Laura / M/V Kestrel / 5/17/2022 / 2:00PM
Today was an outstanding whale day on M/V Kestrel! We left the dock headed north with a rumor of Bigg’s killer whales near South Pender Island. The seas were beautiful, and we had a fun ride past Boundary Pass and into Canadian waters. On the way to these orcas a passenger spotted a distant blow in the area northwest of Gooch and Comet Island! We immediately went over to check it out and arrived just in time to find Big Mama and her breaching calf! The calf was quite playful, making tail breaches and flipper breaches and continuously rolling around on the surface! This calf has been noted to be a male and is only a few months old, born at the beginning of the year in Hawaiian waters. Big Mama has reared seven calves so far and it is always such an exuberating experience to see a playful calf in these waters. Hopefully this is an indication that the Salish Sea will host a lot more upcoming humpback whale calves!
After we said goodbye to Big Mama and her new baby, we continued north in Swanson Channel to check out the T65Bs, three Bigg’s killer whales! Passengers had a great time viewing these whales as they slowly traveled through the water. It is one of my favorite experiences to shut off our engines and just listen to them all surface as they pass by our boat. The matriarch, “Chunk”, or T65B, was named after a piece or “chunk” of her dorsal that is missing towards the bottom of her dorsal fin. “Birdsall”, or T65B1, is her son born in 2011, and named after a researcher in this area. And then there is “Nettle”, or T65B2, her latest offspring just born in 2019. After this incredible experience, we took a very scenic route back to Friday Harbor, passing through the Cactus Islands to admire foraging harbor seals in nearby kelp beds, and bald eagles positioned by a visible nest in the tall trees. We even had time to check out Steller sea lions hauled out on Green Point on the south side of Spieden Island! These sea lions were quite active today and everyone enjoyed hearing their vocalizations and “roars” as some large males showed their rowdy side with one another, fighting over prime rock positions. It was such a fun and exciting trip, and it was so nice getting to spend the day viewing this diverse ecosystem!