The T36A’s on 7/17: led by T36A Leland with offspring: Kailas, Storm, & Squall; off Clark & Barns.
by Lincoln Humphry
July 14
We headed out on the water today for some reports of whales way up north into Canadian waters. We had a bit of a rough start with some big waves getting out of Rosario Strait, but once we made it into the leeward side of the islands, we had much better protection from the winds, and it became smooth sailing.
It was a long journey up north, but got beautiful views into the Canadian mainland and Gulf Islands. Travelling through Plumper Sound by Saturn Island and into Active Pass, we got a close up look at a harbor seal haul-out, with a bunch of new little babies on the rocks! We passed by the BC ferries, and were keeping our eyes out for a humpback reported in the area, but came across 3 pods of orcas in a T-party instead!
Our time watching orcas in Active Pass and the Strait of Georgia was full of lots of tail slaps and upside-down swimming. We saw the bellies of several of the orcas, just barely underneath the water, while they were busy splashing the surface with their tails. We got a great look at the difference between males and females, with the overall size and curl of the male tails being incredibly impressive. We were out with the T36As, T123s and T37As, with Stanley, and Inky being the big males.
As we left the scene, we actually stumbled on a fourth group of orcas heading to join the rest of them, only about 10 minutes away! These whales were moving incredibly fast, going faster than we could in our boat. They were full body, porpoising out of the water, which again gave us such a great look at the body size difference, because this group had a huge male in it as well! The T65Bs were this group, with Birdsall the big, identifiable male.
While we started out with some wind waves this morning, it turned into a beautiful day, with a super success, seeing 14 different whales!
July 15th
Early reports had us heading up North to find orcas that were reported off Point Migley on the North side of Lummi. Unfortunately, no one was able to find these elusive whales today, so we cruised further North, hoping they’d be out and about following the flood tide out towards the Strait of Georgia and Boundary Pass. As we made our way up there though, the weather and waves started to look a little spicy toward the Canadian side of the sea, so we turned our way down past Waldron and Spieden Islands to see what we could find in calmer waters.
Spieden was lovely today, with several Japanese Sika deer sitting out resting in the sun. We also saw a Bald Eagle sitting close down to the waterline, possibly nibbling on a catch! Beautiful, calm waters on this side of the archipelago today, leading us to Middle Bank on the south side of San Juan Island. Here we came across a very beloved humpback, Yogi, out eating! We saw many profile views, and his exhalation was so clear across the skyline, we could see him from over a nautical mile away. Yogi gets his name from the birth mark on his tail fluke that looks like the profile of a cartoon bear wearing sunglasses! We got some pretty clear looks at that lovely tail fluke before making our way through the middle of the islands on our way home, where we stopped to look at sea lions fighting in the water off whale rocks. Overall, we travelled 85 nautical miles today, and it was worth it.
July 16th
There were no early reports for whales this morning, so we made our way off the dock with the intention to scan Rosario Strait and then make our way through the middle of the islands. By the afternoon, we were out by Spieden island and still scanning hard for wildlife. We saw many harbor porpoise and some bald eagles as we made our way further out into western waters.
A report from BC ferries of potential killer whales had us making our way out towards Canadian waters in an effort to pick them up. We were successful! Crew were helping to look for wildlife around all sides of the boat today, and our deckhand spotted them off the shore of North Pender Island!
We watched the T65Bs with T37A1, a total of 6 whales today with matriarch Chunk, and her son Birdsall leading the way. There were awesome views of them with Mount Baker in the background and the Turn Point lighthouse. The whales were busy resting while we were with them, so there was a lot of slow movement but plenty of surface time.
On our way back home, we stopped at Skipjack to see some harbor seals hauled out on the rocks, and then weaved our ways through the Sucia fingers for some good looks at bonapartes gulls and pigeon guillemots. On the final leg of our journey, there were 3 sleepy steller sea lions on the point migley buoy to look at! After 80 nautical miles today, it was a lovely and calm trip.
July 17
What a whale of a day! The sun was shining and the glisten of the water was mesmerizing. Nearly no wind and perfect conditions for an adventure. Not knowing where the wind (and whales) would take us, we opted to head through the heart of the San Juans. Lucky for us, some reports started coming in to the North. We ventured up towards Barnes and Clark islands to behold the beautiful pod of orca whales!
Specifically the T36A’s led by T36A, Leland, and her three off spring T36A2, Kailas, T36A3, Storm otherwise known as Mike III, and T36A5, Squall. We caught up with them on the East side of Clark Island making some large circles indicating they were maybe looking for some food. We had a great close pass where the whales swam directly under our boat as we were in neutral and just drifting until they were the appropriate 200 yds away. This pod was very consistent with their directionality which made for great looks at their dorsals, saddle and eye patches. They nearly circumnavigated Barnes and Clark, but pushed off heading Northwest towards the east side of Orcas Island.
As we departed this beautiful pod, we headed south in Rosario Strait. We checked out Peapod Rocks with some great looks at hundreds of harbor seals hauled out. So fun to see the differences in their fur colorations. Heading home we were lucky to see some Steller sea lions fighting for real estate up on a channel marker. One got pushed off a few times before settling in for a good nap. Hopefully all the passengers only got mildly sun-kissed today as the UV rays were intense, but nonetheless, a spectacular day in the Salish Sea.
July 18
What a squeal worthy day! With some liquid sunshine coming down in the morning, it did not deter us from finding some whales today. And thankfully the weather let up a bit too as we got into our adventure. With only a few reports coming in as we were leaving the dock we ventured between Eliza and Lummi Islands. Coming around the south side of Lummi, some good news came in of orcas at Patos Island heading Southeast. We booked it north as wind was going to pick up in the afternoon.
What a show we got. It did require some whale patience, but we got to spend so much time in one of my favorite spots out here, Sucia Island! As we got on scene, we managed to ID the T123’s and the T75B’s. The whales took us from the East side to the South side, and they even decided to do some hunting between the “fingers” (long thin peninsulas) at Sucia. In my 9 years on the water, I’ve never seen Biggs swim between the fingers! It was amazing to watch them swim in and out and back in and back out. While the two pods were swimming through the fingers, they split up and went their own ways.
A little hard to keep track of them at times, but an amazing display of their mobility in the water. We took a small break taking a peak at Echo Bay for the T75B’s to follow us in! We quickly maneuvered to give the whales plenty of space. Unfortunately for some harbor seals hauled out, having a relaxing afternoon, they were about to upend their day. Two members of the pod got right up next to shore, splashing and causing a ruckus trying to get the seals to jump into the water.
An interesting fact about seals, they are much more comfortable in the water than on land, so to the whales’ benefit, many of them did flee into the water, potentially to their doom. We saw direction changes, splashing, cartwheels, bellies, flukes, a spy-hop and even some porpoising behaviors from this pod. It was outstanding! While we didn’t see any water change colors, it’s safe to assume they caught at least one seal, if not more. We were so fortunate to be able to spend so much time with these whales, so close to home on a beautiful day.
July 20
What a beautiful day on the water! We headed out with high hopes with some good reports coming from the heart of the San Juans. We made our way into the bay making our first pit stop at Viti Rocks. Many harbor seals hauled out, thermoregulating. Lots of pigeon guillemots, double crested cormorants and gulls. From there we cruised by one of the Sinclair Island buoys, and we saw the largest male Stellar sea lion I have seen in a long time. At first I thought it was two, nope just one hunk of a lion taking a sweet sun nap, so relaxed he even had his tongue sticking out.
We made our way through Obstruction Pass which is always a fun slow down. As we had the time, we cruised into Eastsound to check out the Rosario Mansion built by Robert Moran in 1906. Heading back south through Eastsound we caught up with the T36A’s. We saw this pod on July 17, but T36A1(Tierna) and T36A1A (Drift) were not present. Today they were! We got to see all six members of this pod today. First getting on scene, they were showing great fluke and belly looks! So cool to see the stark white of their undersides.
From there they took us back through Obstruction, which in the 9 years I’ve been on the water I’ve only seen twice. They definitely got into travel/rest mode, and were very consistent with their down times. We took a small break to check out Peapod Rocks seeing lots of harbor seals, some small ones in the mix, black oystercatchers, gulls and even a mature bald eagle. We had time to catch back up with the T36A’s for some final looks. They continued north in Rosario as we pulled off-scene and headed south through Hale passage. Thanks to the T36A’s for the escort home.
