San Juan Whale Watching

It has been an amazing season and especially an amazing October so far.   But all good things must come to an end and our last trip will be this Thursday.

The weather should be great and I am sure we will have another exciting adventure on the water.

Wow!  That’s all I have to say!  Well, double wow!  Although we had seen K Pod yesterday in a very lucky, lucky sighting, we thought they had gone west at the end of the day.  No sightings had been reported today.  We were prepared to spend a lot of time searching, but truly, I didn’t have a lot of hope.  We enjoyed a beatiful trip to the north, saw the incredible exotic game animals on Spieden Island, Harlequin ducks, Bald eagles (count of over 9!!), Harbor seals and we were in the middle of searching for Dall’s porpoise….when…..YES!  One fin, definitely Orca fin, was sighted!!  Perhaps a transient Orca??  Or?  Maybe there were several transients shopping the shore area on San Juan Island?  We headed immediately south and within ten minutes blows started appearing on the horizon!  Lots of blows!  K Pod was heading directly toward us.  They were traveling along at a good clip, in small family groups moving up the coast of San Juan Island.  What a surprise!  We had a great time watching Lobo - K-26 travel along behind his mother, K-14, Lea and younger siblings.  There were big blows coming up behind them too.  Today was my last day on the boat as crew and naturalist for this season…..and I wanted it to go on and on and on.  It was a perfect day….great guests, (with great children), great sunshine, great wildlife, flat seas, AND K Pod!  If the season had to come to an end….it ended with a wonderful memory of the incredible ecosystem we call our “backyard”….and as always renewed focus to do whatever I can do to reverse any harmful human actions and restore the Salish Sea to a healthy habitat for all the animals that call this their home. ~Nan Simpson 

Today we had a wonderful wildlife charter with the Whale Museum Marine Naturalist Training Program in the morning and then a spectacular encounter with K-Pod this afternoon.

Here is a great report from JB:

OK, today’s recipe starts with crisp fall weather. Now mix in a healthy dose of sunshine and calm waters. Add a pinch of Ivan’s “strong feeling” and another JB’s whale dream, mix well and you get—-K-Pod!!!

After wandering off for a week, K-Pod showed up in Rosario Strait heading north. As we sat and waited for the whales to make their way towards us, we noticed they were spread nearly shore-to- shore in Rosario. Our first sighting was of K26 Lobo, traveling with K42. And this lead to a very exciting discovery by us—K42 is a BOY!!!! He must have breached 24 times or more while we observed him. The first few breaches were with his back to us, and we all commented that it would be nice to find out if he was a boy or girl. And he must have heard us as he then did a succession of breaches belly side towards us!! This is the absolute first time that I’ve been there when a whale’s sex was determined! We joked how for us naturalists, this is on par with an Elvis sighting.

The whales were also traveling with honorary K-Pod member L-87, who has been seen with the K’s most of the summer. Another highlight for me was the chance to see multiple breaches with Mt. Baker in the background. It feels like so long since we’ve had residents that it was nice to have a late-season visit. On our trip home, we heard a report that J-Pod had been spotted near the Campbell River, so perhaps they will be in the San Juans in the next 48 hours–keep your eyes and ears open!

John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Western Prince

Today the sun reappeared over San Juan Island!  We had a beautiful cruise out to Haro Strait, with an amazing stop at Whale Rocks to observe Steller sealions.  There were about 10 sealions in Cattle Pass, “shopping” the currents in the pass for their lunch.  A lot of Harbor seals were joining them in the buffet.  As we started out into Haro Strait we noticed lots of birds gathering into groups on the surface.  Hum.  Perhaps something interesting was underneath the birds?  Suddenly Ivan pulled the boat in another direction and sure enough!  A minke whale surfaced in front of us!  We watched and waited for the Minke whale to surface again, which it did.  But then, toward the shore an Elephant seal poked it’s head up, looking like a giant dead head in the distance.  We took a closer look at it, and then noticed Dall porpoise in the distance.  After checking out a few more groups of birds, one group of over 100, we decided to look seriously for the porpoise.  At first it seemed they had all disappeared, but then, everywhere we looked, PORPOISE!  We were able to see many different groups of Dall’s for over 30 minutes!  With the flat water, sunshine, and warm temperatures, it was an incredible afternoon out on the water!  On our way home we spotted a beautiful Bald eagle on a rocky island and many many more Steller sealions, now hauled out on Whale Rocks!~Nan Simpson 

The last three days have been full of some spectacular Dall’s Porpoise encounters.

