San Juan Whale Watching

August is usually the month when we see the most Transient Orca Whales (mammal feeding) in the area.  This is most likely due to the all of the just weened Harbor Seal pups.  It is always an exciting time of year for us.  Transients are so unpredictable compared to the Residents (which aren’t exactly like clockwork either).  There is also something very different about watching whales that hunt and kill other mammals as opposed to hunting Salmon.

Today started with a report of Resident Orcas (possibly all of them) heading west out the strait of Juan De Fuca, as they do from time to time throughout the summer.  Then I got a call about T14 (Pender) coming east from Victora.  Great!  He is one of my favorite whales to observe.  We believe that he may circumnavigate Vancouver Island about every 3 weeks or so.  We almost always see him coming East in Juan De Fuca and North up Haro, rarely the other way around.  Just as we were leaving the harbor though Captain Michael on the Island Explorer III called to tell me they had picked up about 8 Transient Orcas at the bottom of Rosario Strait. Even better! We headed east!

I made a positive ID on these whales as the T101s and T100s.  Here is a wonderful report from our afternoon trip by Alison:

After working as a Naturalist in the San Juans for 10 years now I am still surprised that I keep having “firsts.”

When I arrived at the boat I heard that the residents had headed west again, but there was a pod of T’s in Rosario Strait, one of my favorite places to view wildlife. We headed east with the news that the T’s were making headway up the strait with the incoming tide.

As we rounded the top of Sinclair Island we came upon the T101’s. Captain Ivan decided to focus on watching T101 and T102 as the others split off and headed north. These two whales zig zagged back and forth then all of a sudden we saw a few small splashes about 50 yards ahead of T101. She quickly moved in with T102 joining her. There was some splashing then they surfaced several time in the same spot as a “blood slick” formed on the surface. T101 then did two beautiful slow motion spy hops. We were all very excited to see these powerful predators in action. They then seemed to speed off after something else. No apparent kill but then T102, a mature male breached twice. Next they checked out Viti Rocks seeming to pass by many nervous harbor seals. To end our encounter we watched them travel quickly along the dramatic Lummi Island Shoreline with each surfacing their wet dorsal fins glimmered in the sun and rainbow colors formed in their blows.

We peeled off at Lummi Rocks as they joined two more T’s and passed by more seals.On the way home we stopped to look at a Bald Eagle on Pea Pod Rocks. It was a beautiful in the late afternoon light, a splash of orange below it from the lichen Caloplaca, and many harbor seals hauled out on the surrounding rocky outcroppings. Another beautiful day and a “first kill” for both Monika, my co-naturalist, and I.

Alison Engle, Marine Naturalist