Whale Sightings Blog

Sunday, May 23, 2010

The day started out a little grey, but as we headed further west, the sun began to shine. We stopped to look at a the eagles feeding on the gray whale carcass. Then headed west across Rosario Strait. There was a California sea lion on a buoy in the strait.. A male California sea lion get to be 800 pounds and 6 to 8 feet. By the size of this one it was a sub adult male. California sea lions are the ones that are used as performers in zoos and marine parks. Their predators are transient orcas, humans, and great white sharks. Their diet is squid, fish and octopus.  We then went by Boulder Reef where one lone harbor seal was hauled out. Going through the middle of the islands gave us a great scenic tour. There were many marine birds: pigeon guillemots, rhinocerous auklets, common murres,  and marbled murreletts, cormorants, both double crested and pelagic, and numerous gulls. We went clear across Haro Strait to the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we came across three transient orcas. Transient orcas are totally different than our fish eating resident orcas. Some biologists consider them a sub species. They prey on marine mammals, rather than fish.  Because of this, they tend to stay in smaller groups, and they are not as acrobatic as our residents. The breaching, cartwheeling and other activites usually happen right after a kill. One of the transients was a full grown male known as T20, estimated to be about 47 years old. There was also a female and a juvenile. The female was probably one of his relations, possibly his sister, cousin or niece. Orcas do not mate for life, and when an adult male is seen with a female, generally it is mom. Our resident orcas never leave their moms. We have 58 year old J1 (Ruffles) still hanging out with his 99 year old mom J2 (Granny)! We stayed as long as we could, about an hour and a half, and watched the three milling about. Someone asked “How do they sleep?” Interesting question. Orcas (and other dolphins and whales) do not breathe involuntarily like humans. Every breath is a conscious act. So, if they were to go totally asleep, they would drown. They get together in a fairly tight group and slowly swim along together. One half of their brain is asleep, while the other half is alert. This way they are consciously breathing. We sometimes call this logging. As we were saying goodbye to the orcas and heading east, the three of them went into a resting mode!  There they were all logging as we left them. Another great day out in the San Juan Islands.

Well, we’re back out on the water for another season of enjoying the wildlife and scenic views of the San Juan Islands. Today is our first trip out since last October. The day was grey, but at least it wasn’t raining. We stopped on the way out to look at a gray whale carcass that is on a beach. There have been five gray whales that have stranded (already dead) in this area in the past few weeks. This may sound upsetting, but it is actually not something to be alarmed about. This particular whale had a necropsy performed by the Whatcom Marine Mammal Stranding Network and Cascadia Research. The results will be known in a few weeks. In 1970 gray whales were put on the Endangered Species Act.  (In the Atlantic they were hunted to extinction.) In 1994, they were taken off the Endangered Species Act. Their population is estimated to be about 20,000. They are the first and only whales to be taken off the ESA listing. In a typical year we will get five to ten dead gray whales over the course of the summer. To some degree, it’s a natural part of the gray whale being at its carrying capacity. They are migrating north from Baja, Mexico after a winter of not feeding. They have used up their fat reserves, and come north to our nutrient rich waters to feed for the summer. They spend their winters in Mexico to breed and calve. The sheltered lagoons that they go to are safe from predators. (Mammal eating orcas and sharks) By late March to April these animals can be seen from Washington to Canada. Some of these whales will spend the summer here, and some will just stop in to feed and rest on their way to Alaska. The whales that go all the way to Alaska make a 12,500 mile roundtrip migration. The bald eagles, turkey vultures and crows have been feeding heavily here on the carcass. We sighted at least a dozen immature and mature bald eagles. We then headed north. There were some transient orcas in Canada heading south, and we hoped to intercept them. It turned out that they were too far north, and not travelling south very fast. So since we were already north, we went into Boundary Bay to watch gray whales. There were three of them feeding: two adults and one juvenile. They prefer shallow water from 10 to 40 feet. They turn on their sides and scoop up sediments from the sea floor. They are a baleen whale, meaning they don’t have teeth; they use their baleen as a sieve, or filter to capture small organisms taken along with sand, water and other material. They can reach lengths up to 52 feet and weigh forty tons. They live to be about 50 to 60 years old. They have grey patches and white mottling on their skin. Gray whales were once called “devil fish” because they fought when they were hunted. In 1972, in the Laguna San Ignacio (a very large calving and breeding area) a man called Francisco “Pachico” Mayoral reached out and touched a gray mother.  To his surprise, it rubbed up against his boat and hand. Now, there is quite a tourist industry in these Mexican lagoons to visit with the “friendlies” as they are called. The mother’s will actually bring their calves up to the boats to be petted.  When we observe these whales, which are usually feeding in shallow waters, they do not alter their behavior in the presence of boats. Well, we didn’t get to see orcas, but we saw 3 gray whales, harbor porpoise, eagles and numerous marine birds. Our resident orcas are out in the open ocean and too far for any whale watching boat to go see them. Hopefully they will return soon! They can travel over a 100 miles in a day and often surprise us overnight!

