Whale Watching Blog & Photos
Archive for 'Trip Reports'
June 13th, 2011
Over the past week or so we have had tremendous encounters with J pod. They have been continuously traveling up and down the west side of San Juan Island doing, what many of us like to call, “The Westside Shuffle”. Orcas are known to travel great distances and can easily swim 50-100 miles in a day. So why is J pod just hanging out in the same general area? The answer is quite simple - FOOD! As the tide moves into the Salish Sea through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, it brings the whales’ favorite menu item along with it. Of course I am speaking of salmon. The tide pushes the salmon against the west side of San Juan Island and therefore, this area becomes one of the orcas’ favorite dining spots. Our resident J, K, and L pods are very picky eaters. If you think your five-year-old kid is a picky eater, you haven’t seen anything yet. The resident orcas in this area eat salmon, salmon, salmon, and…oh yeah…more salmon. Large males may eat up to 500 pounds of these tasty fish every day! Now that’s a lot of sashimi!
So today was no different. We met up with the whales on the west side of the island. They must have had full bellies. Why do I think this? They were spending quite a bit of their time socializing and then proceeded to take a nap while gently swimming and letting the flood tide carry them to the north. Here are some photos from today’s journey:
A little spyhop from a youngster - ”What’s going on up there?”:
J32 Rhapsody playing with kelp:
J26 Mike, J2 Granny, and L53 Lulu surface together:
~katie
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
June 11th, 2011
Whales! Yes! We head into Haro Strait and dead ahead J Pod appears as they make their way north. J-27, Blackberry swims off our starboard side with more J Pod family members. It’s easy to spend an hour watching as the orcas travel up the strait, over to the shore of Stuart Island, and around Turn Point. There are some breaches from the youngsters! Then a spy hop! The water is flat today and half way through the trip the clouds give way to sunshine. Magical!
Today we are lucky. When you have time to see things, you really see a lot of things. The whales were close by today, so as we start the trip home we stop to watch a Peregrine falcon perch on the edge of a cliff wall. The beautiful black and white checked feathers on the breast look fancy! Checking out Flat Top Island we find harbor seals, and then….my binoculars focus on….river otters wrestling around on top of the rocks!! The icing on the cake is the adult bald eagle on nest sitting duty, high in a fir tree. Hum…Mrs. or Mr. Eagle? No way to tell! Soon I’ll be looking for small grey heads popping over the edge of the nest!
Another GREAT day on the water with whales….and more!
~Nan
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
June 9th, 2011
Leaving the dock at noon we quickly head north on a hunch. J Pod headed toward the Fraser River last night. Crossing the international boundary we enter Canadian water. In the distance….fins! And they are coming this way!
All of J Pod comes speeding across Georgia Strait, with a few breaches for style. Several set off into cycle breaching, launching into the air several times in a row.
Once on the other side of the strait, the whales split and one group hugs the shore, while the other takes a route right down Boundary Pass. Time passes magically (and fast) when it’s all about the whales!
On our way home we stop by Skip Jack Island, a wildlife refuge, and find Harbor seals basking on the rocky shore, sea birds and adult Bald eagles!
The water is flat calm today and…a bonus…there is a hint of sunshine!
~Nan
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
June 5th, 2011
Finally a summer-like day. Temperatures “soaring” into the low 70s! We left aboard the Western Explorer without any whale reports, so we thought we’d better keep our eyes open for anything. As we were heading past Salmon Bank, we began to see some very vigorous splashing. As we slowly approached the area, we discovered a lone Stellar Sea Lion gorging on an octopus! It didn’t take the big guy very long to demolish his lunch, and soon he took off on a long dive. By this time, we had reports of a humpback out off of Constance Bank, which was well within the range of the Western Explorer, so off we went. Soon we were stopped in the very glassy water, and waited. It didn’t take long for the massive adult to come to the surface, and the long blows would echo across the water. But unlike my previous experiences with humpbacks, this one would take 2 short dives, dive for about a minute or two and then surface again. It was almost as if it were in some type of resting pattern, as it made very little headway in it’s travel. Too soon it was time to head back, but we did manage to find some time to compare this Mysticete with another–a minke whale that was actively feeding near Salmon Bank. It was great to be able to show our passengers two types of whales in one trip!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
June 4th, 2011
On Friday and Saturday this week we have fantastic trips, full of wildlife including great views of Minke whales. The weather for these two days is a great asset to our trips! It is super! There is nothing more uplifting to the heart of a Pacific Northwesterner than sun and severnty degrees!
The Minke whales appear to feed off Salmon Bank on Friday and Saturday, and we even find one right in San Juan Channel on Friday! What a surprise! The tide rips through Cattle Pass and perhaps that sets up a good food supply for Harbor porpoise, Harbor seals, Minke whales and many many seabirds.
We spot two sealions using the Salmon Bank bouy for a haulout spot, but our eyes pop out when we get close enough to verify what we thought we saw with binoculars: a California sealion and a Steller sealion sharing space on the same bouy. Easy to tell who weighs the most!
What great trips! Our search takes us from north to south, in and out of many small passages, around wildlife refuges, past Bald eagle nests, around Harbor seal haulouts, and right into Haro Strait. Friday my Bald eagle count soars to 21! The Peregrine falcon is a special addition to the cruise wildlife record sheet.
Although no one dares to say it out loud, I bet everyone is thinking it:
“Spring is here today. Tomorrow is summer!
~Nan
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 29th, 2011
Well, Memorial Day started off with sunny skies and somewhat calm waters and lots of rumors swirling about whales. L Pod had been heard up at OrcaLab, so hopes were high that they’d be in local waters by today. Our morning trips headed north in hopes of hearing they were found, or in the meantime maybe some Transients would turn up. We searched high and low, going all the way around Saturna Island but no whales. But we did see some amazing scenery as we cut through Jorgenson Pass, where we saw a pair of bald eagles near the nest. Then we headed out to the Strait of Georgia and couldn’t help but notice how silty the water was from all the freshwater runoff from the Fraser River. We continued to scan for wildlife as we passed the Bell Chain Islands, and then struck the porpoise jackpot off of Boiling Reef near Eastpoint. We even managed to spot a lone Stellar Sea Lion cruising the tide rips. Overall, we covered over 67 miles in our three hour journey.
But we did hear reports as the day progressed that part of L Pod had indeed been sighted up near Gabriola Island! As the day progressed, we heard very interesting reports of the whales going through Porlier Pass, and then down Trincomali Channel! Soon they were close enough to make the run north for our second trip of the day. Our wait was short as the whales decided to show an impressive burst of speed and were speed swimming for over an hour! They were making on average 7-9 knots, which is easily double what their normal traveling pace would be. But they weren’t about to do the “normal” resident travel pattern. Captain’s Passage became a cut through for the whales, and then just for fun they decided to cut between two small islands at the bottom of the Passage before entering Swanson Channel. And that’s when the fireworks really began!!! Dozens of spyhops, breaches, single and double tail lobs, upside down swimming…you name it, they probably did it! It was so exciting to see residents again, and they must have had full bellies to keep up such a blistering pace all while doing so much surface activity. We did note a small calf, and we weren’t sure if it was a new calf or perhaps L117. The Center for Whale Research was just getting out to the whales when we left. And amazing day!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 29th, 2011
L pod came blasting into the San Juan Islands this evening from the north (they had been seen in Johnstone Strait off the north end of Vancouver Island the day before). They were traveling at an incredible rate of speed southbound. They were probably shooting along at about 10 knots and kept this speed up for miles. Where are they off to? Will they be around tomorrow? Are they finding enough salmon to eat? Are they going to meet of with J pod and K pod? What’s up?! Did we just experience a “drive-by whaling”? That’s what it felt like, but I suppose time will tell. I really hope we see them tomorrow!! At any rate, it was lovely to see old friends again and it turned out to be a wonderful evening encounter.
