Whale Watching Blog Friday Harbor San Juan Island

Transient Orcas, Humpbacks, and Sunshine Galore!

Whale Watching Naturalist — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:34:50 +0000

Great day on the water today! Captain Mike, Naturalist Kevin, and myself started our trip off right when we came across a group of 6 transients orcas. After watching them surfacing and cruisin’ along for a bit we decided to head up further North, off of Moresby Island, in the canadian waters, to watch our friend, the humpback, that was spotted yesterday! After watching this humpback at a distance for a while, he decided to give Naturalist Kevin a bit of a scare when the humpback surfaced right next to our boat! Overall, today was a great opportunity for photos, wildlife, and enjoying our awesome sunshine!

Humpback Whale Tales

Whale Watching Naturalist — Thu, 23 May 2013 23:56:42 +0000

After leaving Friday Harbor, the Seal Lion landed in the majestic waters of Open Bay on Henry Island, where Captain Brian and myself, encountered a young Humpback whale.
Humpback whales breed in warmer waters during the winter and then migrate along the west coast up to colder nutrient rich water during the summer months. Generally, mother humpbacks will stay with their calf for a year. It is likely that this young humpback just left his mother recently. Hopefully this young whale will continue his journey north!

Caitlin, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris

Mini Orca

Whale Watching Naturalist — Wed, 22 May 2013 02:55:33 +0000

I saw my first Dall’s porpoises of the season today. The most playful of our two porpoise species, Dall’s porpoises are known to go out of their way to surf the bow wake of boats. Despite this reputation and our best efforts to entice them, the porpoises we encountered were uninterested in our wave. Their black and white markings can often fool the uninitiated observer into believing they saw orcas. But these meaty cetaceans are a mere 6.5 feet as adults. When first born, an orca calf is about the same size.

That brings me to our second highlight of the day! Near Sidney Island, British Columbia we caught up with a family of 5 transients, which included a miniature orca that stuck to its mother’s side like glue. At one point, unbeknownst to the whale watching boats, the family made an unexpected course change and popped up right alongside our boat. All 5 killer whales surfaced in synchrony as they continued on their northerly course.

Andrew, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris

Humpback whales cruisin’ around

Whale Watching Naturalist — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:12:22 +0000

Great day on the water! After searching around for a bit, Captain Mike, Naturalist Andrew, and myself, caught a lucky break when we found 2 humpbacks over Eastern bank. These two seemed to be keeping close the the contours of the bank. This behavior could reflect their feeding strategies. Commonly, humpbacks will forage over continental shelves and sea mounts where productivity of krill is highest. Once the krill is spotted, Humpbacks have a really cool and unusual technique to catch their prey. Humpbacks commonly use “bubble nets” to corral krill and small fish. They produce a net of bubbles in a continuous circle towards the surface. Once this technique has successfully created a “bait ball” or tight knit group of prey. The Humpbacks will then swim up through the net, with mouths agape, and swallow thousands of fish in one gulp!
We did not see any bubble netting this time, but it was still an awesome day on the water to see the not so common humpbacks cruisin’ around. Looking forward to seeing some more soon.

Caitlin
Naturalist
San Juan Safaris

Resident Orcas Serenade Onlookers

Whale Watching Naturalist — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:29:08 +0000

Whale watchers have been reporting a playful J pod lingering on the westside of San Juan Island for the past few days. The same was true of today’s voyage. Our guests were beside themselves listening to the cacophony of vocalizations on our hydrophone; the high-pitched whistles, squeaks, and utterances were non-stop. I was astounded myself!

Small groups of orcas were rolling about all over the place, floating on their backs, slapping the surface with their pectoral fins, spyhopping, breaching. The big bulls, Onyx and Blackberry, traveled in synchrony at one point. In all the rolling about we even sighted a “sea snake.” The PG rated nature of this blog limits my ability to provide details regarding this part of the bull’s anatomy. It’s better that you sign up for a trip and request information about “sea snakes” from your naturalist.

Captain Mike steered us near Whale Rocks on the way home to check up on the Steller’s Sea Lion population. There are still quite a few of the blubbery beasts lingering in the Salish Sea at this time of year.

Andrew, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris

Resident Killer Whales Give us the Slip

Whale Watching Naturalist — Fri, 17 May 2013 01:13:02 +0000

Yesterday the island was buzzing with news that the resident orca pods were making their official entrance to the Salish Sea summer feeding grounds. Whale watchers aboard our M/V “Sea Lion” reported back with enthusiasm that they had witnessed a playful J pod crossing Haro Strait toward the west side of San Juan Island.

Naturally, when Captain Mike received word of a large group of orcas near Vancouver, British Columbia, we assumed it was J pod again, following their ancient and predictable salmon hunting route. Boy were we surprised to encounter the behemoth, “Chainsaw” (AKA T63), a large male Bigg’s Killer Whale south of East Point on Saturna Island, BC. Another group of approximately 15 whales were reported to be heading down the east side of Orcas Island. The resident whales of yesterday had apparently slipped out the back and neatly replaced themselves with an unusually large group of transients.

Once we realized our folly we settled into watching Chainsaw and friends. Chainsaw is estimated to be 35 years old and is so named for the saw teeth shaped notches in his dorsal fin. Between his name, size and fin, he has a “tough guy” aura. The bull hunted with two other adults and one juvenile. At one point the group was spread widely in boundary pass; however, in a short period of time we watched them make an impressively quick rendezvous near shore. There it appeared they made a kill, but much of the action took place below the surface, out of view.

On our return trip we enjoyed the clearing skies and wondered where J pod could have slipped off to.

Andrew, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris

Southern Resident Killer Whales return!!!

Whale Watching Naturalist — Thu, 16 May 2013 01:05:34 +0000

Well today we left our Friday Harbor slip with word of J pod of our southern resident community traveling east near Victoria.
This is exciting news being that J pod hasn’t been seen in our area since March 10th.
Resident eco-type Orcas need to consume large quantities of Chinook salmon, up to 300 pounds or more for an adult Orca. Spending the spring time out along the coastal areas feeding on salmon, we’ve been eagerly awaiting their return and today was the day.
We caught up to J pod as they were passing by the Trial Island lighthouse just south of Victoria, B.C. It didn’t take long to start recognizing some of our returning friends. The pod was split into two groups and the group that we were watching consisted of ‘The cookie clan’ J22 oreo and her offspring, J34 doublestuff and J38 cookie, as well as her niece J32 Rhapsody. There was lots of tail slaps and multiple spy hops. Not to far behind was the big male J27 Blackberry and his sister J31 Tsuchi and younger brother J39 Mako.
We received word that J2 Granny was seen in the other group which is great news being that The Center For Whale Research estimates she was born around 1911. Amazing!

Since we’ve returned to the dock, J pod has since crossed Haro Strait and are now along side the westside of San Juan Island. Their vocalizations can be heard on the Orca Sound Hydrophone. www.orcasound.net/lk/ Pretty amazing!!

Kevin, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris

The Mouse Escapes

Whale Watching Naturalist — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:33:17 +0000

Our guests have been lucking out lately! Bigg’s Killer Whales, with their erratic diving behavior and extended dives, can be a challenge to view at times. However, observers who are lucky enough to see orcas locate prey and witness the gritty details of a kill easily get their fill of whale watching. Often, killer whales with their prey can be analogous to a cat and mouse. The process can be drawn out and grisly. I get exhausted just watching them!

Today the Transients were working over a Steller’s Sea Lion for 2 hours near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal north of Sidney, BC. When we first arrived on scene, the clever sea lion was trying to position another whale watching boat between itself and its predators. The chosen boat was zigzagging away from the melee with the orcas in hot pursuit. In an act of desperation, seals and sea lions may make a sudden attempt to haul out on a nearby boat to escape their attackers.

One couldn’t help but wonder about the strategizing of the killer whales as they swarmed the sea lion, dispersed in opposite directions, and then returned to deliver another assault. Our hydrophone picked up a great deal of high pitched communication. Several full breaches appeared almost effortless and in slow-motion as they launched themselves out of the water and landed nearly back in the same spot, pummeling the lion in the process. There were several juvenile whales present that may have been receiving some on-the-job-training. These animals lingered on the perimeter and also performed excited breaches. Remarkably, the sea lion escaped, although after such an assault we wonder whether it will be able to survive the day.

Naturalist Andrew, San Juan Safaris

It’s Raining Transients!

Whale Watching Naturalist — Tue, 14 May 2013 00:05:49 +0000

The same group of marine mammal-eating Transients (the T49Bs and T65As) that “wowed” us yesterday demonstrated their hunting prowess again today outside of Sidney, British Columbia. Just before coming upon the gang we witnessed several Harbor Porpoise in the area. The orcas began to breach and moved inshore where it appeared that they pinned their prey right up against the beach. Our hardy guests enjoyed the show despite the driving wind and rain and huddled back in our vessel’s heated cabin between viewing. On our return trip we grazed by Mandarte Island to view the exceptionally active nesting colonies of sea birds found there. The herd of sheep and deer on Speiden Island didn’t seem to be phased by the weather either. Several Bald Eagles and Turkey Vultures soared in the updraft above Speiden’s ridge.

Naturalist Andrew, San Juan Safaris

North or South?

Whale Watching Naturalist — Sun, 12 May 2013 23:37:24 +0000

We left the dock again today with very little information about wildlife sightings and a fresh crew full of expectations for the day. Should we go north or south from Friday Harbor in search of wildlife? It’s a question that we sweat over in the business. The Salish Sea is a big place, with animals that roam as they please, and our range limited to just a 3-4 hour time frame.

We decided to go south, as we had rumors of orcas spotted off Victoria earlier in the morning. We also had much luck viewing Minke Whales yesterday on the south end of San Juan Island. We made the right choice!

A few miles south of Lopez Island, we encountered an active pack of approximately 6 Transient Killer Whales. As we approached we witnessed spyhopping, full breaches, and lob-tailing. This type of energetic behavior from Transients is indicative of an attack-in-progress or recent kill. We paralleled their southerly path of travel in the placid waters and low hanging fog bank, with a small window revealing a hint of the Olympic range in the background. Often when Transients are in an excited state, they are very vocal as well; however, with our hydrophone deployed, we picked up no vocalizations.

As the beasts continued to thrash about in the water, they reversed direction and established a course for Whale Rocks in the mouth of Cattle Pass. These barren rocks are a popular haul-out sight for seals and sea lions. As the orcas drew nearer, they stopped breaching and began traveling more tightly. Would they spring an attack on the unsuspecting morsels? Passing up Whale Rocks, they swam north up against the shore of Lopez Island. Near Shark Reef, another haul-out site for pinnepeds, they quickly changed course once more. Their increased activity here indicated another possible kill.

Naturalist Andrew, San Juan Safaris