Gabe and I were ready to take off on a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon. We had a half full boat and the guests were enjoying the warm breeze and bright view of the islands as we headed up the San Juan Channel. We had been with a group of transient orcas, who have been hanging around the islands for the past month or so, all day and now we were headed out to catch up to them again. They had traveled all the way from South end of Lopez and up past Waldron Island in just a few hours we had in between shifts. We were excited to see these guys again and observe their behavior. This group has a very young calf and the guests are always excited to see him or her, since it is too early to know what gender the orca is. As we headed up President's Channel we got a report that they were moving fast hugging the shore of Waldron. We got on scene with just one more boat on site and the setting was so peaceful. We were eager to see some spouts and dorsal. As we patiently waited for them to come up for air, we were observing the interesting geology of Waldron Island and Mt. Baker in the distance. Suddenly we spotted the teenage male dorsal, with a very distinct notch, come up for air not too far from the boat. As we waited to spot the rest of the group, we just kept seeing the male surface over and over. Gabe and I started looking around to see if maybe the rest of the group was ahead as they were showing this same behavior earlier that day. Far in the distance about 300 yards from the male, the rest of the group of 5 individuals surfaced. This group was staying close together but taking deep dives. As we stayed with them for about half an hour, they stayed spread out from the teenage male as he always followed behind. We were peacefully watching their travel and forage pattern as the other boat radioed us to tell us there was many harbor porpoise hanging out off to their side, one of transient orcas' main food source! We were hoping that maybe they would toss one of them in the air and show off their hunting skills! Although we never saw a harbor porpoise in the air, we did get to see the male unexpectedly surface right next to our boat and surprise everybody. The family seemed to go right under our boat and make their way East showing us spouts and dorsal with a stunning background of Mt. Baker!
Mariana, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris