Maxx | M/V Kestrel | September 5th 2024 | 2:00pm
September is without a doubt my favorite month to transit through the Salish sea; the lighting is perfect, town has mellowed out a bit, and certain frequent flier whales make their way back to the region for a visit.
The T018s seem to love the shoulder season here. With a range anywhere from SE Alaska straight down to Northern California, Bigg’s killer whales could theoretically be seen all throughout the year in this region. However, they don’t seem to have a traditional migration pattern like their much larger baleen cousins, Humpback and Grey whales that only summer here. It seems instead that different families have different preferences. I like to think of their travels as family vacations. Some families seem to enjoy mid-summer here in the San Juans. Some like to come in the fall. The T018s seem privy to September.
When we found them they were milling in South Rosario, hugging Blakely’s shoreline and slowly making moves to a seal haul out at the mouth of Peavine Pass. The moved cryptically, slowly surfacing and suddenly surrounding the island as startled Harbor seals jolted into the safety of the bull kelp forests that surrounded the small island. The milled there for a moment before carrying on, continuing northbound along the east coast of Orcas island. We trailed alongside them for a while before continuing across the strait to the east as rumors of a new whale sighting called over our radios: a Humpback whale.
Humpbacks visit this region to feed so most of their acrobatics happen under the water as they spiral and lunge feed for schooling fish and krill. This whale however had ample energy and breached almost immediately upon our arrival. I can probably count on two hands the number of times I’ve seen Humpbacks breach up here in my four summers working as a naturalist up here so needless to say, I was stoked! Like with the Bigg’s, we viewed the 40-ton whale as it carried on for several minutes before breaking away, swiftly racing back to Friday Harbor where we completed our tour.