Today on M/V Sea Hawk we were lucky enough to see both ecotypes of orcas that we have in the Salish Sea. On the morning trip we saw a small group of transients off Stuart Island. The transients are the orcas that prey on marine mammals and typically feed on harbor seals in this area. They were traveling slowly but gave us all a couple close looks and there was a younger calf in the group so that was awesome to see.
On the afternoon trip we got reports of residents heading north! As we were leaving Roche Harbor the whales were right off Battleship Island but by the time we caught up to them they were almost to Pender Island in Canada. They were traveling over 12 knots! The residents are the fish eating orcas and they are the whales we typically see this time of year. We got some great looks at a pretty large group of whales, and the guests got a few great looks at whales spy hopping.
It was a awesome day on the water !
Naturalist
M/V Sea Hawk
San Juan Outfitters