T46's swing by Friday Harbor -Rhinoceros Auklet

The T46’s swing by Friday Harbor for a great way to end the day.

It was a very productive day. One of my regular guests saw my post looking for a couple of high school kids to do yard work. She asked if she could do it and I said yes. When she got to the island we started weeding and mowing, trimming and cleaning up the yard. I also needed to make a repair on the boats trim tab but didn’t have enough water at the ramp to pull the boat until about 3:30. We pulled the boat, repaired the tab, and took care of a couple more boat chores. We relaunched the boat and I headed for my slip. When I went to pay her she asked about credit towards future whale tours for her and her boyfriend and that was great for both of us.

Once tied up at the dock I received word that Orcas were nearing the harbor. Her ferry was late so we jumped in the boat and idled over to the whales approaching the harbor. These were the T46’s, minus the T46B1’s that include the white leucistic whale known as Tl’uk. Tl’uk means “Moon” in the Samish native language.

The ferry Tillikum was approaching and the pod began sprinting and appeared they would intersect the ferry. I tried hailing the ferry about a dozen times on channel 13, the USA’s bridge to bridge frequency used for passing arrangements. No response so I switched to channel 16, the international emergency distress and hailing channel that inspected vessels such as the Washington State Ferry Tillikuk are required by law to monitor.

I tried at least a dozen times with zero response. I switched back again to VHF 13 and after about the 10th attempt finally got the captain. I informed her she had a pod of orca sprinting towards an intersect of her course. Her response was “I don’t see any whales off my bow”. This is a response I have heard too often when they do not want to be bothered with whales in their presence and they continue on without reducing speed. It was her last stop of the day before tying up in the lay berth at Friday Harbor and calling it a day. Guess she just wanted to get home and couldn’t be bothered with a slow down. You will see her vessel in some of my pics with the whales.

I continued on with the whales until it was time to get back so my guest could catch the hour late ferry back to Anacortes.

This unexpected encounter was a pleasant surprise to end the day nicely.

“The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”
Jacques Cousteau