Whale Sightings Blog

Today took us up and over the north end of the islands. We saw many harbor porpoise on the way out. As we went by Sucia Island, we spotted an eagle’s nest and an eagle. Just off of Sucia Island is Clement’s Reef where we stopped to look at harbor seals and a black oystercatcher. Pupping season started in June and will continue up until the end of July. These reefs and the 83 designated National Wildlife Refuges (small, mostly treeless islands) are crucial habitat for the seals to haul out on. They have to haul out every four to six hours to warm up, or they would get hypothermia. When they are hauled out and ‘lolling’ around we call them ‘rock sausages’. They also have to haul out of the water when they are giving birth to a pup. They have one pup a year and like all seals are capable of delayed implantation. The pup is weaned in six weeks and abandoned. It was here that the Thea Foss passed by us. It is an elegant old wooden yacht built in the early 1920’s for the Foss family. Thea Christiansen Foss launched the future tugboat firm on the Tacoma waterfront in the summer of 1889. Norwegian immigrants, she and her husband wound up in Tacoma. While he was working out of town as a carpenter, she invested five dollars and bought a rowboat. She rented this boat out, and then eventually sold it and bought two more boats and rented these out. When her husband came back a few weeks later, she had amassed $41, and he had made $38. He decided to build rowboats! Today, the Foss line is one of the largest on the west coast. We headed west to Boundary Pass. Here we encountered J pod. There were some breaches, tail slaps and cartwheels. We watched them for awhile, drifting. When we thought they had all gone around the corner of Turn Point, we went into gear and then had to go back into neutral. There was a small group that no one had seen, trailing behind the rest of the pod. There was nothing we could do but sit and wait for them to go by, which happened to be right under out boat! We took the scenic route home through the middle of the islands. When we passed  Speiden Island we saw two Mouflon Bighorn sheep ewes. Back in the sixties, two brothers bought this island and imported bighorn sheep, antelope and sika deer. Their plan was to use them as game for hunters who would come out to the island and hunt them from zebra painted jeeps. The idea didn’t set very well with the other islanders, and they gave up their enterprise. However, they left the imported animals and the animals have done very well on this island. Our birds today: pigeon guillemots, rhinocerous auklets, marbled murreletts, eagles, turkey vultures, Caspian terns, great blue heron, black oystercatcher, and numerous gulls.

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We headed south on a beautiful day. Within sight of the Deception Pass Bridge, we came across J pod. J27, (Blackberry b. 1991) and J26 (Mike b. 1991) were quite visible with their huge dorsal fins, which can get to be five to six feet tall on a male Orca. Female dorsal fins are considerably smaller at three to five feet. Their body weight and length differ considerably also. Males get to be up to 28 feet and 13,000 pounds, whereas females are 22 to 24 feet at 6 to 8,000 pounds. The calves are 200 to 400 pounds and 6 to 8 feet at birth. Little five year old J41 (Eclipse b. 2005) did six breaches in a row as she was swimming along with her pod. Her mom J19 (Schachi b. 1979) stopped and turned around and then swam right near out boat and just ‘logged’ at the surface. She then swam in front of the boat and did a spy hop. This is when they come straight out of the water with about a third of their bodies showing. It is thought that this is coming up to just take a look around. Because of the way the lenses are on their eyes, they can see out of the water as well as underwater. We headed for home and went through the middle of the islands starting with San Juan Channel. There were two tufted puffins hanging out around the Cattle Point Lighthouse. These little birds are a rare treat here in the San Juan Islands. They are called “the clowns of the sea” because of their striking colors. We passed a Steller sea lion swimming in the channel. Other birds that were sighted today: Kingfishers, pigeon guillemots, rhinoceros auklets, cormorants, black oyster catcher, Caspian terns, marbled murreletts and numerous gulls. When we entered Bellingham Bay, a few of us watched a bald eagle swoop down and catch a fish. These are moments that you just have to be watching in that direction, there is not time to point them out to everyone. The lucky few!  We also spotted harbor seals and harbor porpoise. It was another wonderful day on a wildlife cruise.

