Posts Tagged ‘San Juan Channel’
Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
Every morning I come in to work, nervous about what the day may hold, but also excited about the prospect of seeing whales. There is a lot of pressure on us as naturalists, captains, and crew to find the whales and keep the passengers happy, which is why we get so very excited when we hear two sweet words…South side!
Gotta love it when the whales are close and we get to spend time with multiple groups. I do love a good drive up north every now and then, but sometimes it is just awesome when the whales are nearby and there is less traveling and more watching.
The whales were milling between False Bay and South Beach. Boats were spread out across the channel in every direction and we assumed the whales would be too. We saw a massive dorsal surface inshore of us, followed by a couple of mid size and then baby K! He was active. Super active. Rolling, tail slapping, porpoising high out of the water. The rest of the whales seemed to be indulging him and there were bouts of activity here and there between the little guy and the others. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. It was the most active I have seen the whales in a week or two. There were 5 or so whales in the little group. The best part was that they just milled; spinning, rolling, spy-hopping, and pec-slapping. We sat and watched and barely had to move. I love whale watching with the engines off.
We forget sometimes what a privilege it is to see these amazing animals interacting with each other in their own habitat. We forget that we are the guests when we are out there on the water. The urge to yell ‘jump’ or think they are showing off for us is hard to resist. Sometimes it takes an encounter like this to remind us that we are lucky just to see them at all.
Laura, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
Tags: Orca whale, Orcas, San Juan Channel, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales, whale watching near seattle
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Saturday, July 9th, 2011
Southbound from Friday Harbor, we went in search of Pacific northwest wildlife. Along the way, we saw harbor porpoises just in the San Juan Channel north of the harbor. A few harbor seals were spotted frolicking in the waves, perhaps foraging or playing. As we rounded Henry Island along the northern end of San Juan Island, we headed south along the Haro Strait and began to see boats in the distance spread out over several miles. Upon closer viewing, those boats happened to have numerous southern resident killer whales around them! We saw some orcas tail slapping or tail lobbing and one even tail slapping on its back! At one point, we had a large male swimming straight for us! We pulled forward to give him some space and eventually he turned towards another boat; was this a curious whale investigating his surroundings? Over the radio we heard that we were seeing a mixture of J and K pods. On our return trip, we passed by Cattle Point and saw countless sea birds including cormorants, gulls, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots and rare heermanns gulls. Whale rocks had harbor seals warming up and drying off with some playing in the water. And to top it off, we found an eagle perched on a branch just south of the harbor and we were fortunate enough to see it leap off and take flight!
Serena, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Pass, friday harbor, Harbor Porpoise, Harbor Seal, henry island, j pod, Orcas, San Juan Channel, san juan island, Southern Resident Killer Whales
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Thursday, September 9th, 2010
At this point, our avid readers know that orcas are the world’s largest dolphins, despite the fact that their common name is Killer Whale. Because the name Killer Whale is such a misnomer we almost exclusively use their scientific title of orca. Up until this week they were also the only dolphins that we see in the Salish Sea. There have always been vague reports about Pacific White-sided Dolphins being spotted in these waters, but the reliability of those reports always carried about as much credibility as the ones about sea otters. On Monday though, things changed. One boat after another radioed in that there was a pod of “Lags” just outside of Friday Harbor. Pt. Caution, Reed Rock, San Juan Channel. By 11:45 AM though, the reports had stopped and the animals had disappeared. Like many other elusive creatures in these islands, they were “lost”.
Pacific White-sided Dolphin. Photo courtesy of noahworld.org
Suddenly at 5:30 PM the P/V Odyssey called in that they had rediscovered the dolphins in San Juan Channel, next to Lopez Island and heading for Cattle Pass. That meant that they were swimming south and would probably disappear. Tragic, since our guests would not get the chance to see them. Out of the blue, the big blue that is, the Lags popped up again today and now they were within range and our time schedule to see them. Luckily there was a boat tracking their movements, so we could travel straight to both of our dolphin species today; orca and Pacific White-sided.
