Viewing the T65As Orcas

Searching for T65As

On our first tour, we made our way north searching for orca while on the way to a group of Humpback Whales. San Juan Channel was pretty rough, and so was Boundary Pass and Plumper Sound. When we broke out into the Strait of Georgia was flat calm. I was two miles away from the humpbacks when one of my guests spotted a humpback fluke just as it was diving. We watched this one for a few surfacings hoping for a fluke shot so I could identify it.

Meanwhile, another vessel spotted the same pod of orca we were searching for, this morning. I had left the T65As at Point Roberts the night before. Now we had a pretty cool day ahead of us viewing the T65As Orcas.

Reluctant Fluking

The humpback was not going to fluke for us, so we dropped back about four miles to view the Orca pod that had been located nearby. We spent the remainder of our time, plus some views the T65As. I didn’t want to leave, but I had two more tours to share our whales.

Calming Waters

On the second tour, the water had calmed down immensely. It was mostly calm. We watched the T65As make their way down Tumbo Island and begin tormenting a seal. They were doing the Killer Whale version of Whack-a-Mole, slapping at the seals head with their tails. I did not see the blood bath, but we did see seagulls diving for bits of leftover seal meat and fat.

Breaching Killer Whales

For the third tour, the water was even better than before. I was contemplating going to see the whales that were found out west in Juan de Fuca and were headed east towards San Juan. However, the seas were 3′ and 4′ and would have been very uncomfortable. North, however, the water was calm. We caught up with the T65As near Alden Bank, and they were just milling and playing around.

I captured several beautiful shots of breaching and playtime going on. We stayed until it was nearing dark and made our way back to Friday Harbor. It was a pretty fantastic day viewing the T65As Orcas. We also saw a mix of Glaucous-winged Gull’s, Harbor Seals, Rhinoceros Auklet, and Bald Eagles throughout the day.