Orca Whales North of Saturna Island!
A breach during our afternoon trip!Our adventure led us into Canadian waters today to show our guests Orca Whales! Stay tuned to the Whale Report for an update from Naturalist Bart Rulon! We started our morning trip heading north along the east side of Guemes Island. Soon we spotted several harbor seals hauled out on the shoreline of Jack Island. As we worked our way north we saw several harbor porpoises at a few different locations. Eventually we found about 6 transient orcas north of Saturna Island and west of Active Pass. When we first got on scene the orcas were lined up with one of the BC ferry boats behind them for a great photo opportunity! They all started out grouped closely together then the big male surprised us by going down for a long dive and coming up right next to us!! He gave us some great close up views. Soon the females angled over and came by for a closer look too. The water conditions were perfect for a boat trip this morning.
3:30 pm
The transient orcas from our morning trip swam too far out of our range to see them during our afternoon trip so we decided to look for our resident orca pods. We saw some pelagic cormorants on the channel markers in Guemes Channel. Crossing Rosario Straits we saw lots of Harbor Porpoise. We decided to cruise through the inner Islands in order to come out towards the north end of the San Juans. We saw lots more harbor porpoise along the way, and some were even porpoising in our wake behind the boat. As we slowed down through Pole Pass we saw a few pigeon guillemots, and two red-necked phalaropes! We had to cross into Canada again this afternoon to find orcas. We eventually found K and L pods on the west side of North Pender Island. They were all swimming north toward Active Pass. They were spread out from the middle to the shoreline, and at times it seemed like you could see orcas in all directions. Mega, L41, was the first big male we saw. Some of the orcas were breaching and spyhopping in different locations. It was hard to know where to look because they were everywhere it seemed. One orca breached right in front of us twice in a row!! Next Faith, L57 made a change of direction and swam back toward us for a while. Brother and sister, Cappuccino, K21, and Raggedy, K40 swam by us and we parallel viewed them for about 15 minutes as they gave us great looks. Then out of nowhere Spock, K20 surfaced right next to us!! We had the engines shut down as she passed us by, then little Comet, K38, came by us following after mom. What a fantastic evening with the orcas. We had a long run out to get them but it was well worth it. The water was like a calm lake out there too. Naturalist Bart Rulon
3:30 pm
The transient orcas from our morning trip swam too far out of our range to see them during our afternoon trip so we decided to look for our resident orca pods. We saw some pelagic cormorants on the channel markers in Guemes Channel. Crossing Rosario Straits we saw lots of Harbor Porpoise. We decided to cruise through the inner Islands in order to come out towards the north end of the San Juans. We saw lots more harbor porpoise along the way, and some were even porpoising in our wake behind the boat. As we slowed down through Pole Pass we saw a few pigeon guillemots, and two red-necked phalaropes! We had to cross into Canada again this afternoon to find orcas. We eventually found K and L pods on the west side of North Pender Island. They were all swimming north toward Active Pass. They were spread out from the middle to the shoreline, and at times it seemed like you could see orcas in all directions. Mega, L41, was the first big male we saw. Some of the orcas were breaching and spyhopping in different locations. It was hard to know where to look because they were everywhere it seemed. One orca breached right in front of us twice in a row!! Next Faith, L57 made a change of direction and swam back toward us for a while. Brother and sister, Cappuccino, K21, and Raggedy, K40 swam by us and we parallel viewed them for about 15 minutes as they gave us great looks. Then out of nowhere Spock, K20 surfaced right next to us!! We had the engines shut down as she passed us by, then little Comet, K38, came by us following after mom. What a fantastic evening with the orcas. We had a long run out to get them but it was well worth it. The water was like a calm lake out there too. Naturalist Bart Rulon
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 12:50 PM
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