[Naturalist Sarah – 10/24/2017 – M/V Sea Lion – 12:00]
Today felt more like a summer day than a late October departure! With clear blue skies and a great group of guests Captain Brian and I were excited to explore the Salish Sea on the search for whales.
Leaving the harbor we elected to head north towards the Canadian Gulf Islands. Unusually for this time of year we had a report of killer whales before leaving the dock. There had been vocalizations on the hydrophone reported in the early hours of the morning, and a few boats within our spotting network, the Pacific Whale Watch Association, had headed out early to try to find the orcas!
We tried to drive as quickly north as we could to try to catch up to the killer whales. Upon arrival to Active Pass in British Columbia, we encountered a group of five orcas who had just flipped around to lazily head back south. Checking out their dorsal fins and saddlepatch markings, Brian and I quickly realized that we had members of our Southern Resident Killer Whale population! The familiar fins of L54 “Ino” and her two sons, L108 “Coho” and L117 “Keta,” were so nice to see along with the two adult males L54 has adopted, L88 “Wavewalker” and L84 “Nyssa.” The L54 matriline is considered to be our most rare family in this unique population of killer whales. Typically the female and her posse tend to travel away from the rest of L Pod, and often only make one to three trips into the inland waters each year. This was the first time I had seen them all season!
The whales were socializing and slowly making their way south back down Swanson Channel towards the San Juan Islands. We got to see a number of awesome surface behaviors including tail slaps, pectoral slaps, and even a small breach from L84 “Nyssa.” Dropping the hydrophone into the water, surprisingly there were very few vocalizations given the social behavior above the water. We had a great encounter with the orcas before peeling away to try to find more wildlife. We got great looks at some harbor seals and passing glimpses and bald eagles as well as harbor porpoise!
Please enjoy some photos from the day!
See all 7 photos