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 Sunday, June 27^th 2010

Today was a long ride up to Canada. We had to go all the way to the coal docks, with the city of Vancouver, British Columbia in the background. It was worth it, though. There were two other boats just leaving as we arrived. The Strait of Georgia is a wide expanse of water, so we were thankful for communications with a boat that had been with them. It was J pod and some of K pod. We saw J1 (Ruffles b. 1951) with mom J2 (Granny b. 1911). We also watched J16 (Slick b. 1972) and her calves, the youngest being three year old J42 (Echo b. 2007). Just like human kids, young Orcas are full of energy! Lots of breaching, spy hopping, somersaults, with tail and pectoral fins in the air waving about. J8 (Speiden b. 1933) swam close enough to the boat for a good photo with a zoom. There were other J’s, too, but a little further away. K21 (Cappuccino b. 1986) and his sister K40 (Raggedy b. 1963) were also identified. There were at least thirty Orcas present. It was very quiet and calm. We just shut our engines and enjoyed the Orcas. We only were able to spend a little over an hour with them, because of the long cruise north. But it was one of the better whale watching we’ve had this season. As we were drifting in the water, watching the whales cruise south, we looked behind us and there were more swimming our way! Two females did a synchronized breach together. When whales do this, as well as coming up for breath simultaneously it indicates cooperative foraging beneath the surface. Their coordination at the surface mirrors their underwater activity. Our Southern Resident Orcas are fish eating whales. They work together to school the fish to make it easier to catch them, especially for the calves. They also share their food. Their tight social structure is beneficial for the entire pod. Heading home, we took the only route, south down the Strait of Georgia. Even though this is not the best for sightseeing (islands, other wildlife, scenery) it was worth the whale watching. We had a special time with the Orcas today. We did see harbor porpoise, harbor seals swimming and watching us cruise by, and a very young Steller sea lion on a buoy. The birds spotted today were rhinocerous auklets, marbled murreletts, pigeon guillemots, common murres, great blue herons, Caspian terns, and numerous gulls. There were some bald eagles spotted on the beach in Hale Passage, but they were a little far for a good photo. Join us next Friday, Saturday or Sunday. It’s been a whale of a season!

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Saturday, June 27 2010

This will probably be the last time that we stop to look at the whale carcass. From the boat, there is barely anything discernable on the beach. If you didn’t know it was there, you wouldn’t be able to find it. There were only a couple of juvenile eagles hanging around. It’s amazing that in ten weeks, a 38 foot, 20 to 25,000 pound whale can decay and be eaten. When we first started to stop to see the whale, there would be as many as 12 to 16 eagles feasting. Free lunch is over for the summer. We didn’t have to go far to see whales today. They were right off of Cherry Point where the oil refineries are. We had half of J pod, some K’s and L’s. We left them yesterday heading north towards Active Pass. They must have gone through in the afternoon and spent the night in the Strait of Georgia. So, now we found them heading south. J2 (Granny) and her family were up front and center. J1 (Ruffles) was right next to his mom, J2, and J14 (Samish) and her calves ages fifteen to one were right there with the family. Samish has a new calf that was born last year: J45.  We had plenty of breaching, spy hops, roll overs, and a lot of tail slapping and pec fin waving. We were drifting, just off of the beach, when a group came over and went right past the bow of the boat. Looking down from the deck, you could see them swimming right under water. Their white patches flashed in the sunlight that was filtering through the water. Usually, we just see the moments when they are above the water, breaching and spy hopping………..so when we see them swimming so fast and graceful under the water, it is a different perspective. The day was beautiful. Calm seas, warm sunshine and Orcas! Before heading back to the dock, we went over to the Cone Islands to see an eagle’s nest that we have been observing this spring. There is one chick in it that will probably start to fledge (leave the nest) any day now. Some of the passengers were delighted to find some Dall’s porpoise playing in our wake. These 350 pound black and white speedy porpoise are sometimes mistaken for baby Orcas. We also saw harbor seals and numerous marine birds. Great Day!

