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An Epic Day with Biggs Orca T65Bs and T65A2
I don’t use the word epic, much and actually, I don’t recall ever using it. However, today was an epic day on the water with the Biggs Orca T65Bs and T65A2. We had mom, T65B. The oldest son, 8-year-old T65B1, and T65B2. Tagging along for about a week now is T65A2, a 15-year-old male from T65A pod. Still, he is hanging with his aunt and cousins.
It’s a Boy
Today I captured a breaching shot of T65B2s underside. There is one slit on T65B2 meaning the young one is a male orca. If there had been three, two of those would have been mammary glands meaning it would be a female. As far as I know, he had not previously been sexed. But here is photo proof it is a boy.
We saw several kills today, and they were a very active pod of orca. If you look close to the mouths underwater in some of the shots, you will see some red seal meat.
Our first tour started out leaving the harbor and making our way around the corner to Griffin Bay. We stopped to see Harbor Seals and Rhinoceros Auklet on the way as we eased our way closer to the whales.
The Orcas were milling around, multi-directional with no seeming destination. A couple of times today they popped up among the boats. That is a time when we were already shut down, and we stay shut down. Other times if we are running and they pop up close we are to stop our propulsion and shut down until they are well clear of us.
Sea Birds and Harbor Seals
After viewing them in Griffin Bay for a while, we eased our way back out of the bay and made our way to Whale Rocks. There were zero Stellar Sea Lions on the rocks today. Even the juvenile Stellars that have been hanging around are now gone and will be back later in the year. We viewed a few species of sea birds and seals and started back towards the harbor. On the way again we stopped to get a couple of last looks at the whales as they neared Fishermans Villiage on Lopez Island.
For the afternoon tour, we left the harbor and started towards the T65Bs once again. They were now interisland between Lopez, Shaw, Blakely, and Orcas Islands. Last night they made their way up into East Sound, Orcas Island. Today they eventually made their way up into West Sound, Orcas Island.
Blood Boil from a Harbor Seal Kill
Before West Sound though, they made a couple kills. The blood boil can be seen in the water and meat in the mouths of the Orca, including the baby boy, T65B2. A few seagulls and a bald eagle were diving for scraps. I don’t think the eagle was able to grab anything.
I flagged down a couple of fast boats roaring towards the whales. It is incredible that some just don’t get it that they are roaring through a line of several whale watching vessels, that there might be whales present. As we were making our way west through Harney Channel, the Washington State Ferry Tillikum departed Shaw terminal and was crossing the channel to Orcas Terminal. I called the ferry and let the captain know he had Orca off his starboard bow. He slowed down, and when the orca pod surfaced right in his path, he did stop his engines and drift until the whales were well clear. Great job, WSF’s.
When the whales made their way up towards the end of West Sound, they made another kill, this one a seal as seen in one of my shots.
Back to the Harbor
It was time to head back, and the kids had yet to see a Harbor Seal, so I found a bunch of them for the kids to view. Then we made our way back to Friday Harbor ending a spectacular day on the water with the Biggs Orca T65Bs and T65A2.
Check out some of my other photoblog pages at Whale Tales.
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