Our last day…………….in the last few years, our last day has been whale-less. Not today! We had to go quite a ways, but we caught up with L pod members. This was down by the Fort Worden Lighthouse, just outside of Port Townsend. All of the males were grouped together in a pretty tight formation. It just seemed unusual to see all of those huge dorsal fins grouped together. The male dorsal fin can be five to six feet tall. There were a couple of smaller fins and a very small calf. The males were L85 (Mystery), L87 (Onyx), L22 (Spirit), L89 (Solstice), L79 (Skana) and we also ID’d L12 (Alexis) est. 1933, an elderly lady.  Five year old L105 (Fluke, also a male) was with this group. They were just travelling slowly south, taking their time. There was an occasional fish chase, but no above water acrobatics other than coming up to breath. Of course, we never know what’s going on below in the water…………we can only speculate! We spent an hour with the whales, and then had to head back. The whales continued south and gave the more heavily populated Puget Sound (Seattle area) a great treat. They do venture down there, but not very often.  On the way back we stopped at Eliza Rock to see some harbor seals that were hauled out (in their ‘rock sausage’ mode). Our birds today were marbled murrelets, rhinoceros auklets, pigeon guillemots, common murres, cormorants, and numerous gulls. Well we had an excellent season. Great orca sightings, great birding and other wildlife: grey whales, humpback whales, dall’s porpoise, harbor porpoise, otters, Stellar sea lions, California sea lions, harbor seals (and their newborn pups), deer along the shorelines, and the imported exotics on Speiden Island, Sika deer and bighorn sheep. Up until recently we had bald eagle sightings every trip. They have now gone up the rivers on the mainland to gorge on the returning salmon. We saw several eagles’ nest – they can weigh up to a ton and get to be six feet across! The scenery is beautiful, and we had one of the warmest summers on record. I hope that every passenger that came out with us this summer walked off the boat with awe and respect for these beautiful creatures. Especially the orcas; their culture, society, and magnificence. Have a happy warm winter!

The air today was definitely autumn weather. Last weekend it felt like the end of summer, and today the air had that ‘tang’ to it. We headed through the middle of the islands and all of the deciduous trees have turned colors. Even brown leaves are falling. We spotted a bald eagle on Goose Island. Eagle sightings are getting rarer, as most of them have headed inland to feast on the returning salmon. We went around the corner and there were the whales spread out in Haro Strait. The first whale we saw was K11, Georgia (est. 1933) then we saw some more K pod members pass by. They were travelling. Next the J’s started coming by, and then they stopped to fish. Eighteen year old J27, Blackberry, as usual had little six year old brother J39, Mako with him.  (They were orphaned last year.) They were doing a lot of foraging. There were some other J’s there as well, but too far out to ID. Then we saw a male that wasn’t a K or a J. It turned out to be L87, Gaia. Perhaps he was hanging out with the teenage ‘girls’ in J pod? Most likely! The sun was out, it had warmed up, whales were everywhere…………….great day. The birds are getting their winter plumage and they are not as easily ID’d with just a glance.  Summer is indeed over. Our last trip this season will be October 10^th, Saturday.

