[8/2/17 2pm SeaHawk]
Transient killer whales continue to surprise us here in the San Juans. Some days they take us to the farthest reaches of our charts, and some days they swim right through the harbor, as nonchalant as can be. Today a family of four orcas passed right through Roche Harbor, even pausing to take down a seal on the way!
We pulled off the dock today with reports of a group of killer whales that had been spotted south of Victoria earlier that day. As Captain Pete navigated the Sea Hawk through Mosquito Pass, it looked as though they were heading right towards San Juan Island, moving closer and closer to our range.
We entered Haro Strait and moved south down the coast of San Juan Island until we were looking at the gorgeous Lime Kiln Light. Almost as soon as the lighthouse came into view, so did our whales!
We observed from a distance as this group of two females and two males (identified as T18, her daughter T19, and her two grandsons T19A and T19B) stalked the coastline, sticking within a few yards of the cliffs of San Juan Island. They passed a few groups of kayaks along the way, probably giving them a little bit of an adrenaline rush!
The family continued to move north, approaching the same pass that we just exited. Expecting them to bypass Mosquito Pass and continue further up Haro Strait, we angled our boat northwest in anticipation. Surprisingly, the T18’s chose the smaller passageway and started heading right into Roche Harbor.
A safe distance behind this group, we observed as they moved strait into Roche Harbor and, much to our surprise yet again, they milled at the mouth of the harbor. Possibly hunting down a seal, our little group of orcas started changing direction and circling the water, even startling us with the occasional tail slap on the surface of the water, or spyhop into the air before continuing into Speiden Channel
Only a mere 600 yards outside of Roche Harbor, we finally had to leave these killer whales after an entire afternoon getting to know them. Our trip home was the shortest yet, topping off our unconventional-yet-amazing whale watch.
Naturalist Sarah C.
M/V Sea Hawk
