Erick | Kestrel | 2:00PM | August 28, 2020
As August comes to a close, we have had a couple of great weather days. Captain Gabe and I took a great group of guests out to look for exciting wildlife in the Salish Sea. We headed north where there was a group of orcas spotted. We met up with them around White Rock near Flattop Island. It was a family of Bigg’s (formerly known as Transient) Orcas! This family was the T37A’s! This is a great family with five members. As they approached White Rock they started to change their behavior. They started to hunt around the rock. A lot of Harbor Seals hang out around these rocks and seals are one of the favorite foods of these orcas. The family quickly split up and implemented their strategy to surround and shallower area filled with sparse Bull Kelp and caught a seal there! When families catch prey they always share it so all family members from the young 5-year-old to mom got some seal. After the meal this type of orcas often socializes. We saw a lot of that as they tail slapped, swam upside down, and even breached! The two youngest orcas took turns riding on their other family members faces. We could see them being pushed around with their bellies and pectoral fins up towards the sky. It is always super exciting to see orcas, but it is even more exciting when we get to see them socialize with each other like this. We were waiting to hand the group off to another whale-watching boat that was coming so we had the opportunity to stay with this group for a long while. The young ones continued to play with each other as the family traveled north to their next destination. After that we went around Turn Point, the last point in the U.S. before you cross into Canada. There is a lighthouse and a beautiful cliff here. We next headed to Spieden Island where we saw Harbor Seals, Bald Eagles, and some of the exotic game that has been left on the island from when it was an exotic game hunting ranch. What another amazing day here!
Stay whale, folks
Erick