San Juan Whale Watching

Today I received a report of a group of Transient Orcas way up by Vancouver, BC. Fortunately for us, they decided to head south quickly. We had two very long runs to make to see them today, but it was well worth the extra fuel. We had the largest group (about 18) of Transients I have ever encountered. These included: T100s, T101s, T20, T21, T90, T90A, T124s, and others we couldn’t identify.

Not only were they unusually social, but we got to observe them in some of the most beautiful places in the area. Here is a great report from JB:

Well, I’m still reeling from todays trips. Reeling from my expectations not even coming close to the days’ events. It’s not often that we encounter transient orcas, and it seems that usually they are just “passing through” with little fanfare (except for the occasional seal or porpoise that gets munched).

This morning we started our day with reports of some transients pretty far to the north near Vancouver, BC. They were slowly coming south, so we headed north hoping to catch a glimpse of a few fins. Little did we know how our day would really turn out. Once we were near the whales (Northeast of the Eastern entrance to Active Pass), we watched what turned out to be what could best be called a “Transient Super Pod” of 15-20 whales!! The whales would break off into smaller familial groups, only to coalesce into larger groups with lots of surface contacts, rolling on top of each other, and behaviors we typically associate with Residents. Not to be outdone, the transients decided to show us that they could breach as well as residents, and did about 6 breaches! I was amazed!

For our afternoon trip, under threatening skies we headed north once again and the transients had come down a few miles closer to home, making the trip up shorter than the morning trip. And I couldn’t believe it, but the afternoon transients were even more active than before! Dozens of spyhops, tail slaps, tail lobs, headstands, pectoral and tail fluke slaps, and nearly 2 dozen breaches! The topper of the day was a huge breach by T20 himself! We left the whales just as they were going into search mode near a few rocks with seals on them.

Definitely, I’d have to say this was my best transient day in 12 years!

John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist