Posts Tagged ‘K Pod’
Thursday, August 30th, 2012
As we traveled south we had amazing views of Harbor Seals and Steller Sea Lions. Both species were taking their afternoon siestas, soaking up the sunshine. Many of the Harbor Seals were resting in a “banana” pose, keeping their head and hind flippers raised out of the frigid, 49°F water. Whereas, the Steller Sea Lions were sprawled out across the island, making even the most jagged rocks look comfortable.
We then caught up with four Southern Resident Killer Whales near False Bay. This group of Killer Whales included Cappuccino (K21) a mature male born in 1985, as well as, Opus (K16) and her son Sonata (K32). The whales were initially traveling southeast before changing direction and double-backing to the west. Further to the west we spent time viewing another group of Killer Whales near Pile Point (48°28.0017N, 123°05.6076W). All in all there were roughly 20 whales spread out along the southern end of San Juan Island. Although the whales were largely spending their time traveling, a few individuals performed aerial displays; in total we saw 5 breaches! Crazy AWESOME!
Amy, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Harbor Seals, K Pod, killer whales, Orca whale, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller Sea Lions
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Monday, August 27th, 2012
The weather was perfect: high around 70 degrees, clear blue sky, and very light breeze. The only thing that could make it better would be a day with the Orcas. Did you order up Orcas?
Yes, a large order, please!
Coming right up.
We ran north – through beautifully calm water, enjoying the spectacular scenery. Mount Baker was a clear and crisp as I’ve ever seen it. Along the way, we saw harbor porpoise, common murre, pigeon guillemot, and harbor seals swimming about.
As we got nearer to our destination, members of J & K Pods showed themselves. Plenty of porpoising, a breach, a spy hop, another breach – lots of activity. We identified K-25 (Scoter), K-27 (Deadhead), J-27 (Blackberry), and a host of other gorgeous Orcas. The boat rang out with ohhhhs and aahhhhhs, as the animals were all around us!
We had to “go the extra mile” today, because that’s where the action was. It’s what we do. 48 47.91N, 122 46.7436W. Lots of happy guests aboard!
Happy Whale Watching to You!
Captain Jim (Captain, Naturalist, all ’round fun guy)
Tags: friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, j pod, K Pod, killer whales, Orcas, salish sea, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Southern Resident Killer Whales, whale watching near seattle
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Saturday, July 28th, 2012
We had calm seas and a bright sunny day, perfect for wildlife watching! We departed Friday Harbor heading south, stopping to view harbor seals in the water and hauled out, as well as a bald eagle perched high in the tree tops. There were more seals around Goose Island, plus cormorants, gulls, and a large stellar sea lion playing in the bull kelp. Then, around whale rocks we saw three massive male steller sea lions hauled out on the rocks. One even started growling! It was awesome to hear.
Not much further south, between Lopez and San Juan Island we spotted three killer whale dorsal fins. It was the K-13’s. Not too far from them was a large male, who we recognized as L-87 or Onyx. The whales started traveling along the west coast of the island. We got spectacular views of them, especially when one spy hopped! They were spreading out along the coast, giving us the opportunity to see whales all over. As they continued on, we turned back and took another look at whale rocks, where six steller sea lions were now soaking up some sun. We realized one was a juvenile male who was significantly smaller than the others. What a beautiful afternoon with lots of wildlife!
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, K Pod, killer whales, L pod, Lopez Island, Orcas, san juan island, Steller Sea Lions
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Friday, July 20th, 2012
In my post yesterday, I mentioned how I could not find words to describe how amazing our Orca encounter was. Well, surprisingly everything that I said yesterday can be applied to our afternoon trip today! There was another super pod of killer whales, but we didn’t realize this right away.
We departed Friday Harbor heading north, and did not have to travel far. We caught up with three killer whales just on the north side of Henry Island (48°36.720’N 123° 12.300’W). We watched for a while before seeing blows off in the distance. Three, four more killer whales were in the area. They changed direction, so did we. Then, all of a sudden we saw at least twenty dorsal fins slice through the surface of the water, all less than a body length from each other! We also noticed there was a large group near shore. The sky was full of their misty exhalations. I got to see my second greeting ceremony in two days when the two large groups came towards each other. They seemed to synchronize their surfacing as they lined up. But, as they met I saw something different from yesterday: the whales circled each other once before moving off in the same direction they came from! It was spectacular!