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 28th, 2011
The T18’s are probably my favorite group of transient orcas. They are very charismatic and easy to identify. When we arrived on scene with these orcas, we immediately knew who we were looking at because one of the animals has a sort of banana shaped fin - T19B “Galiano”:
He was traveling with his three other companions who we always see him with - T18 “Esperanza” (estimated to have been born in 1974 and may be T19B’s auntie), T19 “Mooyah” (est. 1969 and T19B’s mother) and T19C “Spouter” (est. 2001 and T19B’s younger sibling):
We watched the four whales cruise along for a while. They almost to appeared to be in a resting pattern because they were moving very slow, taking long dives, and were tightly grouped together. After watching them for a bit they began to spread apart into two groups. Hmmm, are they on the hunt? While they slowly continued traveling, we zoomed over to boiling rock to check out the steller sea lions that were hauled out with the intention of going back to see the whales afterwards:
Suddenly we began to see splashing off in the distance where we had left the whales. They’re making a kill!!! We quickly flipped the boat around and ran full speed ahead back to the scene. Sure enough, the whales were attacking a steller sea lion and the ambush was nothing short of astounding:
Does anyone hear the “Jaws” theme?:
After watching the carnage for a while, we noticed that T19B had some massive scratches on the front of his fin:
Did he get those from the sea lion from this kill (steller sea lions will put up a good fight with the whales), or was this an earlier injury? Hard to say, but they appear to be pretty fresh at any rate. After a while, it was time to go home. The attack continued long after we left as it can take transient orcas several hours to subdue a sea lion. If they are successful, they will have a good meal on their flippers and they all share the kill. From what I understand of this attack, there was no escape for the sea lion. These whales were out to lunch!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 28th, 2011
Transient Orca whales! Coming our way!! This is a welcome message from our whale watch network. Only 20 minutes into our trip, flat water, sunshine and now a whale report. With this news we are on our way up to Canadian water, in the northern part of our range. We find four Transient orcas milling around in the junction of Bounary Pass and Georgia Strait. There is a lot of shipping traffic so Captain Pete is on the watch, keeping us in line with good viewing, and out of the way of everything else. We get good looks at the massive male and his incredible fin. Noticing that the tide is providing lots of action in the water around Boiling Reef…yes, it’s startinng to boil, we motor over to check out the Harbor seals and Steller sealions on the reef. These two marine mammals are definitely on the menu for Transient orca. Although the Southern Resident orca whales prefer fish, favoring the King Salmon from the Fraser River in B.C., the Transients diet consists of marine mammals.
It’s fascinating to see these massive sealions hauled out on the rocks. Their 12 ft. length and 2,000 lb. weight is evident. That’s when our eyes pick up splashing and high action back over by the orcas! It’s a quick trip back over to where the whales had been just gliding around, almost casually, and we see the scene has definitely changed. No more casual. Now there is a high stakes game of cat and mouse going on….or, orca and sealion. Only the teams are unbalanced. Four to one….one Steller sealion putting up the fight of his life. We watch the amazing battle for almost an hour. The whales have their game plan down. They split up, leaving the smaller whales to watch the prey….and then the massive male and the female return at high speed, sometimes lunging out of the water with a twist and crashing down with their flukes, right on the sealion, who is pushed to the surface by the other two whales. Flippers would surface, and then down they would go. A sealion body came up, and then, it was smashed down…..over and over and over.
The next pass of the male orca showed a huge gash on the forward edge of his dorsal fin. Sealion jaws at work? The energy the whales put into the hunt was amazing. And in the end? Would it be dinner for four? Or, just a snack?
The sealion did make a “run for it” when left unattended for a moment. Could he make it to Boiling Reef? What could be left of him? How could he be swimming? Or breathing for that matter? The last I saw of the game players, the sealion was slightly ahead of the whales, swimming toward Georgia Strait, and four huge black fins were in persuit.
The Nature Channel….Live…on Saturday from The Western Prince II in the San Juan Islands!
~Nan
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: 1
May 27th, 2011
The Pacicic Northwest always holds surprises and today is no exception! Leaving the dock we have no orca report, but the northerly direction calls us and Captain Pete points the bow up San Juan Channel toward Canada. A quick stop at Yellow Island lets us check on wildflowers and Harbor seals. Before long a call comes in about Orcas, but they are out of our range. With flat water and a light breeze, the Western Prince moves further to the north. Then Orcas are spotted on the edge of our range, but they are moving toward us! We’re OFF! After a quick stop at Boiling Reef to admire the Steller sealions and a few more Harbor seals, we round the corner and continue up the edge of Georgia Strait. There we find, not two Orcas, but 6 or 7! The minute we arrive on scene, they stop, circle around, and then the hunt begins. These are Transient Orca whales, and they are definitely in the hunting mode for seals, sealions and porpoise. What team work…moving two at a time, turning, coming back to three more, then disappearing under the surface, quick dives, a few tail lobs, and lots of action. The entire hour we got to observe them they were almost in the same place. In the distance on the Bell Chain island reefs you could see lots of Harbor Seals basking in the sun. Did they not know this massive predator was near? It was a great afternoon, in the sun, rippled water and watching “the nature show” at it’s best!
