Written by Alison
on Jul 24, 2023

Whale Report: July 5, 2023 AM – Anvil and the T99s

Whale Report: July 5, 2023 AM – Anvil and the T99s

July 5, 2023 AM – Every day it is a fresh start, the search begins again.  We decided to head south and along the way heard of a Humpback whale in that direction.  But, first we made a couple of stops in Cattle Pass.  We have been having some huge tidal exchanges lately with even some minus 3.6 foot tides which exposes quite a bit of shoreline that we rarely see.  First we checked out a Bald Eagle that was perched regally atop Deadman Island.  Next it was on to Whale Rocks to check out the Harbor Seals and Steller Sea Lions.  Captain JB lined us up for that perfect shot of Stellers’ and the Cattle Point Lighthouse which is at the south end of San Juan Island.  We cruised the south end of Lopez Island and stopped briefly to check out private boat that had ended up on the rocks!  Our first whale encounter was with a young humpback that was identified as Anvil’s calf from 2022.  It has an interesting dorsal fin that will make it easy to recognize.  It surfaced several times near us and did a couple of fluke up dives.  While watching the humpback we got word of a possible sighting of Orcas not too far away.  We decided to go and see if we could find them.  After a few minutes searching Rosario Strait, I caught a glimpse of a male orcas surfacing and we headed in that direction.  With the help of another vessel we were able to find the rest of the family that was identified at the T99’s.  The family of Bigg’s killer whales included, the mother, a 39 year old female and her 4 offspring ranging in age from 2 to 16 years of age.  They headed for the Lopez shoreline and started traveling south.  We finished off the trip with a lovely cruise through the middle of the San Juans and had circumnavigated Lopez Island by the time we returned to Friday Harbor.

Photographer and Naturalist: Alison Engle – Instagram: @Alisonengleart – Website: www.alisonengle.com

Western Prince Wildlife Adventures – Instagram: @Westernprincewildlife – Facebook: Western Prince Whale Watching

Written by Alison
on Jul 24, 2023

Whale Report: July 5, 2023 AM – Anvil and the T99s

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