Transient killer whales
At 9am this morning, Captain Jim and I set out from Roche Harbor with a private charter. I was hopeful, but not fully expecting to see whales on this trip. At least not right at first. It was early in the morning, which means that not many boats had been out looking for whales yet. And M/V Sea Hawk alone can only cover so much ground on its own. There were whales spotted near Vancouver (way out of our range), and whales spotted headed west at Race Rocks (also way out of our range). So it was looking like we would spend the time watching other wildlife--which is great! There is so much to see here other than orcas. Even just the scenery is enough for me!
Then as if it was magic, someone rounded the west corner of Speiden island to the north side with the T65As--which is right where we were! This is a group of 5 transient killer whales; T65A herself, and four of her offspring including sprouting male 12-year old T65A3, and 2-year old T65A5. We stuck with these guys all the way around Green Point to Sentinel, where they changed direction south. We finally left them when they passed lonesome cove. We caught up with this same group much further south in Griffin Bay on our second trip. It's so cool to watch where they go throughout the day!
The weather today was beyond spectacular. On top of that, we saw a harbor porpoise jump out of the water on the way home tonight! That never happens!!
Naturalist Alex
M/V Sea Hawk