Friday and Saturday the Sea Hawk went out with reports of our resident orcas. Friday Captain Brian and Naturalist Aimee motored out of Roche Harbor and headed south toward False Bay. False Bay is on the west side of San Juan Island. We caught up with a female and a calf swimming. Brian and Aimee identified the calf and J-49 who was born last summer. Newborns are usually six to eight feet and around 400lbs! After seeing those two, two more mother and calf pairs swam by playing with one another. We saw them rolling and nudging each other. After seeing them Captain Brian decided to go check out an adult male named Doublestuff. He is one of four adult males in J-pod. Doublestuff was more offshore than the others. It is common for larger males to be seen offshore because they are constantly looking for salmon.
Captain Nancy and Naturalist Aimee were on the boat Saturday. They didn't have to go far for the whale watch. They motored out of Roche Harbor and headed toward a small island called Battleship Island. The whales were just south from there and Captain Nancy decided to let the Orcas swim past the Sea Hawk. Saturday there were reports of J-pod and the L12s. This is the first sighting of L-pod this season. Captain Nancy and Naturalist Aimee watched around 25 to 30 Orcas pass them. These orcas were all together and were surfacing at the same time. Guests were in awe by how many would surface at the same time. After spending a good amount of time with the Orcas, the Sea Hawk went around Spieden Island, which used to be an exotic game hunting island. The guests aboard the Sea Hawk saw plenty of Harbor Seals and Bald Eagles.