Whale Watching Report

Our morning trip started out with some excitement as we left the dock with a bald eagle flying around with some crab bait and some gulls in hot pursuit. Our next wildlife viewing came at Colville Island where we spotted several harbor seals hauled out on the rocks including two seal pups. Eventually we found resident orcas at False Bay. The first two orcas we spotted were the brother and sister pair of Cappuccino, K21, and Raggedy, K40. Next we watched, Blackberry, J27, Polaris, J28, and her calf J46. They were traveling with two other small calves that I could not identify, but they sure were being playful! One of the adults in this group did four acrobatics in a row with three cartwheels and a breach! Later we watched a few orcas chasing salmon at the surface. Two females were speed swimming and porpoising and they must have caught the fish because they put on the breaks pretty fast afterward. As our time grew short Oreo, J22, Cookie, J38, and Doublestuff, J34 swam by and paid us a visit.

Our afternoon trip started in a similar way as our morning trip. A few minutes after our passengers settled onto the boat two bald eagles soared directly over us. We headed southward again because we heard that our orcas from the morning were still milling around in the same spot we left them earlier in the day. Before we got there we spotted two minke whales off Salmon Bank. We didn't stay long because we wanted to find the orcas. We found them off False Bay again this afternoon. Again, our first two whales were Cappuccino and Raggedy. They were swimming back and forth apparently looking for fish. Next we spotted Oreo, Cookie, and Doublestuff again as they also appeared to be fishing. Oreo breached for us three times in a row at one point. The lighting was beautiful on the orcas as we left them with the sun going down. On our way back to the dock we spotted a minke whale off Salmon Bank, and watched a bald eagle fly right toward us at Castle Rock. It was a great day on the water. Naturalist Bart Rulon