Today we encountered beautiful sunny weather, flat calm water, a Minke Whale, an Elephant Seal, a Bald Eagle, Harbor Seals, tons of Steller Sea Lions, and almost 100 Dall’s Porpoises that just wouldn’t leave us alone.  There is nothing like a bow riding Dall’s Porpoise to put a smile on your face and lift your spirit.

What a gorgeous day.

Once again, we headed north, on an orca search and wildlife tour.  After yesterday’s great experience with such active Dall porpoise, we wondered if we could find another group in the same area.  We wound up finding Dall porpoise riding the bow of a large “deep ocean” which is a freighter.  This ship was going west in Boundary Pass, and had a squared off bow.  The porpoise were surfing down the imense bow wave the freighter was throwing.  There were at least five porpoise riding the wave, over and over.  As the ship passed us, the Dall porpoise dropped off the ship and jetted over to the Western Prince!  Over and over again they sped past us across the bow, and then popped up in the stern wake, and then back to the bow.  It was an incredible experience to see these energetic and beautiful animals seemingly interact with the motion of the water around the boat!  Today also turned out to be a “9″ eagle day, meaning we sighted nine Bald eagles, and one of them had a huge pile of gull feathers underneath the tree where it was perched.  Hum!  Lunch?  On the way home, just as we said, “Now, we need to see some Steller sealions”…..what should appear in front of us?  Six or seven Steller sealions were swimming together and surfacing at the same time around the point on Spieden Island!  They were such powerful swimmers and continually performed graceful dives.  What a day! Nan Simpson 

Today was one of those October days when anything could, and did, pop up.  We went north out of Friday Harbor and soon found a Steller sealion foraging in Spieden Channel!  The exotic game animals on Spieden Island were really out in force today.  We saw all three species, the Fallow deer, Sika deer, and the Mouflon rams and ewes.  Our trip across Haro Strait included lots of sea birds, including all the birds calling the Canadian island of Mandarte “home” for the winter months.  There were many Harbor seals in and about the Canadian islands.  Then, we spotted Dall porpoise jetting around Turn Point on Stuart Island.  We had some fantastic bow riders and everyone got great looks and great photos of these amazing animals!  The Bald eagles were evident here and there in the trees on the shores of the islands as we wound our way home.  Then, just outside of Friday Harbor we found a Harbor seal who had just caught a HUGE salmon!  We watched this seal as it devoured the gigantic fish, mouthful by mouthful, right in front of the boat.  What an experience!  A great day on the water, once again!~Nan Simpson 

The last three days have been very special indeed.  October is always a month of the unexpected, but also a month of adventure and wonder.

Saturday we found Transient Orcas and Humpback Whales, Sunday we were the only boat with three Humpback Whales  playing together for over 45 minutes, and today we went on a long search way down south only to be rewarded with a Superpod! By the way, those are Brown Pelicans in that picture up top.  Very rare to see them here.

Here is a great report from today by Nan:

After a long search, we found L pod moving along to the east and then to the north and east from off of Port Angeles, WA. We quickly got the picture that there were lots of whales, all moving along, with occasional foraging behavior, and some rolling and pec slapping. Soon we were seeing many groups of whales, breaches in the distance, (some very young ones joining in the fun!), and then more and more males started showing up. We easily spotted J-1, J-27, J-30, and L-57! What a great reward after looking so hard for an hour and a half. We left the pods as they continued aimed almost at Cattle Pass in the misty, rainy weather.

