We had a fun week exploring the Salish Sea this week. We saw whales on all 13 tours, and sighted killer whales on 7 of 13 of them. The second half of the week was even better then the first half as we saw orcas on 7 of the final 8 tours of the week.
This week we had encounters with the T065A, T075B, and T060 families of orcas. We had several amazing encounters but the week was highlighted by Sunday evening’s sunset tour when we encountered the T060’s pod off the south end of Lopez Island. Our encounter started off somewhat nonchalant, with the family seemingly just in travel mode. But as they approached Colville island, a small rocky outcropping that is a known to have plenty of harbor seals around it, we were interested to see what would unfold. And indeed, the whales got right up to the rocks, swimming through the kelp stealthily, indicating hunting behavior. After a few minutes of this there was some commotion in the kelp, and some splashing. We were never able to confirm if they got a seal or not. I actually think perhaps it was a failed attempt. But at any rate, they began to spyhop like crazy in the kelp. We probably got 10+ spyhops, which was amazing to see, especially in the golden light of the evening. After this, the family continued on, until they approached the next rocky outcropping called “Swirl Rocks” they did the exact same thing. They were combing the kelp and rocks seemingly looking for harbor seals. Part of me wonders if perhaps this family just enjoy making harbor seals nervous when they aren’t hungry, but we’ll never know for sure!
We had some amazing humpback whale encounters this week as well. On Saturday morning’s tour, we caught up with two humpback whales known as “Hendrix” and “Taurus” who were traveling up the west side of San Juan Island. As soon as we pulled up to the whales one of them started breaching like crazy! Hendrix the humpback breached over 15 times in total, it was an epic sight to see!
Can’t wait to see what the second half of August brings for San Juan Island adventures!
