Let’s see…it’s Saturday on Labor Day weekend, which means the island is buzzing a little bit more than usual. Restaurants start to require reservations, ferries require a longer wait time, and we get to take more folks out on our boats! This buzz creates a wonderful atmosphere, since folks flock here to celebrate the end of summer and are in the mood to soak up the sun and enjoy themselves. And, as it turns out, it wasn’t just humans that wanted to congregate here this weekend! Some of our Southern Residents decided to head over to the west side of San Juan Island last night, which means that we had a chance to hang out with Group A of J-pod and the K13’s today on our 1:30 whale watch on the M/V Sea Lion.
These are incredibly special animals that play a huge role in the culture and community of this area. The Southern Residents frequent the inland waters of Washington throughout the summer as they head here to forage for their number one food of choice, the Chinook salmon. Unfortunately, we’ve noticed that our salmon numbers are remarkably low this year. Low salmon is not great news for our Residents, because this is the sole staple of their diet. We’re trying to understand ways to improve our salmon populations and strengthen this beautiful, diverse marine ecosystem from the bottom up. Happy fish means happy orcas! So, as Sea Lion headed north to meet up with the Residents, we were reminded again how important it is that we never take these beautiful animals, and our chance to watch them in their natural habitat, for granted.
Through San Juan Channel we went, basking in beautiful views of San Juan Island, Shaw, Orcas, Spieden, John’s, and Stuart (along with many, many others!). We had a chance to cruise through John’s Pass before moving towards Turn Point, where we came around the most northwestern point of the United States (how cool is that?) and caught sight of our killer whale friends! Granny, as is fitting, was leading the pod, and the first thing she did when she passed Turn Point was spyhop. It almost looked like she was trying to decide which way she wanted to travel with her pod! Up Boundary Pass? To Active Pass? Granny dipped back under the surface, slapped her tail on the water, and made her decision to head north towards the Pender Islands. The rest of Group A of J-pod was hot on her trail, with Onyx gliding through the water nearby. Granny’s subgroup passed us and was soon followed by the J16’s. It was wonderful to see Mike, his sisters, and mom Slick – just a regular orca family enjoying each other’s company. We watched the rest of this group move on, and then idled over to watch the K13’s, traveling gracefully a few miles from their Jpod counterparts. All in all, we saw over 20 killer whales today, all with the backdrop of the beautiful Salish Sea, San Juan Islands, and Canadian Gulf Islands. Does it get any better than this?
Well, not in my book! Thank you to our Southern Residents for paying us a visit on this beautiful Labor Day Weekend.