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Today we went through the middle of the islands, a very scenic route through narrow passes. We saw many birds: marbled murreletts, pigeon guillemots, rhinocerous auklets, cormorants, gulls, eagles, turkey vultures, and some common murres. We also slowed down to see some harbor seals. They were hauled out on Boulder Reef. When we rounded the north end of San Juan Island and ventured out into Haro Strait: Whales! We had part of J and K pods. There was breaching, spyhops, and babies! There was also a lot of fish chasing. The shoreline is very deep here; underwater it is a deep cliff. The whales chase the fish into the rock wall to get an easy meal. The salmon will try to find a crevasse or hole to hide in. They usually don’t get away. Orcas have to eat 200 to 400 pounds of fish a day. Preferably salmon, this makes up 95% of their diet. They will eat any of the five species of salmon we have, but they target the Chinooks, or kings. These are the fattiest and the largest of the salmon species. They expend fewer calories to catch a larger fish rather than a lot of small ones. Orcas are found all over the world and each community is specialized in their predation. Some eat penguins and seals, some eat sharks and rays, some eat herring: our residents eat salmon. It was such a beautiful sunny day. The wind died down, and people were in their shirtsleeves. We followed the whales to Stuart Island and left them there for home. They were still travelling north. A common route they take is to head north and turn into Active Pass. This then opens up to the Strait of Georgia in Canada. Then they head south down to Rosario Strait. On the way home we sighted many harbor porpoise. It doesn’t get much better

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After a quick stop to see the bald eagles on Lummi Island we headed north. Arriving in Boundary Pass, which is the boundary line between the U.S. and Canada, we encountered J pod. The whales were travelling slowly east and stopping to play and forage. Our first sightings were J1 (Ruffles est. b. 1951) and his mom J2 (Granny est. b. 1911). Any whale born after 1970, we know their exact birth year. Then granddaughter J14 (Samish b. 1974) and her four calves J30 (Riptide b.1995), J37 (Hy’Shqa b. 2001) , J40 (Suttles b. 2004) and J45 (will be named this year b. 2009). Suttles was named after an anthropologist who spent a considerable amount of time with the Coast Salish Indians back in the 1940’s and 50’s. Suttles was named in a traditional potlatch naming ceremony held by the Samish Nation on 10/1/05. (His mother’s name is Samish). Riptide grew so much over the winter that he now looks like a fully adult male. The size of the dorsal fin is the indicator. Male dorsal fins can be 5 to 6 feet, while the female dorsal is 2 to 3 feet. Male dorsals start ‘sprouting’ when they reach adolescence: 12 or 13 years old. Maturity rates are much like humans.  The day was grey, but calm seas. We were the only whale watch boat on the scene. As we passed a long rocky reef, there was quite a ruckus going on with the glaucous wing gulls. Then it became apparent why: there was a bald eagle trying to get to their chicks and eggs. The gulls, even though diminished in size by the eagle can still hold their own. They finally chased the eagle off and it landed at the end of the reef, patiently waiting for the gulls to lapse in their vigilance. The gulls like these isolated islets because there are few predators. There were some harbor seals hauled out on the rocks. We also saw many harbor porpoise on the way out. We saw many breaches, spyhops, cartwheels, somersaults and tail slaps. J1 (Ruffles) was quite active and gave us many pectoral fin waves. His ‘pec fins’ are huge! Another beautiful day out in the San Juan Islands (and the Gulf Islands of Canada).

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We had a great day today! Resident orcas in Boundary Pass off of Saturna Island. Harbor seals, eagles, marine birds and L pod! Beautiful weather.

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