Many Biggs Orca Nearby

We had many biggs orca nearby today. An early report with a pic showed orca in Johns Pass just north of us. I left with my first tour, and we stopped off to see Bald Eagles and some Harbor Seals with pups from a distance.

I took us through John’s Pass, and we made our way to the northwest tip of Stuart Island where Turn Point Lighthouse is. The orca was not making significant headway; rather, they were stationary just bucking the ebb tide. This group of orcas is known as the T124s. T124C is a lone male and is traveling with cousins and extended family.

I was able to get some beautiful shots, and then they moved towards the lighthouse. As they were within the frame of the lighthouse, I snapped a couple of shots.

Then we scanned for Humpback Whales on our way back to the harbor. We stopped off to see Harbor Seal pups and a Black Oystercatcher. I think I went overboard on the Black Oystercatchers but he was such a willing poser.

Multiple Pods of Orca

On our afternoon tour, I took us north again and on the way we saw Bald Eagles, Black Oystercatcher and Rhinoceros Auklet. Then we were with the T65As, T65Bs, and T77s including T77A

At one point all the boats had to shut down because they showed up in the middle of everybody. We had a disconcerting event take place just before this and wondering if it is related. There were two outbound bulk carrier ships. The first the Global Eternity responded to a call on Victoria Traffic channel 11 and acknowledged the presence of at least a dozen whales in front of him. The pilot directed the ship further east and passed safely around the whales.

The second ship’s pilot refused to acknowledge the call on Victoria Traffic, channel 11. He did not go out, and around the multiple pods of whales, he drove straight down the middle of the whales with whale watching vessels on both sides of him. He also did not sound any warning signal, bearing down on a research vessel doing its job among the whales. At one point, a comment was made that killer whales can avoid a freighter. I can’t say that the criticism came from the second ship’s pilot, but that is my suspicion. One of our whales, J34 DoubleStuf, was killed by blunt force trauma, meaning a ship strike.