Orca Whales in Haro Strait!
The youngest member of the Transient orca pod we saw this morning.Click here to see the location of the Orca Whales from our satellite system and stay tuned to the Whale Report for an update from Naturalist Bart Rulon! This morning we got word that some orcas were coming in from the south end of Vancouver Island heading east. Because of windy weather and foggy conditions to the south we decided to work our way toward the orcas by going through the inner San Juan Islands. That turned out to be the right decision because we had calm seas and no fog there. We also saw several bald eagles along the way, and some harbor seals too. Once we got out into Haro Strait the sea conditions had gotten a little better than we expected. We found the orcas just across the border in Canada between Vancouver Island and San Juan Island. It turns out these orcas were transients!! I was excited because these are the first transient orcas I've seen all year. It was T20 and the T90's. T20 is a big male and he was following the T90 group closely. The T90 group had one calf that appeared to be around 2-3 years old. They all gave us some great viewing as we parallel viewed them for about 45 minutes. The calf was coming high out of the water to clear the swells. Passengers were amazed at how large T20 was!! We took a different route back home around the south end of Lopez Island since the water conditions had improved.
3:30pm Trip
The Transient orcas we had on our morning trip kept moving north out of our range for the second trip so we planned to look for resident orcas. We went around the south end of Lopez Island and eventually found J-pod just offshore from Eagle Point on San Juan Island. They were spread out pretty well, and milling around. They were gradually working their way toward shore. Just as captain Michael was setting us up for some viewing with the sun behind our backs a flock of about ten brown pelicans flew right in front of our bow at very close range!! By then J-pod was grouping up a little more and we started seeing many of them surfacing at the same time. J16, Slick's, family was there including Mike, 26, Alki, J36, Keet J33, and J42. I also saw Polaris, J28, Shachi, J19, and Eclipse, J41. Other J-pod orcas were seen at a distance. They appeared to be doing some playing around and we did see one orca breach and another do a cartwheel!! After we said goodbye to J-pod we decided to take a different route home through the inner San Juan Islands entering at Cattle Pass. We stopped at the bald eagle's nest on Decatur Island and watched the Eaglet still in the nest waiting to take his first flight. His parents were perched on the northeastern point of Decatur. We pulled around the southwest side of James Island and looked at another adult bald eagle perched high on a snag there. That was a great way to end a great day. Naturalist Bart Rulon
3:30pm Trip
The Transient orcas we had on our morning trip kept moving north out of our range for the second trip so we planned to look for resident orcas. We went around the south end of Lopez Island and eventually found J-pod just offshore from Eagle Point on San Juan Island. They were spread out pretty well, and milling around. They were gradually working their way toward shore. Just as captain Michael was setting us up for some viewing with the sun behind our backs a flock of about ten brown pelicans flew right in front of our bow at very close range!! By then J-pod was grouping up a little more and we started seeing many of them surfacing at the same time. J16, Slick's, family was there including Mike, 26, Alki, J36, Keet J33, and J42. I also saw Polaris, J28, Shachi, J19, and Eclipse, J41. Other J-pod orcas were seen at a distance. They appeared to be doing some playing around and we did see one orca breach and another do a cartwheel!! After we said goodbye to J-pod we decided to take a different route home through the inner San Juan Islands entering at Cattle Pass. We stopped at the bald eagle's nest on Decatur Island and watched the Eaglet still in the nest waiting to take his first flight. His parents were perched on the northeastern point of Decatur. We pulled around the southwest side of James Island and looked at another adult bald eagle perched high on a snag there. That was a great way to end a great day. Naturalist Bart Rulon
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 7:02 PM
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