So I Know that I talk a lot about how social orcas are and how they are almost always found in their family groups, but like almost everything else there are exceptions to these rules as well. Yesterday (Wednesday) Captain Gabe and I left with a pretty small group to search for some more Transient Orcas. Just around Friday Harbor we came across a pair of male Transient Orcas! This is a little bit unusual, but definitely sometimes happens, especially in the Transients. Males will leave their families to go out on their own and eventually join other families. While traveling they occasionally pick up another male friend as a travel buddy. These two were doing just that, traveling together until they found another family. They were T128, a younger male, and T125A, and older male with a large nick out of his dorsal fin. We traveled with them for quite a while watching as they effortlessly glided through the water on a fairly blustery day. After watching them we went around Flattop Island to check out a whole bunch of Harbor Seals that were sleeping on the rocks in the sun and some that were swimming around the kelp forests. These Harbor Seals are the Transient Orcas main prey here in the San Juans. As we started to move northward again through the Cactus Islands we passed a few majestic Bald Eagles and then watched those two males again as they crossed our path again!
Whale folks, until next time
Naturalist Erick
M/V Seahawk
T125A travels through Spieden Channel