Killers and Humpback Whales

Biggs Orca in San Juan Channel

This morning I was drinking coffee I was reading about a pod of Orca that had just seen in San Juan Channel. For our first tour, I met up with the T18s who had made their way up into Boundary Pass. We viewed them for a while, then moved on. Our morning tour consisted of Killers and Humpback Whales.

Whales and Bait-Ba

While we were still viewing the Orca, there was a bait-ball up ahead of them. A bait-ball is a school of small fish that are bunchged up together trying not to be eaten. The idea that it is safer in numbers if my cousins get eaten before I do. That doesnt help much though when a Humpback Whale comes along and engulfs the entire bait-ball in one swallow. Sometimes seals feed on a bait-ball. In this case, I predicted that the Orca would mess with the birds feeding on the bait-ball. I told my guests to keep an eye on the seagulls. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later the birds erupted into flight. The Orca did mill around there for a bit so they may have fed on a harbor seal, but we did not see the evidence. Look for this in the pics, first with birds on the water feeding, second the birds took flight, third you see the orca surface where the birds had just been.

After leaving the Orca, we headed for Skipjack Island to see Bald Eagles and Harbor Seals. Then we shifted over the border into Canada to see a Humpback Whale for a couple of surfacings. I stopped by Patos Island for a pic of the Lighthouse, and then we made our way back to the harbor.

More Humpbacks

Our second tour, we had to travel further north into Canada and started scanning for an elusive Humpback Whale. We saw it a couple of times from a distance, but the dive times were long and direction erratic. We moved on towards the Orca, but I stumbled on two more humpback whales which we viewed for a couple of looks.

Navy Ships

We saw a couple of Navy ships; one was US Navy and the other Her Majesties Ship (HMS). It was another excellent afternoon tour seeing killers and humpback whales.

T18’s Again

Moving on to the T18s again, we viewed them as long as we could before needing to get back for my guests to catch a ferry to Lopez Island. I didn’t leave in time though so we stopped off to see bald eagles and harbor seals. Then I delivered them to Lopez Island myself, knowing they were to be walk-on passengers.