Fog, Steller Sea Lions and a Squirrley Family of Bigg’s Killer Whales
Maxx K. | M/V Sea Lion | 03/29/2022 | 12:30pm
Today’s tour was wild. Sea Lion pulled out of Friday Harbor and veered south. Whale watching runs on rumors. Someone thinks they might have seen a blow on the horizon. They tell a friend. The friend tells a friend and before you know it we can confirm a congregation of five killer whales slowly making their way along the southern banks of Lopez island.
Naturally we had to stop to check out the dozens of massive steller sea lions that rested on whale rocks. I swear, I saw the biggest sea lion I’ve ever seen today. This besty boy must have been twelve feet long and weighed over 2,000 lbs, if not easily more. And he was just lounging. Smaller Stellers argued all around him, yet he was content; confident he was the biggest male there, unbothered by the puny 1,500 pounders that he allowed to share his rock. After admiring him we continued on, wrapping around Lopez until we were in the presence of Orcas.
I had never met this particular group of whales before! We love meeting a new family: T030B (Lyra), T030B1 (Vega), T030B2 (Capella) passed on our right, accompanied by T117B and T172 (Katmai). Now, we’re not sure of the relationship between the T030Bs and their two fellow travelers but I like to imagine that they were long time buddies, catching up on a wee cross-salish vacation.
We paralleled them as they turned back around Lopez Island and with a sharp 90 degree turn they turned out towards the open Juan De Fuca, directly into a massive fog bank.
Now I think anyone would agree, Killer whales are amazing to look at any time. I will say though, when trapped in an intense fog, when there’s no horizon line, just grey above, below and all around you, and it feels like you're drifting through a cloud. Suddenly a dark black torpedo breaks into your view, appearing out of nowhere, then another, then another. It’s absolutely magical, like something out of a surreal dream.
We followed them into the fog when suddenly their behavior changed. They began taking increasingly long dives, perhaps foraging for seals or sea lions along Salmon Bank. We moved at a slow, steady pace waiting with baited breath until after several minutes they would appear off our starboard. Then again off our port. We stopped, allowing ourselves to drift through the clouds before they surfaced once more, this time right in front of Sea Lion. We left them there, before making our way out of the gray mist and into the maze of lush green islands.