[Naturalist Sarah – 06/12/2018 – M/V Kestrel – 10:00am]
The whale watching has been great lately! We are entering what local naturalists are calling the “new normal.” The diversity of our ecosystem is shifting, and we are seeing that reflected most notably in our local orca populations. With a drop in our local salmon population we are seeing less and less of our Southern Resident killer whales in our inland waterways. Traditionally we expect to see members of J, K & L Pods from about May through September fishing throughout our straits. This year, with a spike in our marine mammal population, most notably harbor seals, we are seeing many matrilines of Bigg’s killer whales taking up residence in our waterways. This May was the first in research history that the Southern Resident killer whales did not make an appearance in the Salish Sea. We waited nine long weeks between sightings for the Resident ecotype to return to our inland waters from their open water foray… we were rewarded for our patience on Monday with their return to the Westside of San Juan Island. Late Monday night, these fish-eating whales were last spotted far north heading towards Vancouver in the Strait of Georgia.
For our morning trip on Tuesday, Captain Brian and I took our small group of M/V Kestrel guests North towards Presidents Channel between Orcas and Waldron Islands, to an early rumor of orcas travelling south. I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes hoping for another glimpse of Southern Residents. As we arrived on scene I noticed the familiar rounded dorsal fins and open saddle patches, that have been far too absent for comfort in my life recently… members of J Pod. We found ourselves surrounded by members of the J17 matriline. It was especially good to see J46 “Star” traveling with her family after the difficult loss of her mother J28 “Polaris” and J54 “Dipper” two summers ago. We watched as the whales shot around Green Point on Spieden Island and skirted the north side of San Juan Island. We got a call that the other half of J Pod had been acquired in Boundary Pass, also traveling south. The two groups of related whales started moving in a northerly direction up Swanson Channel, paralleling each others directional change even though they were miles apart. We caped off our orca encounter by getting a great look at J27 “Blackberry” a full grown, and very impressive, adult male.
On our way back towards Friday Harbor from the orcas, we got a report for some humpback whales in the area! How can you pass up a chance to see a second species of whale? We got a chance to check out a pair of the giant animals as they hugged the Stuart Island shoreline, fluking up and diving after great breath successions.