After a few tail slaps and a great farewell wave, we turn our bow for port and our trip back to Friday Harbor is a smooth one. Maybe summer is really approaching the San Juans?!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 26th, 2011
J pod has been gone for about a week (we are hoping they are finding enough salmon to eat somewhere) and we all feel very fortunate that many groups of transient orcas have been slinking through the area. Today we traveled over to Victoria hoping to catch up with one out of three groups of transients (T’s, for short). These animals turned out to be the T10’s - a female T10 “Langara” (estimated to have been born in 1963) and her two sons, T10B “Siwash” who is a very large male born in 1983, and T10C “Bones” who is estimated to have been born in 1999 and is currently a sprouter (teenage) male. The T10’s are one out of only a few groups of T’s that actually have names. These names were given to them through the Vancouver Aquarium’s Wild Killer Whale Adoption Program (K.W.A.P.).
The T10’s:
I was very excited to see these three whales. I had only seen them one other time on a quick encounter in 2006. They were headed north in Trincomali Channel in B.C. on a very stormy afternoon. They’ve held an essence of mystery for me ever since. These three whales are very easy to identify. T10 “Langara” has a very large nick on the trailing edge of her fin:
Her eldest son, T10B “Siwash” is a massive male with a sail-like fin:
And T10C “Bones”, who is probably about 10 years old. His fin is just beginning to sprout:
And while I was very excited to meet up with these three whales again, I was puzzled… There were two females traveling with them. Who are thesewhales? We had a very nice encounter with the animals including a few harbor seal kills. Notice the blood behind Siwash’s fin?:
But by the end of the encounter, I was pouring through every transient ID guide we had on the boat and I couldn’t find the photos of the other two females anywhere! One of the females had a nick on the top of her fin and the other female was fairly “generic”-looking and had no noticeable nicks. When I arrived home this evening, I brought up the BIG transient ID guide online, downloaded my photos of the whales, and went to work trying to solve the mystery. Who are these two females? I had no idea I was about to discover something very exciting… As I carefully scrutinized every photograph in the ID guide, comparing them to the photos I had taken of the whales, I finally came up with a match! The whales turned out to be T26 and her daughter, T26A.:
T26 with the nick at the top of her fin:
And T26A with her generic fin:
I was happy I had been able to ID the whales, but I wanted to know more about them. I picked up a book that we all consider to be “the bible” regarding transient killer whales: Transients By John Ford and Graeme Ellis (this book is an excellent resource if you want to read more about this particular kind of orca). I found T26’s picture in this book (T26A was not pictured as the book is a bit out of date). Under T26’s ID photo was a small caption:
“T26 and T27 were first identified when captured in Budd Inlet, Puget Sound…They have only been sighted four times since, the last in 1991.”
Wow! Amazing! However I took this caption with a grain of salt simply because I knew they had been sighted since 1991 because T26A’s ID photo was in the big 2008 Transient ID guide. I also know this to be true according to Dave Ellifrit who is a senior staff member at the Center for Whale Research. He told me he had encountered T26 and T26A a couple of winters ago and they were traveling with the T10’s on that occasion as well. Even so, these are certainly two whales that are not seen very often.
So what about the Budd Inlet orca capture? During the 1960’s and 70’s, the Salish Sea was the world’s primary hot spot for orca captures for aquarium theme parks such as SeaWorld. At the time, Don Goldsberry was SeaWorld’s “collections manager” and he was the man in charge during many of the orca captures that occurred in the Pacific Northwest. The Budd Inlet capture occurred on March 7, 1976 and was headed by Goldsberry. This capture involved six whales total: T13, T14, T46, T47, T27, and, of course,T26. The whole day turned out to be an ironic twist and turn of events. As Goldsberry and his team herded the whales deep into Puget Sound, the whole chaotic procession eventually floated into Olympia Harbor and near the capitol building. Why is this ironic? The legislature happened to be in session and some of the things that were on the table for discussion that day happened to be forming a killer whale sanctuary in Puget Sound. This was the same day that Ralph Munro (who was then assistant to the Governor and later become Washington’s Secretary of State) and his wife happened to be out sailing and saw the whole ugly capture in progress. Munro and his wife watched the whole distressing scene in horrified shock. They watched as speed boats, seal bombs, and helicopters were being used to herd the whales. The whales were clearly panicked and very agitated. The experience would change Munro’s life. From that day on he became an avid orca advocate (and because of all the great things Munro has done secure the well-being and freedom of local orcas, he even had an orca named after him - J6 “Ralph”).
Goldsberry eventually corralled the whales in Budd Inlet which was just a short distance from Evergreen State College. What was happening at Evergreen State College that day? The beginning of a three-day conference to discuss the permanent ending of Puget Sound orca captures! Many pioneering killer whale researchers were attending this conference includingPaul Spong, Ken Balcomb, and Erich Hoyt. Members of Greenpeace were also present. Ironically Goldsberry was slated to speak at the conference (as you might have guessed, this didn’t happen after the fact). Naturally, over the next few days, this capture produced massive public outcry to free the whales. Most of the whales were freed with in a few days - all of them except T13 and T14 which were held several weeks longer. In April, they were towed to the west side of San Juan Island, fitted with satellite tags, then released and T14 shows off his scars from that event to this day. The Budd Inlet capture became the LAST orca capture for aquariums in Washington waters!
After doing all this research, I was very excited to have been able to encounter T26. She truly is a living member of a vast and complicated orca/human history. Currently she has been in the area for the past week or so, with her daughter, T26A, travelling with the T10’s. I wonder if we will get to see her again soon. She truly is history “in action”.
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 22nd, 2011
Well, we started the day with cloudy skies, but a lot of positive thinking. We had the UW Marine Sciences students out with us today on a special annual charter, so we really hoped we’d get to see some amazing wildlife. And boy did we! First we saw about 8 Stellar Sea Lions down on Whale Rocks, growling and grumbling in typical Stellar style. Then we began to search for a minke whale, but the tide-induced chop was making it difficult so we moved up island. We had heard reports of 8 Transients up north, but they were heading north out of our range. But fate soon stepped in with the first amazing find–a group of 4 Transients that were just moving past Eagle Point! No one knew they were there. I love it when we discover whales!
Soon though they were heading out southwest towards the ODAS buoy and the seas began to build, so after getting some very nice looks at what we think might have been the T99s (will send to CWR for confirmation), we began searching for Dall’s Porpoises in Haro Channel. But alas none were to be seen (maybe because Transients had been in the area?) We were moving up the Canadian side of Haro and were almost to Gooch Island when Captain Ivan (aka Whale Whisperer) saw a large dorsal fin about 3 miles ahead of us. More whales perhaps? Well, we got to the location he last saw the dorsal fin but nothing….until a glance about 1/2 mile towards Moresby Island and another small dorsal fin. Soon it was joined by another and another and another–another group of Transients!!! Again, no one knew they were there and before long we were able to positively ID the whales at the T10s, along with 2 additional Transients (again, my ID powers on Transients is a bit limited so I’ll send it to CWR or Jeanne Hyde for confirmation on the “extra” whales). But this group, unlike the earlier group, was in no hurry to go anywhere…and we soon discovered why. This group kept making slow, lazy direction changes, and as the sun glare cleared the water for a moment, we saw a Harbor Seal amidst the orcas. Soon however, he was dragged underwater and we didn’t see him for the rest of the encounter, so we assumed lunch had been had. What a great day for undiscovered whales!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 17th, 2011
Wow! We finally had a sunny day here in the Pacific Northwest and what a day it was! We saw J pod orcas on our afternoon trip and in the evening we were lucky enough to encounter two humpback whales in Haro Strait! We watched them swim, fluke, and dive for quite a while until they came to the point where Boundary Pass meets Haro Strait and Mount Baker was beautifully showing itself on the horizon. We all said to ourselves, “Wouldn’t it be really cool if the whales decided to breach with Mount Baker in the background?” Wouldn’t ya know it - that’s just what they did!!
Another incredible day out on the water and just another reason out of a million why we LOVE our jobs!!
~katie
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 16th, 2011
Wow, did it rain A LOT yesterday? Oh yes. I believe we accumulated well over an inch of rain in a 24 hour period. So what’s the best way to spend a rainy day? Why not hang out with some orcas? We actually had two encounters with J pod yesterday and both of them were phenomenal despite the relentless, pelting rain.
On our first trip we found J pod on the west side of San Juan Island moseying very slowly up the coast line. Most of the whales had traveled up toward the Hannah Heights area, but we were fortunate to find J22 Oreo, J34 DoubleStuf, J38 Cookie, J32 Rhapsody, J17 Princess Angeline, J28 Polaris, J35 Tahlequah, and all of their babies - J44 Moby, J46 Star, and J47 who has yet to receive a name (baby orcas are named by The Whale Museum orca adopters and are not given a name until they have survived their first year). These whales were all by themselves off Eagle Point and the rainy weather didn’t seem to bother them a bit. The babies especially were being very silly and playful. We watched them breach, spyhop, tail-lob, and play around with their mom’s for a very long while…
J34 DoubleStuf demonstrates that he’s becoming a big boy - he’s only 13 years old but he already has a beautiful, tall fin:
One of the J pod babies flashes some tail:
Pretty sure this is little J44, belly up, doing a pectoral fin wave:
A BIG breach for a little baby:
J28 Polaris and her baby, J46 Star surface in perfect synchrony:
J46 Star goofing around - I guess she didn’t want to do a full spyhop and was content with just poking her chin out of the water. Maybe she liked the feeling of the rain plopping on her face:
J17 Princess Angeline, J44 Moby, J35 Tahlequah, and little J47 head off into the fog:
After hanging out with the moms and kids for a while, we traveled a little farther up the coast where the rest of the whales were traveling. However one whale was way offshore and we could see he had a BIG fin. Who is it? Maybe it’s J26 Mike? Or L87 Onyx? Nope! It was J27 Blackberry!
After a nice period of watching Blackberry chase some salmon, it was time to head back for the dock…but not for long. For our second trip we had 35 high school students from Oregon on the boat and we had a bit of a challenge ahead of us. It was later in the evening and we didn’t know exactly where J pod was. Our last report of them was about an hour old (and a lot can happen in an hour) and they were reportedly still in Haro Strait traveling most north, but were seen heading toward the town of Sidney on Vancouver Island. Ok, time for a treasure hunt! Once we made it to Haro Strait we had our binoculars out and we were actively looking for spouts and dorsal fins. I was searching mostly north Haro Strait, because that is where the whales typically travel. However the last report said they were headed toward Sidney. Hmmm, tough choices to make now. Do we just start to swing north and search big Haro Strait where the whales usually travel? Or do we swing wide and search all the little islands located just outside Sidney Harbor? I wasn’t feeling too good about the latter decision simply because I have never seen the resident orca pods travel in amongst those little islands. After conferring with Captain Pete for a minute, we determined that’s what we would do. I still wasn’t feeling too optimistic about this choice, but it was certainly worth a shot. All the kids along with their group leader were crammed up on the bow of the boat as we slowly searched the area. There was tense anticipation in the air as we scanned the waters. Would we find them in a place they don’t travel very often? After a bit of time the group leader turned to face me and said, “I think I just saw something out near that low-lying island in the distance…” I asked him for an exact spot, put my binoculars to my eyes and began to scan. I waited… THEN! An explosion of misty breath and a tall fin broke the surface! THERE THEY ARE!! All the kids started chatting with excited enthusiasm and big smiles broke out over all their faces. It is so wonderful to see young people become that excited about nature. We had found J pod and they were in a peculiar spot - they were swimming in between Forrest Island and Domville Island outside of Sidney Harbor. It was an incredible evening. The rain had sort of stopped, the sun was peeking through, the water was glassy calm, and we were alone with whales in a beautiful spot:
We saw primarily saw the J14’s (J14 Samish, J30 Riptide, J37 Hy’Shqa (pronounced high-shkah and means “blessing” or “thank you” in the Samish language), J40 Suttles, and little J45 Se-Yi’Chn (pronounced say-ye-chin and means “little sibling” in the Samish language)). I explained to the kids that most of J14 Samish’s kids had been named by the Samish northwest native peoples at special naming ceremonies and now these particular orcas were considered to be true community members of the Samish nation. They all thought they was pretty neat. The true star of the evening was J30 Riptide. The kids were all very impressed with his size and his antics. He was rolling around, spyhopping, and doing a few half-breaches while playing with his sisters.
