Posts Tagged ‘Orcas’
Saturday, October 15th, 2011
No orca whale reports today, BUT as we pulled out of Friday Harbor the Captain received word of a humpback whale by Halibut Island, Canada. It took us nearly an hour to get to the location but there it was – a beautiful humpback whale. It looked as though it was feeding the entire time we were with it – almost ½ an hour. When it dove down, one could see many of the ‘knuckles’ on it’s back. Two of the many dives it waved it tail gently before disappearing into the water. Speaking of water, the depth of the water in that location was about 150 feet deep.
This was the last tour of the season.
I
We will reopen for whale & wildlife tours April 14, 2012. See you next year!
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen
Tags: Bald Eagle, friday harbor, Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, Orca whale, Orcas, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Spieden Island, Stellar sea lion, whale watching near seattle
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Sunday, October 2nd, 2011
Yes, we saw orca whales today on the 2nd of October – late in the whale watching season. We took off from Friday Harbor, San Juan Island heading north toward Spieden Island. As we neared Speiden, one of the guests spotted a large brown head which turned out to be a great big stellar sea lion fishing by himself. We stayed on the south side of Speiden and Shelly spotted a mature bald eagle up in a tree. Down below the Mouflon Sheep and Sitka Deer were roaming about.
We pushed on to Haro Strait and started south down Henry Island to the west side of San Juan Island. We were a bit south of Kellet’s Buff and north of Lime Kiln Point when orca whales came into view. It was part of L pod that we were viewing. We sat for about 40 minutes watching the orca pursuing fish. Surfacing for air, switching directions back and forth the whales this up the entire time we sat there. Capt. Mike put down the hydrophone and there was some whale calls that could be heard. Light calling – not a lot.
As we headed further south on the west side, some Dall’s porpoise started riding our bow. Brief, but what a treat. As the water was gliding I by, I screamed out “loon!” and sure enough it was. Then at the southern tip of the island I spotted a BROWN Pelican in a raft of sea birds. Brown pelican may be common where you are from, but they are a bit of a rarity here in the islands. Near Lopez Island, we stopped at a large rock outcropping to view at least 30 stellar sea lion, what seemed like hundreds of cormorants and gulls. One could definitely smell these animals prior to actually seeing them.
What made this trip so enjoyable for me was that every guest on the boat seemed interested in anything Shelly or I could tell them about the area, birds, trees and wildlife.
This is the last daily tour of the season for us and what a trip it was.
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Haro Strait, L pod, Lopez Island, Mouflon Sheep, Orca whale, orca whales, Orcas, salish sea, san juan island, seattle whale watching, Southern Resident Killer Whales, Spieden Island, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Strait of Juan de Fuca, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Monday, September 19th, 2011
I thought yesterday was one of the calmest days we have seen this season, but I was wrong. It was today. We found some Orcas outside of Cattle Pass towards Hein Bank. The first animal we got a good look at was L41. He was generally traveling South, but not with any speed. So we had some fun times hanging out with him.
After a little bit we headed farther north and came across a lot more of L41′s family. They seemed to be mostly milling and resting, but after about 10 minutes of swimming in circles one of them breached unexpectedly. That seemed to motivate the rest of the group to start tail slapping and spy hopping. To end the encounter one of the smaller animals had a nice breach right in our passengers line of sight.
On the way home we stopped for the Steller’s around Whale Rocks, and just as we were entering the harbor we were able to shut down the engines and let a nice pod of Harbor Porpoise swim right past us!
Mike
Naturalist – San Juan Safaris
Tags: Harbor Porpoise, L pod, Orca whale, Orcas
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Thursday, September 15th, 2011
Today started off gray and rainy. We got everyone suited up in rain jackets and blankets as we started down San Juan Channel. We definitely took some spray over the side and the rain was getting everyone sitting up on the bow. But we had a hardy group of people on board that were ready for the adventure.
We stopped just outside of Friday Harbor to check out quite a few Harbor Seals hauled out on the rocks and got an added bonus of a Bald Eagle perched in the middle of everything. As we continued south we came across Steller Sea Lions lazing in the rain on whale rocks. Definitely the most I have seen this fall all together in once place. Very impressive.
As we headed up island towards the area where the resident Orca had been seen one of our passengers spotted a blow a little off shore. Sure enough he had found some members of L pod. We were the only boat in the area and our passengers enjoyed viewing the whales all by ourselves for a while. We had ‘Mega’ and some of his family with us at first. We then realized there was something else in the water with the Orca. A group of Dall’s porpoise had come on to the scene and some of the members of L pod seemed to be traveling with them. Something I have never seen before!
On our way home we had a last encounter with ‘Racer’, one of the L pod females. She has a very distinctive saddle patch and numerous passengers got great photos. By the time we made it home the skies had cleared a bit and the sun was shining on us in the harbor.
Mike
Naturalist San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Dall\'s Porpoise, Harbor Seal, L pod, Orcas, San Juan Channel
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Wednesday, September 14th, 2011
Summer seems to have left the islands as quickly as it arrived, but the animals are still around! We headed out in to Haro Strait this afternoon and came across a group of Transient Orca. The Residents haven’t been seen in a day or two, but the Transients were a great encounter. The mature male of the group had a huge dorsal fin which gave our passengers a very big target to photograph.
