Pacific Offshore Expeditions
Channel Islands​
Why Do Orcas Love the Channel Islands?
These factors all contribute toward making California's Channel Islands a Killer Whale Hotspot
It's Windy
This creates huge upwelling of ocean waters that kickstart massive productivity and food chains. (It also means our trips have a high cancellation rate, so be prepared for the possibility of rescheduling).
It's a good place to wait out the winter
The coastal waters of Northern California and Oregon turn cold and unproductive from November through March. This is due to less sunlight at higher latitudes and large storm systems dropping ocean temperatures. The Channel Islands remain productive with the influence of warmer water from the south.
There's hundreds of thousands of pinnipeds
Seals and Sea Lions are the primary food source for Orcas.
Population by species among Channel Islands:
California Sea Lions: 200,000+
Elephant Seals: 150,000+
Northern Fur Seals: 13,000+
Harbor Seals: 5,000+
Geographic Inflection Point
The California Coast has a north-south orientation with homogeneous bathymetry until the Channel Islands. Amongst the Islands, upwelling and food-chains can become more dynamic and concentrated, leading to higher prey density for Killer Whales.
Most Frequently Sighted Killer Whale Families.
All identifications, life histories, and catalog numbers courtesy of our friends at California Killer Whale Project
This data is from sightings made by Pacific Offshore from December 2023 through June 2025. In that time we have had 60 Killer Whale encounters in the Channel Islands
