Incredible shots from Betsy Stewart and her Sony A1 w/ 200-600 lens on 6/22/24

June 16

Reports on whales were super fast this morning and incredibly close to port. We made a slow journey by Viti Rocks and Peapod Rocks during lunch to give us a little time. Lots of bald eagle activity today, scaring all of the marine birds off their nests.

When we wrapped up lunch, we joined the reported fleet just north of Barnes and Clark Islands to watch 6-7 whales very spread out over Rosario Strait. We were only able to ID one whale as T037B1 – Lance.

A young whale was quite active, with a lot of proposing behavior, but quite erratic. We split our time with several whales because they were so spread out. The other group we watched had many close surfacings and came up together as a group.

One boat shared over the radio the vocalizations happening under the water through the Hydrophone! We were able to listen for several minutes over the microphone.

 

June 17

Our first stop was Viti Rocks this morning where we saw harbor seals and so many eagles. It was the most eagles I’ve seen there. There were at least 10 of them. The harbor seals didn’t mind, but the marine birds were not too happy.

We caught up with the T99s that were milling and staying in one spot. They must’ve been prey sharing, because we saw some celebratory activity shortly after, that included a couple of spy hops and some tail action!

After being with them for about 40 minutes, we went to go look at a gray whale at Alden Bank. These were the best looks at a gray whale I have ever seen. We even got a couple of tail flukes! On our way back, there were sightings of orcas near Eliza so we went to scope out the area, and we found another gray whale!

We watched it for about 20 minutes and then turned back to go home, but then Cassidy found the T46B’s. There were Some one year old calves with them that were porpoising, and one did a a baby spy hop!

Four different sets of whales in one day, a first for naturalist Emily.

 

June 18

We saw the T99’s off the westside of Lummi pretty early in the day.

We stayed with them for a while, getting to see their eye spots and saddle patches pretty clearly.

A bit later we saw the T46B’s on the west side of Orcas. They were pretty spread out, popping up all around the boat. As we were leaving, 2 orcas came up right in front of the bow, just a foot or so away.

As they swam by next to the boat, we could see them underwater as they rolled on their sides.

 

June 19

Today we went up North towards Patos island. We were with the T36As and a lone male T49C. When we got there, they were right in front of the Patos lighthouse. They were showing some pretty exciting behaviors. So many tail slaps, some pec fin and tail waves, etc. They showed a behavior that naturalist Emily hadn’t witnessed yet. Three of them were in a line, with just the tip of their faces pointing out! Eventually it turned into a spy hop. Adorable action from these orcas.

We also saw some Steller sea lions, and lots of harbor seals. They were all snoozing. To top it all off, the weather was amazing! Truly fest like summer.

 

June 20

We watched a Bald Eagle chase all of the nesting marine birds off Viti rocks today.

T036A’s and T051 were out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca cruising east at 7- 9 knots. We spent quite a bit of time with them today, watching them porpoise out of the water at fast speeds.

We were able to watch the whales for about an hour.

On our bird cruise, right at the start we saw a Tufted Puffin in Bellingham Bay! A very rare sight, as we almost always head way south to Smith Island to see them. Once at Smith Island though, we saw more Tufteds and even the illusive Horned puffin! We saw some Rhinoceros Auklets too. On our way back we spent time with the T46’s, T31A’s and and T51 orcas, a great way to round out an excellent day of wildlife.

 

June 21

We had to go quickly due west out to Salt Spring Island in Canada to catch up with Biggs sightings, but the voyage was definitely worth it.

There were quite a few together we didn’t get ID’s on, but they had a large male with them that may have been T51.

They really put on a show for us. We saw multiple breaches, a few spy hops, and lots of tail slaps. Everyone was very excited. The whales must’ve scored an excellent catch.

 

June 22

We made our first stop at Viti Rocks where we saw quite a few seals, and a Bald eagle. Right after we stopped by a navigational marker that had a few sea lions hauled out.

We headed toward the south of Shaw by Lopez, where we saw humpbacks Split Fin & Valiant. We spent an hour with them and got some great views of their backs and tails. Everyone loved Valiant’s stories accompanying his scars.

Then we made our way over to Upright Head where we saw a 2 year old calf that has been hanging out in some unusual places. It was seen in Deception Pass yesterday.

We made our last stop at Eliza where we saw a lot of harbor seal heads poking out of the water.

 

June 23

Right as we started serving lunch, Captain Casey and Naturalist Tabitha saw a spout in the distance. We slowed, but it still took us a while to find them. Eventually the T37’s showed up near Lummi Island. They were going for lots of deep dives and was hard to track them at first, but eventually the came up more consistently, and we found out the they were with the T34’s. We got to see a spy hop too!

We spent about an hour with them, before we headed over to Obstruction Point where there had been reports of 10 orcas. We found the T65’B’s and T123’s and spent an hour with them too. One of the males came up close to the boat giving us great views.

On the way home the T37’s & 34’s popped up again in Bellingham Bay, but they were doing deep dives, so we headed home after 20 minutes.