Our weather is holding out and we hope to continue to run on Saturdays until it changes. That is, until our ‘rainy season’ starts. That can be anytime soon here in the Northwest. This is usually our ‘gear down’ time and that is why we are only running on Saturdays. Today we took an extra scenic route! We headed down Bellingham Channel to Rosario Strait and then heard that the whales were on the north end of San Juan Island. So we went through Lopez Pass up over the top end of Lopez Island and down San Juan Channel through the middle of the islands. Our return trip took us through the middle of the islands, but a totally different route. We went through narrow Pole Pass, and then Peavine Pass. Both of these routes are beautiful. The narrow passes offer gorgeous views of the Madrona trees, kelp beds floating on the surface, and a chance to slow down and really take it all in. When we encountered the whales they were actively foraging. There was not much above surface activity. We couldn’t even get an ID on them, because they were not surfacing much. Part of the time they were also close to shore and we stay a quarter mile off when we are on the west side of San Juan Island. (regulations). However, the passengers were happy to see whales. We just know that some days can be better than others! Everyone always wants to see breaching and other above surface activities. When we are out here we only witness a very small percentage of what their lives are all about. They can dive hundreds of feet and they only need to come to the surface to breathe. Why they do above surface activities such as breaching: we really don’t know, we can only speculate. When people ask why my reply is “Because they can!” The fact that they were so heavily feeding is a good sign. Our salmon population is drastically lower than it’s ever been. We have 86 whales in J, K, and L pods and each individual needs to consume two to four hundred pounds a day! Our whales are specialized to feed on salmon. They are not like   transient orcas that eat marine mammals. The salmon issue will have to be addressed because these whales are on the Endangered Species Act, and lack of food is likely one of the main reasons.  Hopefully this issue will be addressed sooner, rather than later. Join us next Saturday for one our few remaining tours of the season. We’ve had a great whale watching season, as well as all of the other abundant wildlife that resides in the San Juan Islands. The photos today are some great ones from our passengers this summer.

It was grey this morning, but looked like it would turn into a nice day. The clouds and fog banks were rising, falling and breaking apart. The sun was shining through patches in the western skies, and we knew this wet and stormy week had finally ended. We stopped to look at some harbor seals hauled out on Boulder Reef. There were also double crested cormorants, pelagic cormorants, glaucous winged gulls, California gulls and a few Heerman’s gulls skittering about. We had a report that there were some orcas on the west side of San Juan Island. We took the middle of the island route through Peavine Pass that would eventually take us down San Juan Channel in between Lopez and San Juan Islands. It’s a beautiful scenic route, good  birding………usually!  Before we could head south down San Juan Channel a passenger reported orcas right behind us off of our starboard side! SURPRISE!!!  And double surprise!!! The captain cut the engine and we sat adrift as I ran up top to see if they were residents or transients and which way they were going. We had no idea!  This is not a common place for residents to be, however, we did encounter them here last weekend.  It was L pod and as we sat in the water, they continued their route, which took them right under the boat!  We stay 100 yards off the orcas to give them their space (and it’s the law). However, in this case when we are close to them,  we are suppose to be ‘dead ‘in the water and let them go whichever way they choose. Today, they went right under the boat as they had surprised us by just being where they were! We don’t usually have a surprise like this. The leaders went by under the boat and then L72 (Racer) and her five year old calf L105 (Fluke) surfaced right beside the boat before they went under and on their way. See following photos. (Check out Racer’s beautiful ‘saddle patch’ right behind her dorsal fin, it’s a work of art!) To identify whales, we use the saddle patch behind their dorsal fins, as each one is unique. The saddle patch is a coloration mark that can be anywhere from white to charcoal grey and each one is patterned differently.  Also, some of the dorsal fins have notches and variations in them which make them even easier to identify from a distance. As we drifted with the whales, they turned north up San Juan Channel. They stopped to chase fish along the way, and pretty soon, a few other whale watching boats joined us as the word got out. When we came out to the part of the channel where it widens, the fun began. The orcas started going acrobatic! There were breaches, spyhops, taillobs, and cartwheels. By now, the sun had come out in full force……we were surrounded by the beautiful islands, calm seas……….and the orcas were spread out everywhere! Wow! We could have been going on our course and missed this whole afternoon! The whales would have kept behind us and headed north, and we would have headed south!  We wouldn’t have known they were right behind us! Eventually, we would have encountered K pod, and possibly J pod on the west side of San Juan Island, but here we were! Our journey was lessened by an hour or so and it was a spectacular sighting! Here are some great photos, and our passengers also took some that they will forward. What a great day!  We did try to see some birds on the way home: common murres, rhinoceros auklets, a great blue heron, and some pigeon guillemots…..but our focus had turned towards the orcas rather than the great birding that would have happened if we had continued going south down San Juan Channel instead of heading north!

Our day on the water: On a scale of 1 to 10, for some people it was a minus five.

When the crew arrived on the boat this morning it was blowing and there were white caps in the bay. But by the time we had the boat ready and were loading passengers, it had settled down and looked good. So out we went. We were surprised that it was sloppy in Bellingham Bay, although it wasn’t as bad as yesterday. We certainly didn’t expect it to be as sloppy as it was on the southwest end of San Juan Island. We went down San Juan Channel, and when we hit the narrows, we were in the waves. We knew the whales were out there, there was a boat from Victoria B.C. with them. They were off the west side of San Juan Island. Once we had committed to going out, with the waves rising and the current against us, we could not turn around and go back. We had to stay our course. So we bucked out through the waves and headed up the west side of San Juan Island. The seas were 9 to 10 feet, and it was not rolling swells. Our captains have had MANY years of experience out here, and our boat is big and safe. Our seasoned crew has seen seas way worse than this, but many of our passengers had never had this experience. So for some of them, it was very unpleasant. The boat from Victoria radioed us and said they were heading back; it was too getting too rough. So up the side of the island we went. We soon realized it was hopeless to try and find the whales. They could have been fifty yards away and we wouldn’t have been able to see them (and they probably were!) For them, this weather is playtime. We did get a glimpse of some Dall’s porpoise, but only a few passengers saw them. Sometimes these porpoise will play with the bow wake of our boat, but today they had their own playground of waves and weren’t interested in our boat. Finally we were able to duck into protected Mosquito Pass and get some relief. Everyone only wanted to get home at this point. There were a few bird sightings on the way home. We saw some of the Bighorn sheep on Speiden Island. That was the extent of our wildlife tour. Some days can just be a dud! We invited everyone back for a free trip either on one of our last few days, or next year.  We had a taste of fall weather today. It is September, but hopefully we still have a few weeks left of summer. Today is a great day to post some pictures from Bob Mepham of Blaine. These were taken three weeks ago and this is what whale watching is all about!

We had a rock and roll start to our day. Bellingham Bay had winds of 20 to 25 mph and it was really lumpy! There were gusts up to 50! As we were getting ready to go, we watched all of the sailboats leaving the harbor for the annual PITCH Regatta Race. When all of the boats assembled out in the bay, they wound up cancelling the race due to high winds. We bucked through the waves and finally came into the middle of the islands, where it was much calmer. Bellingham Bay is a natural wind funnel anyway, so if you add more wind it really gets choppy. (This is another reason we don’t go out all year long, even though we have a large boat that is 110’ long.) Finally the sun started to come out, the seas were calmer, and people ventured out onto the decks. We stopped by Speiden Island and watched some of the Corsican sheep along the shoreline eating kelp. We had never seen them do this before, but we don’t hang out on Speiden all day, either! These sheep were imported for game hunting back in the sixties. The island was renamed Safari Island. The concept didn’t quite cut it out here in the San Juan’s, so the owners packed it up. They left the Sika deer and the Corsican sheep that they imported, and they have managed to thrive. We also saw some of the Sika deer grazing on the hill side. We entered Haro Strait, hearing that there were whales down near the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island. It was still quite a ways to go, and out there in this open water, there were some pretty good swells. It’s also hard to find orcas in these kind of seas in a large body of water. The Island Caper (us) and two other whale watching boats ‘canvassed’ the strait looking for whales. We were all heading in the same direction, yet a few miles apart. If the whales were there, we were going to find them! Finally, a fin! It was J pod. They were heading to the west side of San Juan Island. We followed along (at our respectful distance). There was one juvenile that breached four times in a row. The main activity was fishing, and we watched J1 (Ruffles) fin speeding through the water chasing fish. He’s the oldest male in all three pods at 58 years old, and he’s pretty fast for an old man! We had some great views of J28 (Polaris), a sixteen year old female. Everyone got some great photos.  We were all out on deck now, the seas were calm, the sun was out, and the waves and wind that we had dealt with in the morning were now just a memory. Harbor porpoise and Dall’s porpoise were also sighted. What was really cool; at one point we had harbor porpoise 100 yards off the stern, Dall’s porpoise a 100 yards off our beam, and orcas spread out everywhere! All at the same time! Wow! Our residents orcas are fish eating orcas, so they don’t eat porpoise. We do have transient orcas that come through here and they do eat porpoise, and any other marine mammal that they can find. The marine mammals seem to know the difference between the residents and the transients. On our way home we stopped to look at some harbor seals. Our birding today was spotty due to the weather. Marbled murrelets, common murres, cormorants, Heerman’s gulls, glaucous winged gulls, Bonaparte’s gulls, and turkey vultures.