Nan Simpson, Naturalist - Western Prince 

Today there was no sign of the Southern Residents, but there weren’t a lot of other boats out either, so we headed north to take a good look around.  We stopped at O’Neil Island where we saw two adult Bald eagles high in the trees.  Perhaps the nesting pair from this island?  Further up north on Spieden Island the exotic game animals were spread out all along the open fields.  The Big Horn rams were very interested in following the females around.  There were many Fallow deer mixed in with the Sika deer.  We found four or five Harbor seals along the shoreline.  As we started out into Haro Strait we heard about some very active Dall porpoise further south.  This group of about 8 or 10 porpoise surrounded our boat and rode the stern wake and played off the bow wake at the same time!  They ripped through the water at high speeds and kept right on going back and forth and front to back.  What a beautiful sight!  Our route home took us through Mosquito Pass and then around the Cactus Islands.  A wonderful day on the water!

We left the dock today at noon, knowing that the Southern Residents were out of range, but moving south and toward us.  We had the time to slowly cruise up north, stopping to look at an adult Bald eagle on Flattop Island, then Harbor seals on White Rocks, and lots of little groups of Harbor porpoise diving in the distance.  We noticed Pacific loons in large groups today, and grebes, as well as some Guillemonts in “winter outfits.”  Across Boundary Pass we could see what looked a lot like an Elephant seal, bobbing on the surface by the shoreline.  It really looked like one when it went underwater!  Finally we arrived at East Point and got one last location for the Southern Residents.  They were moving very, very slowly today, but just enough to the south that we could make the trip across Georgia Strait to see them!  Captain Pete announced, according to the chart plotter and GPS we would arrive on scene in 19 minutes and 12 seconds!  Hum!  The Strait was calm today, and the light was perfect.  It was even warm for October.  The whales had been going down the shore and suddenly they did turn and head toward us, and lead us back across Georgia Strait.  We had a wonderful experience viewing K-21 and K-40.  In the distance whales could be seen far to the north and far to the west.  Magically the water stayed flat and clam and the light gentle.  What a great October afternoon in the Salish Sea.~ Nan Simpson 

We probably have the most varied trips in October.  Saturday we had quite an adventure viewing Resident Orcas in rough stormy seas.  Sunday was almost flat calm and sunny with some of the most amazing wildlife encounters we have had this year.  Then today we set out for a very long run into the Strait of Juan De Fuca for an incredible encounter with 5 Humpback Whales and about 30 Steller Sea Lions on the way home. You just never know what an October afternoon is going to bring!

October already.  The season is winding down.  But it is not over yet.  We had one of the best trips of the year today with all three pods of Resident Orcas up by Turn Point.  It was a truly beautiful afternoon with just a bit of fog to add to the magic.

Wow!  Today was our third day in a row of observing the Southern Residents!  Of course everyone was anxious to see the whales, but on our way out of San Juan Channel we made a stop at Whale Rocks to see the Steller sea lions.  There were seven of them today!  A great start to the trip.  While yesterday the whales had been really moving quickly, today was a day of watching them slowly progress down Haro Strait.  Some of our passengers from yesterday came along with us again today, and they were able to see the whales in totally different behavior!  We found  J pod  traveling in small groups and foraging off the lighthouse this afternoon.  First J-1, Ruffles was spotted way in the distance.  Hard to miss that majestic dorsal fin, slowing disappearing and reappearing on the surface of Haro Strait.  We were able to watch them and visit different groups of whales, for an hour.  J-30, Riptide and J-14, Samish headed  toward shore with lots of short dives and turns and twists changing direction.  Hopefully they were finding lots of salmon today!  The ability to  see these incredible animals, in almost flat calm water, and mild weather was wonderful.  Our route home took us the rest of the way around San Juan Island.   A few harbor seals surfaced along with small groups of porpoise in the distance.  I noticed the sea birds are adapting their winter coloration, and we were treated to two pairs of marbled murlettes bobbing along in San Juan Channel!  A supurb day in Spetember sunshine….watching whales!  ~ Nan Simpson

Today was another misty morning with high hopes for a good whale sighting.  Finally, about thirty minutes before we left the dock the Southern Residents appeared again, this time headed back from the Fraser River area in Canada.  We found them rocketing down Boundary Pass in small groups, porpoising, breaching, tail slapping and full of energy!  What a beautiful sight.  The water was a bit choppy, and the whales were at times traveling so fast that they made their own white water on top of the surface waves.  J-27 gave us a good look as he stopped to forage and then traveled on to the west toward Stuart Island.  Although the weather remained grey and cloudy, no one seemed to notice because their eyes were glued to the scene around us as more and more whales traveled together past the boat.  On our way home we had a chance to stop by the Cactus Islands and we found two Bald eagles.  One was perched high in a tree, and other was right on top of the rocks nearby.  Another great Fall day on the water! ~Nan Simpson 

All of our Resident Orca Whales came back into the area today.  While it has been incredible seeing all of the Transient Orcas around lately, it is always nice when the Residents are in the area.

