of our offseason whale adventures. Between the three of us we traveled to the Canadian Arctic, Eastern Pacific off Mexico and the Sea of …

The award-winning 2022 documentary Corky is the story of world’s longest-held captive orca, the changing public sentiment about orcas in captivity, and the rise of sea sanctuaries. Christine Caruso, the producer and director of Corky joins us to discuss the film. Corky is a member of the Northern Resident killer whale community and was captured on …

Joining us as our guest, from Vancouver Island, is our friend Gary Sutton. Gary is a whale researcher with Ocean Wise Research and Bay Cetology. He is also a professional whale and wildlife guide. After recently returning from his field research season off northeast Vancouver Island and the central BC coast, Gary shares information about the focus …

On October 7, 2022 two families of Bigg's killer whales, the T065As and T099s, successfully hunted an adult Minke whale south of the San Juan Islands in Washington state. We were able to document the hunt as well as the hours long feeding behavior afterwards. Bigg's killer whales in the Salish Sea predominately prey on harbor seals, sea lions and p…

The Silver Bank is the largest breeding ground for North Atlantic humpback whales. Gene Flipse, owner and operator of Conscious Breath Adventures, joins us to discuss and share stories from one of our favorite whale experiences, swimming with humpback whales on the Silver Bank. The episode begins with Sara and Jeff discussing the latest sightings f…

Bigg’s killer whales are a thriving population we see often in the inland waters of Washington state and British Columbia. In this episode we take a closer look into what we are learning about their fascinating culture and social dynamics. Joining us is return guest, Monika Wieland Shields, co-founder and director of Orca Behavior Institute. We dis…

The 2013 documentary Blackfish exposes the distress of killer whales kept in captivity and contrasts their lives with those of the wild orcas we see here in the Pacific Northwest. Joining us this week to talk about his involvement in the film is Dr Jeff Ventre, one of the former SeaWorld trainers featured Blackfish. We discuss the origins of Jeff’s…

The return of humpback whales to the Salish Sea after an absence of almost 100 years is absolutely incredible. It is a story we love to share when we are out on the water on our whale watching tours. In this episode we talk in detail about the amazing humpback comeback with our guest, Tasli Shaw, co-founder and project lead of the Humpback Whales o…

Joining us as our guest this week is professional guide and captain Daven Hafey to discuss his new documentary film project Salmnesia. Daven has extensive field experience in wild places all over the planet including the Arctic, Alaska, Antarctica, and the San Juan Islands in Washington state. We ask all our guests about memorable wildlife and whal…

Joining us as our guest this week is Monika Wieland Shields, co-founder and director of Orca Behavior Institute. In addition to talking with Monika about OBI's field research, we spoke about the two different ecotypes of killer whales we see in the waters around the San Juan Islands, the endangered fish-eating Southern Residents and the thriving ma…

We kicked off our first episode with an introduction to your hosts, Jeff and Sara, and the origins of “After the Breach.” We caught up with early 2022 encounters, beginning with Sara’s amazing experience with Risso’s dolphins, which are very rare in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. We discussed recent encounters with Bigg’s killer whales, South…