Orca Whale Pods Just West of Anacortes
Orca Whales sighted in Rosario Strait, passing just off Anacortes. The Island Explorer 3 will be on scene shortly - stay tuned for updates from Naturalist Kate Janes.
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Swim on Samish (L to R: Suttle J40, Riptide J30 & Samish J14)
Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
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Who Doesn't Love a Baby Orca?! (Samish J14 & her little boy J45)
Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
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Still Has It! (Granny J2 at 98 yrs old breaching with son Ruffles)
- This photo is dedicated to Carol who loves Ruffles
Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
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Belly Flop! Photo by Naturalist Kate Janes
"Our day started with a little liquid sunshine but this did not discourage those on board the Island Explorer 3 for we knew Orcas were close! Once off the dock we found dry pockets taking us to the Southern Resident Orcas who were proving that rain or shine whales like to have a good time! We found all 3 pods (J, K & L) moving off shore from Salmon Bank further into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The first subpod we visited with gave us a great show. Samish (J14), her eldest son Riptide (J30), daughter Suttles (J40) and her youngest son little J45 started out tightly grouped up. Then Suttles and little J45 began to play. Rolling about, taillobing, pec slapping and Suttles even did a few breaches maybe showing off for her little brother. We had a hard time leaving this very active subpod for every time Captain Michael mentioned checking out another group the youngsters would start playing again, luring us back for more! We did eventually move onto another group and found Canuck (L7) hanging out with a youngster, Ruffles (J1) and Granny (J2), the matriarch of J pod. The show really then began as Granny at 98 years old breached TWICE!! This was the first time in 3 years I've seen this amazing whale leap out of the water- showing off her stuff! She seemed to motivate the little whale traveling with them for it began breaching as well! We also saw Rainshadow (K37), Cali (K34), Spock (K20) and Comet (K38) as we slowly navigated through the "whale soup" attempting to make it back to the dock."
posted by Island Adventures Whale Report @ 11:39 AM
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