We lucked out with some amazing action from the T37’s on Sept 12.

Sept 8

We rushed the middle of the islands for an early report of orcas heading south from Friday Harbor. The hope was to catch them before they headed into rough seas in the strait. When we arrived, we lucked out with them switching direction and heading east right towards us!

 

The T19s and T49As were in a resting and traveling pattern off and on for a large portion of our viewing. Right at the very end, they caught a harbor porpoise and celebrated under our boat! With our engines off, we watched them tail slap and gather together off our stern while they finished their meal.

 

T019 – Esperanza

T019B – Galana

T019C – Spouter

T049A – Nan

T049A3 – Nat

T049A4 – Neptune

T049A5 – Nebula

T049A6 – Charle Chin

 

Sept 9

 

Incredibly quiet and peaceful day on the water today. The water was glass calm and the overcast weather added to a cozy quiet effect as we found ourselves out on Rosario Strait with no other boats in sight.

 

We had our standard stops at Viti and the Sinclair buoy for harbor seals and steller sea lions and then decided to head north to stay out of the fog, Cptn Cassidy made the right call, because the T35As were picked up at Clements Reef near Sucia.

 

The T35As were a little squirrely to watch when we first got on scene, with a lot of spread and direction changes.

 

They eventually settled into a northwest travel and we were able to see them for a pretty long time!

 

T035A – Lester

T35A3 – Garnet

T35A1 – Opal

T35A4 – 2022 Calf

T35A2 – Topaz

Sept 12

 

We had a jam packed day today! Holy cow! We Started traveling with a

group of whales in Guemes Channel, 10 of them to be exact. This group had the T101’s, T100’s, and T37As. At first they were just traveling, but then their behavior changed drastically. It started with an

amazing spyhop, then it just amplified from there, with breaches, tail waves, Peduncle throws, and swimming on their backs!!

 

It was just magnificent. Once we left this group, we headed south towards Bird Rocks, and we met up with another 13 whales! This group included the 137s, T36S, T124As, and T124s. We hung out with these guys and got to get up close to a few that were curious about our boat.

 

On our way home we also got a few good looks at a humpback! It was really the icing on the cake. We had so many whales, so close to home. Twas a great day!

 

Sept 14

 

As soon as we left the dock today, we knew we were making a long-haul south. It took us a couple hours to get there, but we ended up in Admiralty Inlet with the T46s, and T65As. When we got on scene, the whales were surfing the wake of a container ship.

 

The T46s have two males that are very easy to tell apart because of their dorsal fins. One of the brothers, Thor, kept giving us really good looks at his face and eye patches. Strider is also fun, because he has very distinct notches at the top of his dorsel. These whales got curious about our boat and made a close pass. We were able to see all their nicks and notches with the naked eye!

 

They also passed by 3 large stellers on a navigation marker, but decided that they didn’t want to make them an afternoon meal.