Captain Pete ran the boat for me today.  So, hopefully Nan will get a post up for today’s trip.

I woke up this morning to rain and mist, thinking….hum, who would want to go on a whale watch trip today? The answer is…….everyone on our boat!   After the Southern Resident Killer Whales being absent from the area for a full week, today was the day they chose to return!  We headed out of the harbor and believe it or not, the rain let up.  The whales were heading across Haro Strait, so after a quick stop at Whale Rocks to watch two Steller sea lions in the water we headed up the west sdie of San Juan Island.  By the time we got to False Bay, we were seeing some large male fins headed for the island shore.  It turned into a big group of L pod males, all traveling together, and foraging in the area.  They were joined by a few females closer to shore.  As we worked our way up the island and into calmer water the whales continued to show up, one after another.  There was lots of traveling and then foraging behavior from our beautiful black and white friends.  Watching the tall male fins twist and turn fast on the surface and then disappear below was magical.  As we left and cut through Mosquito Pass, as far as I could see to the north were blows and fins traveling up Haro Strait, with more whales coming behind them!~Nan Simpson 

This afternoon I received a report of the T2 group of Transient Orcas up north in Boundary Pass.  Then one of the boats out of Friday Harbor picked up a small Minke Whale right in San Juan Channel.

Minkes can be pretty elusive, but we figured we would give it a good search before heading up north.  Sure enough, the little Minke popped up right across from Friday Harbor.  We had a great looks at this little guy (or gal) before moving on.

In the afternoon I usually like to take our time to get to the Orca Whales. There are a lot of boats coming out of Victoria around the same time and it is always nice to get to the whales when most of them have gone home.  Today was one of those days.  When we arrived with the T2s there were only 2 other boats there.  We spent a marvelous afternoon watching them move between the Canadian Gulf Island to the northwest.

Today we headed south with a report of some Transient Orca Whales west of Victoria, heading east.  It looked pretty good if the continued on their path.  However, as it the case with wild animals, they don’t always continue on their path.  Today was one of those days.  By the time we had reached Cattle Pass the whales had turned west and were quickly moving out of our range. So what to do? Well, you might call it Plan B, however, some of our non whale days can be just as exciting or even more exciting than whale days.

Our first stop we watched a huge (over 2000 lbs) Steller Sea Lion haul out on to Whale Rocks while several Harbor Seals looked on. Then we took a beautiful scenic ride up the west side of San Juan Island, spotting several porpoises along the way.  The real excitement came though when we found a group of about 30 Dall’s Porpoises which were extremely playfull.  One group zoomed towards the boat at over 20 knots to ride in our bow wake.  Dall’s Porpoises are the only animals that will choose to interact with us out on the water and it is a truly amazing experience to have them swimming just 6 ft. below you, sometime turning on their sides to take a look up at you.

We topped the trip off with a great pass by Speiden Island to view all of the exotic game animals.

Well, our Resident Orcas (Salmon Feeding) took a jaunt out west this morning after being in the area the last two days.

I knew that early this morning the T30 group of Transient Orcas (Mammal Feeding) were heading east in the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  So we ran down south of San Juan Island to join the search with several other boats.  It was a bit of a gamble, but it definitely paid off.

After checking out the Stellar Sea Lions on Whale Rocks we started heading out towards Hein Bank.  Just then Victoria whale watching boat called to say they had picked up the T30s right in the area we were headed.

It was a beautifully calm, gray afternoon.

Today we had an awesome encounter with the T19s, a group of Transient Orca Whales, which came up Rosario Strait right in between all of the islands and almost right by Friday Harbor.  It was a breathtakingly beautiful route, and because the whales were so close, we were able to spend some extra time enjoying them.

You will notice that T19B (the big male) has an unmistakable dorsal fin.  This group is always easy to identify right away.