Pacific White-sided Dolphins. Photo courtesy of Monterey Bay Aquarium
Pacific White-sided Dolphins are compact cetaceans that range from 7-8 ft. in length and weigh approximately 350 lbs. They have a dorsal fin that is overly large for their size and they have a large white patch on either side of their body. Their white markings are what give these dolphins part of their scientific name, Lagenorynchus obliquidens. Obliquidens refers to the oblique, or side, markings. Lagenorynchus is the reason that the animals are called Lags for short. They were once common in the area, but are now seen on only the rarest of occasions, like this week. It has been a surprise to see them and undoubtedly they will slip away, just as quickly as they appeared.
So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you who favor flashy markings, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
P.S. – L47 “Marina” was spotted with her family today and her new calf is still alive and well. Yay, Marina!
Tags: Orcas, Pacific White-sided Dolphin, San Juan Channel, san juan islands, San Juan Safaris
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Sunday, August 29th, 2010
We often have people ask us about whether the orcas wear tags and if that is how we know where they are. Since the Southern Residents are listed as an endangered species, researchers are not given permission to attach tags to them. The same logic that discourages the use of tags is the same safety-based thinking that prohibits taking skin or blood
White dot on dorsal fin is satellite tag. Photo courtesy of Cascadia Research
samples from the resident orcas, thereby limiting the introduction of bacteria and infection. Because the resident population is so small (a total of 87 animals) researchers do not want to cause any further stress on this fragile community of marine mammals.
Tags on transient orcas are a different story, though. Since transient orcas are not endangered and appear to have a much larger population than the resident orcas, there are some individuals with tags on their dorsal fins. The satellite tags are used to map the travels of the orcas to try and discover where they are doing most of their hunting and whether there is a discernible pattern to their movements. The tags cannot, however, be used to monitor the animals’ locations minute to minute.
Satellite tags have a lag when transmitting information that can be three days or more. Since the tags only transmit when they are out of the water and the signal is picked up by three satellites, the information can be very random and spotty. The transmissions that are logged are then archived by the satellite company and need to be accessed and collected by the researchers who applied the tags. The information is then integrated into the data storage and sometimes posted onto a website for general consumption. Because of the time periods present in this multi-step process, the whale watching industry cannot use satellite tag information to help find the orcas on a daily basis. The visual approach to finding wildlife still works, though, and we use it to our best advantage: even when it comes to transient orcas wearing tags, like the female T099 that we spent time with today. She and her family were swimming up and down San Juan Channel and we could see the tag that she wears on the left side of her dorsal fin.
So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you who like to accessorize, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Tags: San Juan Channel, san juan islands, San Juan Safaris, Satellite Tag, Transient Orcas
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Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Finally it looks like the fog may be clearing. We still had a foggy morning but it quickly cleared out and turned into a beautiful day. This afternoon was a true safari. We started off by observing some harbor seals basking in the sun…it’s rough being a harbor seal! Then we moved over to whale rocks to observe a couple of stellar sea lions. These amazing creatures can weigh between 1500-3000 lbs depending upon the sex of the animal. Sea lions are capable of “walking” on land using their front flippers unlike the harbor seals that scoot around on their bellies. Stellar Sea Lions are endangered and the majority of them are in Alaska on their breeding grounds currently.
Continuing along we made our way over to the Orcas on the west side of San Juan. Just as we made it on scene one of the J pod calves began breaching. Even a calf is about 6-8 ft long when born and around 400lbs! We enjoyed observing the Orcas going about their normal routine. As we waved goodbye to Orcas to return home we stopped once again since there were reports of a minke whale close by. Minke whales tend to be tough to spot and they can hold their breath for a long time so I’m not always hopeful of a good show from a Minke but this one did not disappoint! Minke whales have baleen instead of teeth like orcas do so they filter feed and today we got to see a glimpse or two of this feeding action. After several minutes of not seeing the minke whale we begin to wonder if he or she had moved on and then suddenly there it was very close to our boat! It was a great sighting and everyone was excited about all the different species of marine life we had the opportunity to observe today. Last but not least just minutes before pulling into the harbor we stopped to observe a bald eagle. Throw in the flat calm water we had today and you just couldn’t ask for much more!
-Casey
Tags: Bald Eagle, Harbor Seal, Orca whale, orca whales, San Juan Channel, san juan islands, seattle whale watching, whale watching near seattle, whale watching tour
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Sunday, May 30th, 2010
It must be since Capt. Hook just arrived! That is right, we spent the day with good old Capt. Hook and, in this story, his jolly gals. And we did not have to go more than twenty minutes down San Juan Channel before we met up with them. Transient orcas T40, or Capt. Hook as he is affectionately known, and two females were traveling north up through Griffin Bay on the east side of San Juan Island today. It was a quick trip from the dock for us and the rest of the whale watch fleet. Especially when they led us right back past Friday Harbor.