Captain Pete put the hydrophone in the water so we could listen in on their conversation. All was shocked awe and silence as we listened to the whales chat to one another. There was no boat traffic in the area so the calls of the orcas were brilliantly loud and clear. After watching the whales socialize for a bit longer, I announced to the kids that it was time to travel back to the dock so they could catch their ferry. Collectively they all shouted, “NOOOOOO!” and they began begging their trip leader to stay longer. They were ok with taking the very late ferry and driving all night back to Oregon. But the trip leader had to be firm and mentioned that their bus driver would not appreciate that very much and probably didn’t want to do an all-night driving session. So off we went. The kids were excitedly chattering and were beaming from ear to ear after seeing the whales. On our way back to the harbor, the trip leader approached us. It was clear he was quite emotional and thankful. He said the most perfect phrase to sum up the evening: “My cup runeth over…”
~katie
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 14th, 2011
We had a wonderful encounter with J pod today on the Western Explorer. They have been moseying around for the past couple days. They spent a bit of time off San Juan Island when they first arrived and then wandered down to Puget Sound for a bit. They were heard late in the evening of the 13th on the Port Townsend hydrophones. Hmmm…we all supposed they were headed out of the sound. Sure enough! Yesterday morning they were sighted west of Race Rocks, B.C. traveling eastbound toward San Juan Island again…and we were just lucky enough to catch them. A fabulous encounter (despite a bit of rain). We witnessed some breaching and loads of spyhops. I was able to identify J2 Granny, J19 Shachi, J16 Slick, J27 Blackberry, J26 Mike, J31 Tsuchi, J39 Mako, and the wonderful adopted member of J pod - L87 Onyx. Here are some photos from today and fingers are crossed for another encounter tomorrow!
J19 Shachi and company:
J27 Blackberry traveling with his little brother, J39 Mako:
J26 Mike and L87 Onyx surface with Mt. Baker in the background:
A stormy Mt. Baker:
~katie
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 10th, 2011
Our first “Super Tuesday” (with Alison, JB and Captain Hobbes) of the
season will be a hard one to beat. We left the dock in Friday Harbor with
no confirmed sightings, but lots of positive energy from passengers
celebrating birthdays, mother’s day, family visits and just the desire to be
out on the water. We quickly learned of a rumored 4-5 Orcas heading from
Oak Bay Flats into Haro Straight. With this news and the knowledge that
J-pod had been heard/sighted at Neah Bay on Monday we headed south. As we
scanned the Straits, with Ivan scanning from Shore we soon received word
that Ivan had spotted Orcas and we should head to Beaumont Shoal. As we
continued to search we started to see lots of fins in the distance, lots of
fins; it must be J-Pod!!!!
As we slowly approach we came across J-34 Double Stuff and family. We were
treated to 3 great breaches then as the whales approached false bay they
slowed down and spent the next hour + in small groups hanging out on the
surface, logging, rolling, spy hoping, tail slapping, pec slapping with many
small chin ups. All in all there must have been 30-40 Spy Hops/chin ups.
JB and Hobbes commented that the one time they had seen this type of
behavior a new calf was sighted the next day!!! We will see. On top of all
of this we had great vocals on the hydrophone, surface vocals and
raspberries. Seemed like a September day in May. Nice to see the whales
seemingly content and relaxed, not moving in search of food as they commonly
are this time of year.
We topped off the day with a wonderful visit to Whale rocks where we watched
20+ Steller and 2 California Sea Lions hanging out on the rocks. They were
being watched by an immature Bald Eagle and several Harbor Seals.
Alison Engle
Naturalist
Western Prince
Friday Harbor
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 8th, 2011
Humpback whales can be a fairly common sight here in the San Juan Islands during the autumn months, but today we were blessed with a rare spring sighting! A research group was out plying the calm green waters of the strait this morning searching for orcas when they happened across the two whales near the northwest end of San Juan Island. There were two adults just meandering along and zig-zagging back and forth in the same area. They almost seemed to be enjoying a lazy Sunday afternoon. The two whales would take several breaths and short succession and then go down for a long dive lasting for several minutes. This is not unusual behavior among these large baleen whales, particularly when they are just traveling along. After a while we began timing the whales and noticed they were consistently doing exactly 10 minute dives follow by three short breaths. They would both then fluke, which is when a whale sticks it’s tail out of the water right before a long dive, and be down for ten minutes again. It was just like clockwork. What was NOT like clockwork was their traveling patterns! They were wandering around all over the place and were certainly not going in a strait line. At one surfacing they would be pointed north. On the next surfacing they would be half a mile away and pointed south. The surfacing after that they were east-bound and going right for the beach on Henry Island. Everyone on the boat started making bets as to where they might come up next. But, however difficult it may be to track the whales, it is always such an awe-inspiring experience to spend time in the company of such large and enigmatic mammals. For most people, it’s not every day you get to see a critter that’s so big and mysterious… there’s almost a certain bit of magic about them…
Here are some more images from today’s journey:
Into the wild…
~katie
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 3rd, 2011
While thinking about our trip today on my drive home, I kept trying to think of what song best described our day, and it certainly seemed fitting that one line from the Grateful Dead kept popping into my mind–”what a long, strange trip it’s been….”
