Resident Orcas

Today Captain Pete and I left the dock on the Seahawk with a glorious sunny day, a boat full of curious and excited passengers, and plenty of whale reports from which to choose. Armed with our whale knowledge and eagerness to see wildlife, we headed North out of Roche Harbor. Right off the bat we were greeted in Mosquito Pass with a great blue heron taking off with its large, slow wingbeats as well as a bald eagle perched in a tree.

Heading out into Haro Strait towards...

Today Captain Nancy and I had yet another magical trip on the M/V Seahawk. We left the dock at noon with reports of all three resident killer whale pods to the south. The Southern Resident population consists of 79 individuals spread across three pods (J, K & L) and when all of the pods are together we call that a SUPERPOD! On the way to the southern end of San Juan Island we located a humpback whale. We were the first boat in the whale watching fleet with the whale and...

M/V Sea Hawk and guests headed south toward Eagle Point on San Juan Island. Along the way we encountered Dall's Porpoise surfacing and creating rooster tails! This was a big treat for everyone, and for myself because I have not been able to see Dall's Porpoise do this action before. When watching the Dall's, guests were able to see the muscular build of the Dall's, see a the black and white coloring of them, and see a slow surfacing and a rooster tail spray surfacing...

M/V Sea Hawk motored north to the Canadian Gulf Islands to meet up with J-Pod. When we reached our destination, J-Pod was grouped together and were resting. When first arriving on scene, I typically tell our guests the differences between males and females. Males have the tall dorsal fin that can get to six feet tall, whereas females have a curved back dorsal fin and that can reach three feet tall. With saying this, all our guests today were able to see the difference...

With a 1:30 departure out of Roche Harbor, M/V Sea Hawk and guests did not have to go far in order to encounter Orcas! Captain Jim took us outside the harbor and right away we were able to see the rest of the fleet with a group of Ks and Ls. Once on scene, we were able to see all the orcas in one big group! They were being playful with spyhops and breaches! This area is known to be a socializing area for these orcas and during the summer is when they are together most! It...

Today on M/V Sea Hawk, guests were able to see Resident Orcas just outside of Mosquito Pass. This group of orcas were first spotted today off of Saturna Island and throughout of the whole day they continued south. During peak season and any time from 10am to 8pm, the orcas have at least one whale watch boat with them. With this being peak season, it is common to see pleasure boats with our beloved orcas as well. There is one vessel in particular that watches the pleasure...

This morning, M/V Sea Hawk motored north toward Stuart Island. Just in between Spieden Island and Stuart Island we encountered a group offshore. We first saw a few of them porpoising quickly through the strait, and soon after we saw the whole family porpoising quickly out of the water. By doing this activity the group sped up to 12 knots! This is a pretty fast pace for our Resident Orcas to be traveling at. After trying to keep up with this lead group, we heard of another...

M/V Sea Hawk departed on the 3pm trip in hopes to head north. However, Captain Jim heard a report of Orcas closer, so we headed south out of Mosquito Pass. Earlier in the day we saw Js and Ks separate, Js moving north and Ks moving south. By the time we left, Js were already in the Strait of Georgia and Ks were around Eagle Point milling.

Since we know these are resident orcas, we know they are following the Chinook Salmon up to the Frasier River. This is exactly where Js...

Captain Jim and myself were aboard M/V Sea Hawk for two trips today! Our first trip departed at 9am and with no reports we headed south. The Sea Hawk was cruising at about 13 knots, the water was like glass, and there were no clouds in the sky! We got to about Eagle Point and still no reports.  Finally, once we were headed toward Discovery Island, we heard of Js and Ks inbound east of Discovery, it ended up being us being a little north of where the Resident orcas were...