orcas

Did you know that orcas, like humans are very family oriented? You have probably heard of ‘’pods before which is a word that usually describes a group of any species of whale, but in orcas especially the Southern Resident Ecotype, pods resemble large extended families. The smaller groups of orcas within these pods are referred to as matrilines. Matrilines consist of the matriarch (the oldest female) and her offspring, sometimes even several generations of offspring. This...

Guests were excited to search for killer whales as we departed Roche Harbor on the Sea Hawk. We had received reports of resident killer whales at Hannah Heights along the west side of San Juan Island. As we moved towards the whales, they also travelled south and spent most of their time at cattle point, the southernmost tip of the island. Guests were fortunate enough to see J-Pod, the beloved resident pod! The Sea Hawk stopped at the beginning of the pod and allowed it to...

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...

The Sea Hawk took out an intimate tour in hopes of finding a few humpback whales; however, as we began our departure from Mosquito Pass we received reports of transient killer whales near Vancouver Island! In a sudden turn of events we headed north and began our wildlife tour. Once arriving on scene we were able to travel along side of the T’s (a pod of transient) for a considerable distance. We were able to get stunning views of the unique saddle patch on each whale and...

We received another misty Monday yesterday. Clouds floated low in the sky, slowly tearing away from the treetops on the islands. We headed north, and since we’re still in the shoulder season before the main schools of salmon start running through these waters we were looking mostly for Transient Orcas. Of the two ecotypes of orcas that live here one, the Residents, arrive in the summer to eat the salmon runs that occur annually. They are fish eaters and around 90% of...

This Tuesday, May 3^rd we set out again on another warm, sunny day. Today it was Captain Brian and I heading north with a great crew of folks form all over world here for various conferences in Seattle. Since it was a little bit hotter today everything was spending as much time in the water as possible. The Harbor Seals would poke their heads up to stare at us, and the Steller’s Sea Lions were rafting up together, doing spins, an loudly snorting their exhales up and out of...

Yesterday we had yet another amazing day of encounters with some of the magnificent cetaceans that call the Salish Sea home. Captain Mike and I headed out on a bit of a grey afternoon in search of adventure and whales, of course. We had a lovely group of guests on board, and even a few birthdays!

We steered the mighty M/V Sea Lion north towards the Canadian Gulf Islands where we found J Pod, part of our Southern Resident Killer Whale population, traveling south through...

[caption id="attachment_1339" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Mike J26 and sibling near Gooch Island"]

The San Juan Islands are the most well known for being the home of the Southern Resident Killer Whales. The famous J, K, and L pods make up the Southern Residents, and are so famous that some of them ended up in some film sequences for movies such as Free Willy, pretty cool, huh? In spite of their ecotype name though, these ‘residents’ only like...

I don’t know about you, but I love babies, and most of all I love orca babies! Especially when they spyhop and fluke and are extra chubby. First though I got to back up. This Saturday, the M/V Sea Lion received reports of killer whales off the west side of San Juan Island, heading north through Haro Strait. We set off with Capt. Mike, Naturalist Sarah, and myself to go find these big, black and white animals on another spectacularly beautiful, sunny, spring day.

As we...

Yesterday we were greeted by the happy news that there is yet another new calf in the endangered Southern Resident community of orcas, and the sixth born into the familial grouping known as J Pod.

NOAA scientists observed a new calf travelling between J14 Samish and J37 Hy’Shqa on in the last few days and confirmed the sighting yesterday. Right now there is no confirmation on which female is the mother, but that is not unusual as all females within a family will take an...