As we were preparing to leave the dock, we received word that a couple of hours before a group of orcas had been spotted coming out of Active Pass heading East. So off we went with hopes of finding them somewhere out in the Strait of Georgia. But alas, no one could find them. So since we were already in the area, we headed over to the Bellchains to see the huge congregations of Stellar Sea Lions. And as we were watching and listening to their lion-like growls, I heard a different call and notice that off to the side was a small group of California Sea Lions. Well, soon it was time to continue our search, so we headed down to Eastpoint, and began scanning towards Alden Bank. And that’s when we got word that Transient calls were being heard on the Orca Sound hydrophones. So off we went, and after a long trip, we were passing through John’s Pass when we got yet another call–Transients in Active Pass. No one knows if they were there all day, or if they had gone north and then snuck back in. But we were committed to the Transient group somewhere out in Haro Strait. As we were passing Danger Shoal, we got yet another call–this time on the radio that one of the boats had found whales near Moresby Island. We went from unconfirmed rumors to one confirmed vocalization and now two confirmed sightings! So we made a 90˚ turn and headed the now-short distance to Moresby. But imagine our surprise when we discovered we weren’t looking at Transients but were actually looking at RESIDENTS! J Pod had mysteriously shown up, and we were glad to see them! We first encountered J26 Mike, and also saw J27 Blackberry and J30 Riptide (who seems to be growing larger all the time!) Then the fun began as we viewed what I call the “nursery group” of four juvenile whales. They were so content to hang out together, rolling around on each other, and occasionally displaying a “sea snake”. Lots of upside-down swimming, pushing each other sideways. We saw L87 show us how the whales hunt fish with lots of lunging, direction changes, and a couple of high lunges! It certainly made for a perfect ending to our very long and yet exciting journey of over 70 miles! But all our passengers definitely thought the entire trip was worth it! As a parting gift, we also got to see 3-4 Dall’s Porpoises on the ride home. And the sun came out too!
John Boyd (JB)
SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Explorer
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
May 1st, 2011
On Sunday, aboard the Western Explorer, we once again set out without a whale report. But Captain Ivan was at the helm, and has been his way this year–he didn’t need a whale report to find a whale! We first made a stop along Speiden Island where 15 Stellars were hauled out, growling at each other as they jockeyed for position on the shore. Then we visited Mandarte Island in Canada to view some of the cormorants and other sea birds. Then off to Turn Point where we saw about a dozen Dall’s Porpoises feeding in the currents. Then we headed north a bit in Swanson Channel to see if we could locate anything more, and that’s when Ivan found a minke whale! He was at the surface more than usual, and feeding in the currents. We were able to pretty much shut down and watch as the whale cruised back and forth in the same area. Soon it was time to head back to the dock, but not before stopping off to view a bald eagle in the Cactus Islands!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
April 30th, 2011
Well, the end of April and the beginning of May certainly proved to be very busy days! On April 30th, we didn’t have any word of whales in the area, but as always, we were hopeful that something somewhere would show up. And about 30 minutes into the trip, we got a call that about 15-20 Transient orcas were spotted up in Canadian waters off the Coal Docks. So Captain Peter put on some speed and off we went. Fortunately, the weather was beautiful, the seas were calm, and a bit of a push from the tide got us up to the whales with time for viewing. Many times, we see one family of transients, about 3-7 members. But on this day, we had 3 families traveling and playing together. They were almost acting like Resident orcas with lots of surface time and socializing! One little guy even did a backwards breach for us. On the trip home, we stopped at Boiling Reef to take advantage of seeing 30+ Stellar Sea Lions basking in the sun. It was an awesome day!
Posted under: Trip Reports.
Comments: none
