Biggs T49A's Orca Sharing

Biggs Taking Down a Minke Whale?

Today’s tours with Biggs T49A’s Orca sharing some exciting moments was pretty amazing. I am not positive what they were chowing down on, but it was going on for more than three hours. Had it been a seal or sea lion it would not have lasted that long. I believe that it was a minke whale. Minke Whales are the second smallest baleen whale next to the Pigmy Right Whale.

We saw a couple of spy hops and breaches that I did not capture with the lens, but got a few tail lobs. The seagulls were going nuts the whole time we were out there. They dive down and pick up bits of whale blubber floating on the surface. Towards the end of the first tour, they started traveling towards Cattle Pass and San Juan Channel.

T49A1 Nabs a Harbor Seal

On the second tour, I headed back down towards them, and they were abeam of Griffin Bay northbound in San Juan Channel. T49A1, an 18-year-old huge boy, was over beachcombing the Lopez shoreline.

Slowly making our way over to view him, we witnessed something super cool to see. At one point he changed direction moving offshore again. I saw a seal with a very long neck looking towards the Orca. We noticed what seemed like a tide rip in a very large full arc pointing right at us as we were looking off to port.

The boat was shut down, and the seal tried to take refuge under my boat. Then I heard the whale blow behind me on the starboard side. I turned and looked, and the whale had surfaced right beside us. Then he was again on the port side thrashing his head side to side. Though I did not see the seal again or any blood, I am sure he had caught him and was tearing into the seal.

After a few surfacings, he finally moved on. We then navigated back towards the others to try and get a decent shot of the 1-1/2 years old. Baby. They had changed direction and were heading back towards the male into Upright Channel, leaving them for a bit to see some Bald Eagles. After a few more looks at the Biggs T49A’s Orca sharing their stuff made a great tour. We made our way back to Friday Harbor ending a perfect day.