On the way home we added another cetacean to our check list when we came across a nice group of Dall’s Porpoise. They weren’t too interested in the boat but just slowly meandered along as we got a few good looks. After leaving the Dall’s we encountered a large bird ball that gave us high hopes for finding a Minke Whale. Sure enough after a few patient minutes we had one surface a few times near the group of birds.
To end the day we stopped at Whale Rocks to get some looks at the large Steller Sea Lions both on the rocks and in the water, as well as harbor seals. Finally a few harbor porpoise popped up long enough for everyone to see as we were all looking at a Bald Eagle perched on Lopez!
Mike
Naturalist – San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, Orcas, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Transient Orcas
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Saturday, September 3rd, 2011
With two full boats, we headed up north across the border and into Canadian waters, all in search of the Southern Resident Killer Whales that had been out to sea (to the best of our knowledge) for a few days. We ended up in the Strait of Georgia, just south of the city of Vancouver, when a passenger tapped me on the shoulder and said, “look, there!” And there they were! Orcas spanning over a quarter of a mile were lined up in smaller groups and heading north. As we paralleled them for a while, we were able to identify J-27, “Blackberry,” as one of the more recently-matured whales of the community. He had a juvenile–possibly his little brother “Mako”–and two females and/or larger juveniles. The orcas engaged in just about every surface behavior they have in their repertoire, from tail slapping to spy hopping to even breaching, it was all there! After our long journey north, we eventually did have to depart and head back to Friday Harbor but along the way we got a glimpse of some napping harbor seals and some porpoising harbor porpoises (yes, a verb AND a noun!). Welcome back, resident orcas!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, Orca whale, Orcas, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Transient killer whales were the big sea creatures in town today! We filled up the Sea Lion vessel with eager passengers and went out to the Rosario Strait just past Orcas Island in search of ocean life. In the distance, we could see a splash then a white cloud indicative of whale snot (a blow) and then a black fin. After another minute, two more whales surfaced and then a female and a little orca. But wait? Was that another two orcas 400 yards away from the group of five? Why, yes it was! And then, even further, we saw yet another group of four or five transients. It was a party! Generally, transient (mammal-eating) killer whales are found in pods of four or five but today it seemed that multiple pods were gathering in larger numbers. Theories as to why this occurs can include anything from spreading the gene pool to socializing to hunting. At one point, we did also see a harbor seal pup in the menagerie, perhaps trying to escape becoming a killer whale meal. We learned later that T036 and T036B were part of the group we saw.
Further along in our travels, we found a lone bald eagle perched on a navigation marker off Lawrence Point on Orcas Island and a handful of plump (and safe) harbor seals hauled out on rocks off both the Orcas and San Juan Islands.
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Orcas, san juan island, Transient Orcas
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Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Well, we just did the math. From August 1- 29 we have ran a total of 49 Whale Watches. Of those 49 trips we successfully located whales 47 times. And not just Orca, but Minke and Humpback Whales as well!! That is a 96% success rate at seeing whales on our trips.
On top of whales we have also been seeing Stellar’s Sea Lions, Harbor Seals, Harbor Porpoise, Dall’s Porpoise, and Bald Eagles on a regular basis. One day we even encountered an Elephant Seal.
Every day is different. We never know what exactly is going to happen. That is what makes everyday exciting!
Captain Mike
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, Humpback Whale, minke whale, Orca whale, Orcas, Steller\'s Sea Lion
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Monday, August 29th, 2011
Today we traveled all the way to Victoria to see one lone transient. He was magnificent. It was a long haul but when we arrived he appeared to be patrolling up and down the rocks. He has one of the broadest dorsal fins I have ever seen.
The word on the street was that he had been harassing a sea lion prior to our arrival. When we got there he was just cruising, back and forth along the rocks, occasionally rolling slightly on his side as if he was looking up toward the rocks to see what was on the lunch menu. It was pretty cool. After a bit of whale watching we began the long journey home. Thanks to a ripping 5-6knot tidal flood, we made it there in record time. We stopped for a group of Steller’s Seal Lions hauled out on whale rocks and in the water below. On the way home the clouds parted and gave way to sun and flat water. Seals were lounging. Porpoises were frolicking. Fantastic.
Laura, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Cattle Pass, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Orca whale, Orcas, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Steller\'s Sea Lion, Transient Orcas
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Friday, August 26th, 2011
Another calm clear day around San Juan Island. We were able to find most of the Southern Residents heading north past the west side of the island. As we came on scene we found a nice group of about 10 animals traveling together. It was difficult to get good IDs but there was one adult male with the group. We got to enjoy their company for a while as they moved towards Turn Point. They exhibited a nice range of behaviors including porpoising, spy hopping, tail lobbing, and even a few breaches! The water was calm and the lighting was just right for our passengers to get some good photos.
On the way home we encountered some bald eagles and harbor porpoise. Just when we thought the trip was done and we were pulling in the harbor we even saw a harbor seal surface with a HUGE salmon in its mouth. It chowed down as we watched. Very cool end to a great day.
Mike
Captain – San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagles, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, Orca whale, Orcas, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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