All in all there were at least thirty whales, from all three Southern Resident pods. Again, they were being very active, lob tailing, breaching, and spy hopping. It was difficult to identify individuals since fins and saddle patches were everywhere, but we were able to distinguish J-27 Blackberry, J-14 Samish, L-87 Onyx, L-86 Surprise, and K-21 Cappuccino out of the wave of dorsal fins in the groups. Plus, cheery on the top of the trip was being able to view three bald eagles, soaring in the sky, as well as harbor seals (plus pups!), muflon sheep, and fallow deer.
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagles, Fallow Deer, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, henry island, j pod, K Pod, killer whales, L pod, Mouflon Sheep, Orcas, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Thursday, July 19th, 2012
I cannot even put into words how amazing, awesome, exhilarating, and fun this afternoon’s trip was. Seriously, words cannot describe the whales, but I’ll do my best share this experience. We left Friday Harbor heading east with reports of whales in Rosario Strait. This is the first thing that made today special; typically we travel north or south of San Juan Island, not east between the islands which is absolutely beautiful on a clear, sunny day like today.
We reached the whales at 48° 36.73’N 122° 44.88’W. At first we spotted a large group of probably ten or more killer whales, but as we looked around, there were several large groups. Dorsal fins were slicing through the water’s surface everywhere! Big ones, small ones, sizes in between! We were witnessing a super pod; members from J, K, and L pods were present, at least twenty, if not thirty whales. We watched as the whales spread out horizontally and started swimming towards each other: a greeting ceremony! The whales then split into two groups. Both groups were active. You name the behavior, we saw it. They were spy hopping, lob tailing, pectoral slapping, cartwheeling, back diving, and yes, BREACHING! One small whale breached six or seven times in a row! Additionally, we heard their vocalizations both above water and underwater via the hydrophone, as well as their distinctive blows from either side of our boat.
All this activity in tight groups made it difficult to identify individuals (honestly, there was so much to watch I forgot about trying to figure out who we were seeing), but Tara and I were able to ID the super distinctive 35 year old male L-41, Mega, as well as L74, Saanich. Plus, the whales were not the only wildlife in the area; we also spotted a bald eagle and harbor seals resting on Peapod Rocks. I know this sounds amazing, but this post still does not do justice to the absolutely spectacular trip it was.
~Kristen, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seals, j pod, K Pod, killer whales, L pod, Orcas, Peapod Rocks, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Friday, June 15th, 2012
We traveled all the way to Victoria BC to see three different pods of Southern Resident Killer Whales. When multiple pods of whales come together it is called a super pod!
Members of the J- and K-pods were traveling together, moving through Enterprise Channel between Victoria and Trial Island (48 24.46N, 12318.64W), with individuals from L-pod roughly 1 mile offshore. The whales were traveling in an easterly direction.
We were all captivated by the whales. At times over 20 whales were seen surfacing, including a number of mature males. Super pods only occur a handful of times during the season; such a treat to see so many whales together! A truly AMAZING day out here in the San Juan Islands!
Amy, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris Whale Watching and Wildlife Tours
Tags: j pod, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Sunday, June 10th, 2012
Today we headed out in full force with both boats, the Sea Lion and Kittiwake. We heard a few rumors of Big Black Fish milling around Lime Kiln so we headed in that direction. As we passed South Beach we saw our first group of dorsal fins break the water surface ( Haro Strait, 48°26.27N 123°01.48W).
Big “Mike” (J26) somehow made his way into a group of female K’s including “Raggedy” (K40) and seemed to be looking for a hot a date! He was definitely showing off what he’s got, wrestling around, and strutting his stuff. We figured we’d let him continue his pursuit and head west into open water to catch up with Cappuccino (K21).
We rode alongside Cappuccino (K21) for a bit. He was just chillaxin’ by his lonesome, milling around, doing his own thing. His pace was great for us though! We were able to cut the motor, watch him slowly emerge from the water, releasing large, exuding blows, and glide back slowly into the water. His actions were so smooth it caused passengers to grow silent, awestruck by the size and serenity of this amazing creature, living and breathing beside them.
