Kelly | M/V Kestrel | September 6th | 2:00PM
Captain Eric and I left the harbor with so much excitement for the trip ahead! A group of 8 whales was discovered off the coast of Orcas Island heading east. We started the tour with one big loop-de-loop around Shaw Island, Stopping for some adorable harbor Seals along the way. We started to slow the vessel around the mouth of Deer Harbor. Almost instantly after lowering our speed, SPLASH! In the distance along the the shoreline, a large male killer whale had partially breached out of the water, slamming his 8 ton body back down on the surface. Other dorsal fins slowly appeared... after a quick count there were in fact all 8 whales present. This included two different family groups:
T18s
- T19 "Nootka" 1965 (est) F
- T19B "Galiano" 1995 M
- T19C "Spouter 2001 M
T49A's
- T49A "Nan" 1986 F
- T49A3 "Nat" 2011 M
- T49A4 "Neptune" 2014 F
- T49A5 "Nebula" 2017 F
- T49A6 "Charlie II" 2022
The group of whales continued to cross the mouth of the harbor. After a long dive, they surfaced right on the shoreline of Fawn Island (a small island just outside the harbor). Guests were amazed at their close proximity to the shore. This is a common behavior associated with our Biggs killer whales. They patrol the shoreline in search of their favorite Salish Sea snack, harbor seals. Soon after group swam off the Fawn Island shoreline and back over to Orcas Island, the party really began! Countless tail slaps, tail lobs and and breaches. Every time we thought they were calming down...another breach! To me, this behavior appeared to be social play or perhaps an after meal celebration.
We peeled off from watching this energetic family to view some other local wildlife on Spieden island. Spieden is FILLED with non native species such a mouflon sheep, sika deer and fallow deer. All three species were present today as we cruised down the southwest facing side. On our way back to the harbor we had time for some final looks at the T18s and T49a's. This time, the whales were resting. Slowly surfacing all at once, side by side. Beautiful end to an exciting Adventure tour.