T40 is a well known and easily recognizable orca due to his distinctive dorsal fin. At some point in time he must have suffered an injury to the top 1/4 of his fin which causes it to curl over to the left. Consequently, he has a “hook” which spawned his identity and makes him a sought after sighting specimen in the orca and whale watch world. Not to mention that he is simply a very impressive older male orca. His estimated age is 49 years and with male orcas presumed to live between 50 and 60 years, Capt. Hook is possibly getting towards the end of his life. He is still large and strong though and continues to cover large amounts of water here in the Eastern North Pacific.
Generally an Alaskan local, T40 showed up last year for the first time in many years. He was seen for a few days and then left for the rest of the season. Surprisingly, he reappeared more than a week ago back in these waters with the same two females he was swimming with today. Since the food that they are after, other marine mammals, are constantly on the move in random patterns, then the Transient orcas move in the same manner. It is for that reason that the familial relationships within the Transient population are not as well know as those of our Resident orcas.
It was a wonderful encounter today, being able to spend time with a big sexy animal like Capt. Hook. Hopefully, he will be around for many years to come captivating the attention and curiosity of researchers and lay people alike. And if you ever have any question about where to find him, just remember, follow the “second star to the right and go straight on ’til morning.”
So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you never want to grow up, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Tags: Capt. Hook, friday harbor, San Juan Channel, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, T40, Transient Orcas
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Monday, September 21st, 2009
Luckily, we did not have to look too far today, although the orcas were being a bit cagey. Capt. Craig took us out of Friday Harbor at an exaggeratedly slow speed, because the Coast Guard had sent out a radio warning about a submerged house boat that was adrift in San Juan Channel. How something can be submerged and adrift I do not know, but we were on the lookout for it. That was just the distraction that we needed though. We were nearly to Turn Island and we had not gotten up to speed yet when the announcement was made that there were orcas on the west side of San Juan Island at Lime Kiln Point State Park. Wow, what a save; Jaclyn and I took it as an opportunity to run around the boat yelling for joy. Up until that point we were destined for the south end of the island to look for a whale of questionable lineage that was going down on 20 minute dives.
A quick u-turn got us headed in the right direction though, and away we went. As we looped over the top of San Juan Island and motored through the glass-like waters of Haro Strait past Henry Island, I noticed a disturbance in the water well off of our port side. I minute of looking with the binoculars and I spotted a lone orca quickly swimming in the opposite direction to us and unnoticed by any of the other whale watch boats. Capt. Craig once again initiated a slick u-turn and we played catch-up and watched as what turned out to be two orcas with a group of four more behind cruised between us and Henry Island.
With no other boats in our immediate vicinity, we had found the leaders in this orcas experience and we were perfectly situated to watch them all swim by, group after group. J1 “Ruffles”, J2 “Granny”, K42 “Kelp”, K14 “Lea”, K11 “Georgia”, K26 “Lobo”, J27 “Blackberry” and many more. There was baby breaching, adult breaching, tail and pectoral fin slapping and two huge cartwheels just as we left the area. The orcas were absolutely beautiful and our guests had a wonderful time on the water.
So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris, to all of you who love the black-and-whites, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
Tags: friday harbor, Haro Strait, henry island, orca whales, San Juan Channel, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Turn Island
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Friday, September 11th, 2009
After what appeared to be the start of fall and winter, we are now back to the September weather that we are all so fond of. September really is the best month to see the islands and today was a perfect example of that.
I welcomed a lovely group of guests onto the M/V Kittiwake this afternoon and we headed off on our tour. The orcas were at the south end and west side of San Juan Island today, so it was difficult to decide where to go. Capt. Bill did a fabulous job though, and after taking us up San Juan Channel, past Spieden Island and through John’s Pass, we arrived at Turn Point on Stuart Island just in time to see the orcas shoot off of it and out into Boundary Pass. They were in a rambunctious mood today too.
The orcas were traveling in two large main groups that were closely packed together with 30-40 animals in the area. They swam at a fast clip, but spent a bit of time tail slapping and lobbing as well as breaching. Especially, near a research boat that was taking breath samples, so it was motoring right alongside the whales. There was definitely a lot of high energy and it must have translated to the other species, since four Dall’s porpoises shot past our boat leaving rooster tails behind them. They headed north and after several hundred yards dipped down and disappeared.
The orcas though, continued on across Boundary Pass and up Swanson Channel past North Pender Island. We watched as long as we could, but we finally had to say goodbye to the orcas and Canada and get headed back home. Along the way we stopped to see harbor seals at Ripple Rocks and a lone bald eagle on one of the Cactus Islands. The day was warm and sunny and perfect and I am so glad that I have taken the opportunity to live this life.
So, from all of us here at San Juan Safaris, to all of you travel bugs out there, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
Tags: Boundary Pass, Cactus Islands, Dall\'s Porpoise, Harbor Seal, John\'s Pass, Orca whale, Pender islands, San Juan Channel, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Spieden Island, Stuart Island, Turn Point
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Saturday, September 5th, 2009
Some days are just not like the others and sometimes the orcas do things that we just can not predict. Yesterday, members of K and L pods swam up San Juan Channel between San Juan and Lopez Islands. That was only the second time this season that they have done that, and we were there to see it. They made it all the way to Friday Harbor before they turned around and headed back south. It was a lovely, mostly clear day and with the orcas traveling in two large, close groups it was easy to both see and hear them.
One of our young guests has had an adoption of “Moonlight” for a couple of years and he was anxious to see her. With so many animals around it was hard to tell at times which individuals were there, but he and I were both pretty sure that we saw her family. There was also “Flash”, “Saanich”, “Raggedy”, “Cappuccino”, “Ino” and many, many more.
It was a unique and interesting opportunity to see these animals right in and amongst our islands. No one can say why they choose to come through here, or why they usually do not. There is salmon in the area, as evidenced by the seals and sea lions that we see feeding on them. Even yesterday, in a little cove on Sentinel Island, there was a young harbor seal with a huge fish and lots of seagulls around begging for scraps. So food is available, but whether it is not plentiful enough, or if there is too much boat traffic it is hard to say what directs the orcas’ paths to the outer channels and straits. Luckily for us and our guests on the M/V Kittiwake though, the orcas chose a different path this time and we were there to witness it.
So, from Capt. Craig, me and all of the crew at San Juan Safaris, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
Tags: Harbor Seal, Lopez Island, Orca whale, Salmon, San Juan Channel, san juan island, San Juan Safaris, Sentinel Island
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Wednesday, August 5th, 2009
Not all black and white creatures are created the same, as well we know. No one would mistake a zebra for an orca. But someone might mistake a Dall’s porpoise for an orca. Especially if the orca is expected and the Dall’s porpoise is not.
That was not exactly what happened tonight, but it was a surprise none the less. Capt. Denny and I knew we would probably not see orcas, unless we were to happen upon some transients. The last thing we anticipated though, was to see Dall’s porpoises in San Juan Channel near Cattle Pass. What a shock to see black-and-whites that were not orcas. Especially since the Dall’s have been mysteriously missing this season. There have been very few sightings, least of all in Cattle Pass.
Well, we quick turned around and cruised in circles until the porpoises hooked on to the boat. They rode the bow and splashed through the wake. Famous for the rooster tails that they spray from their dorsal fins when swimming at high speed, they left trails as they careened around the MV Kittiwake. When we shut down our motor and just drifted with the current, the porpoises continued to circle and dive under the boat. They slowly calmed down, until we could follow their bold black and white markings under the water and see where they were going to come up for a breath each time. They surfaced time and again next to the boat and at the stern and we could hear them blow each time. The experience was beautiful and moving and was definitely one of the highlights of the season.
Of course, the other wildlife not wanting to be outdone, a bald eagle dropped into the water near our boat and grabbed a large fish, which he then devoured on the rocks in front of us. The evening just hummed with wild lives and we were allowed to share in it. So, from all of us at San Juan Safaris to all of you memory makers out there, thank you and we will…
See You In The Islands!
~Tristen, Naturalist
Orca Whales and Wildlife Are Our Only Business. ©
Tags: Bald Eagle, Cattle Pass, Dall\'s Porpoise, San Juan Channel, san juan island, San Juan Safaris
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