There were also a number of other groups both from J-pod and K-pod spread out in the surrounding area fishing and what not. The Kittiwake got to ride with both Blackberry (J27) and Polaris (J28). We ended up leaving the whales still milling around in the same area at approximately 3:30 PM.
All in all, it was another unbelievable day amongst our Southern Residents!
Naturalists Tara and Shelly, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Haro Strait, j pod, K Pod, lime kiln, Milling, san juan island, South Beach, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Wednesday, May 30th, 2012
Members of J-pod, K-pod, and L-Pod where traveling together again today out in Rosario Strait just southwest of Lopez Island; coordinates 48°24.051N 122°50.23W. Within a few minutes of reaching the area, the Sea Lion (our boat) was surrounded by whales on all sides! It didn’t matter in which direction we looked everyone was bound to see the whales surface. And man did it seem like they were in their realm!! We saw almost every behavior possible; from spyhopping to lobtailling to pectoral slapping to breaching. We even got so see a few calves rolling around belly up and wrestling with one another. Just adorable!
Once we saw this behavior we immediately dropped the hydrophone and listened in. They were vocalizing as one would expect, with such a big group, chattin’ up a storm. The crew and passengers really appeared to be beside themselves listening in and watching an entirely different community communicate and move as one. Today it really struck home that this world is not solely ours, rather we share it with many other amazing creatures.
Counting my blessings today!
Naturalist Tara, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Breaching, j pod, K Pod, L pod, Lobtailling, Lopez Island, Pectoral Slapping, Rosario Strait, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spyhopping
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Sunday, April 22nd, 2012
California Sea Lion
A Warm Spring Day of Whale & Wildlife Watching from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island
Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island.
We headed out of Friday Harbor going north making a stop at NWR Yellow Island, and rock outcroppings with 43+ snoozing Harbor Seals. We made our way along the coast of Speiden Island. Often times this is a great place to spot Bald Eagles – no Eagle this time. But we did see about 10 Sea Lions. All but one was a Stellar. The other was a California Sea Lion -deep dark brown in color with the telltale knot on his forehead as if he had been clobbered.
We made our way slowly into Haro Straight between Henry Island and Stuart Island. Up came dorsals. Out came whale breath. Over all there may have been 15 – 20 animals. They were traveling in small groups of 6 – 8 and it appeared to me that they were in a resting-style mode.
Residents can be very vocal. No vocalizations today – we dropped the hydrophone three separate times.
Residents can be very playful and energetic. None of that today. Lots of slow “up” and sinking back “down”. The water was glass-like. No wind. No noise. It felt very peaceful bobbing in the water with the engine off.
On the way home we did see at least two mature bald eagles, one in a nest. The boat made another quick stop on the end of Speiden. The Stellars and California Sea Lions were still in the water where we left them. Just before pulling into Friday Harbor we spotted a California Sea Lion hogging a red buoy. I think I saw some zzzzzz’s over his head.
And there was one Common Murre fishing next to the buoy to complete our wildlife viewing for today.
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
San Juan Safaris Whale & Wildlife Watching
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cactus Island, California Sea Lion, Common Murre, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seals, Haro Strait, henry island, j pod, K Pod, L pod, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, san juan island, san juan islands, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Stellar sea lion, Stuart Island, yellow island
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Sunday, April 8th, 2012
Yesterday Transients Orcas, today Residents Orcas! Traveling all the way to Mouat Point off North Pender Island, Canada, we caught up with members of J and K pod. Although the Orcas kept us on the move, we paused long enough to see foraging, plenty of tail-slapping, a slow-motion spy-hop by Sekiu (K-22), and an excellent full-body breach! It was also a treat to clearly hear vocalizations on our hydrophone.
A stop at Green Point on Speiden Island on the way home gave us a good look at a noisy group of Stellar Sea Lions all perched upright at the water’s edge. We began and ended the trip with sightings of adult Bald Eagles just inside the marina.
Another spectacular day on the water. Despite starting off with a thrilling ocean-spray ride north (all slickers were in use), the skies cleared, the whales graced us with their presence, and we celebrated another spectacular day on the water on glassy seas and under sunny skies.
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, j pod, K Pod, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Steller\'s Sea Lion, whale watching near seattle
Posted in friday harbor, orca whale watching by seattle, orca whale watching near seattle, san juan island | Comments Off