Leaving the harbor aboard M/V Sea Lion Captain Pete, naturalist Alexandria and myself were excited to get out on the water and see what orcas were hanging around East Point! We had received a report of transient orcas up that way earlier and I️ was eager to see them after about two weeks of focusing on the resident orca pods. We decided to head up the San Juan Channel and into Boundary Pass getting the beautiful views of the Canadian Gulf Islands on one side and the Northern islands of San Juan on the other side. The day was warm along with the winds and the waters were calm.
As we approached East Point off Saturna Island, we could see some boats in the distance slowly heading into the Strait of Georgia. Keeping our eyes on these boats, we quickly saw the black dorsals break through the water! Wow, I could see it was two big bulls but was not close enough to see who it was yet.. Later, as we came closer to them, we also spotted two female dorsals breaking through the water and staying very close to the males. We were able to get some really great surfacing off our starboard side and able to identify this family as the T18s! This day was special for me because it had been two years since I had seen them. One of my favorite orcas T19B is in this group and his dorsal fin is one of the most distinct- completely leaning to the left, wide, and being very curved at the top. He’s such a big guy already and only about 22 years old!! We watched this family for quite a while heading up the Strait of Georgia and even got mugged by them out of nowhere! As we were waiting for them to surface again, taking long dives, they surfaced feet away from us along our starboard side and everyone was screaming of joy and excitement!!
I went into the wheelhouse to check on Captain Pete, he had a huge surprise for us- The residents were not too far off, rounding Pato’s Island and heading into Boundary Pass! No wonder the transients were quickly moving away, they didn’t want to be around the residents ;) Pulling off from the transients we headed down Boundary Pass and could see many breaches and tail slaps from the resident orcas in the distance! Earlier reports had said it was L-pod but I was also able to spot some J-pod members, so there must have been 20+ whales coming our way! The wind started to pick up a bit and we had to head home soon but waited and watched the residents start to go down Boundary Pass. We then decided to cut behind the whales, still seeing spouts and dorsal fins in the distance, and take Presidents Channel home.
Mariana, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris