4-22-14 First Humpback of the Season!

Tuesday, April 22nd
...we've been looking for the humpbacks, any humpback, one humpback would do...
...then finally on April 21st there was a humpback over by Race Rocks in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...
...it evidently had traveled this way and was picked up by one of the Island Roamer boat folks, who was hiking on one of the Canadian islands - lucky for all who got to see the humpback today.
...especially Colin and Amelia - ages 3 and 2...they were so excited when they saw their very first humpback...Colin said that he was going to invite his friends to come to see the humpback - it was so cute!
...that's a Bonaparte's gulls...lots up by East Pt. today...

...in the morning on the way out of the harbor I saw this GBH with a funny looking top notch...maybe just blowing in the wind...

...Capt. Jim and future Capt. Colin!

...now for those two kids to see the orcas in the wild and they'll be some new life long lovers of whales...who will tell their friends too!

4-19-14 They Got to See Orcas in the Wild for the First Time!

Saturday, April 19th

On with the rain gear, 

hold on to your hats,

for whale watching 

at the adventurous level!

...out on Maya's Westside Charters for a late afternoon trip...others had been with a group of transient killer whales for a while...they were heading in our direction...the wind was beginning to pick up...the seas were a bit 'bouncy', and none of our passengers had even seen orcas in the wild before - we were thrilled we would be able to change that!
...that's Spieden Island in the distance...

...the seas rarely look as rough in images as they are when you are on a boat...and getting pictures was quite the challenge...this was my first glimpse of young T137D through the boat window - any way I can get the image I'll try...this young one is about 2 years old now...I hadn't had an encounter with the T137s since before this one was born...(I'll be updating another page in the book!)

...I talked to Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research to find out who this little 'notched' whale was...the fin shape looked like T137C who had evidently died...but did he/she come back to life? :)...and it didn't match up to the baby pic in the catalog of T137D.  However, their unique fin shape won't always show up when they are newbies...
...a comparison of the two little guys we saw today:

...

...in this family of four,the T137s, three of the four have notches...

...T137B...no notches-yet, but one very large/broad dorsal fin for his/her age...

...the whales moved over closer to Henry Island...

...and continued to stay close to the shore until they passed by Kellett Bluff...

...a bit more and we left the whales going down island...there were 7 in total, the four T137s and the three T36As...it looked like they were pushing offshore a bit and going into even rougher seas...we already had some very wet folks, so we left the whales for another day...
...while posting this evening I heard some calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones at 8:57pm...brief...but they hadn't gone too far, at least for the moment...

...our boat full of 'newbies' had a great encounter...

Thank You Whales!

4-13-14 K Pod Showed Up - Creating Lots of Questions

Sunday, April 13th
...Residents?...Yes!...J pod?...No!...K pod-Yes!

...I bet some people are checking their sightings archives tonight!
Why?...well, it might be the first time that K pod has come in during April AND it might be the first time K pod has come in before J pod at this time of year...BUT I'm not sure...I too have to do some checking...

I do know it's the first sighting of K pod in many months - and thanks to the spotting by Ken Balcomb, head of the Center for Whale Research, and Dave Ellifrit, also of the Center, who got out there early in the day and confirmed that all of K pod was accounted for!

...this is the first sighting of any of the pods of the Southern Resident Community since March 3rd, when J pod was seen heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...

...out on Maya's Westside Charters for the afternoon trip...David had met the whales at Race Rocks on the morning trip and we needed to fuel up...timing is always great...and when we headed down Haro Strait the whales had already started crossing over toward San Juan Island...
...the had split into three groups...we met the most northerly group...that's the Olympic Mountains in the distance...

...it was the K13 family group (7 whales)...Skagit K-13 spyhopped several different times as the whales crossed the strait...

...I could see Lime Kiln lighthouse in the distance...

...one more spyhop and down island they went at a steady pace...

...the K13s began porpoising and continued that for about 25 minutes...

...they met up with the rest of K pod members and all began traveling east...

...when I looked at my pictures a bird caught my eye (see ? above) ...what kind of bird is that?...I have no idea...

...Sequim K-12 and some of her family members...

...I learned later that the whales had gone east for a while and then turned and headed back...

lots of questions: - back to where?...back out? up San Juan Channel? up the west side? (didn't see them before dark)...or did they change direction again and head east?

Did they come in looking for J pod?
Did they come in because someone is going to give birth?
I don't think they came in looking for food, because I think J pod would have done that first.
So where is J pod?
...and the list of questions goes on and on...

Tomorrow may shed a bit more light on the subject...

4-12-14 Whales Almost In Friday Harbor!

Saturday, April 12th
...over the Lime Kiln hydrophones in the early morning...

Later...
...just as we were about to leave the dock on Maya's Westside Charters another boat spotted whales just entering Spieden Channel...they were heading east in the channel and passed by Lonesome Cover Resort...

...we stopped to see some Steller sea lions hauled out at Green Pt...183R is a 'regular' and the arrow points to what appears to be a juvenile Steller sea lion.

...T77A and T49C were moving down San Juan Channel, zigging and zagging...then they were down for several minutes...then...
-a disturbance at the surface
-Steller sea lion back flippers at the surface
-the whales surfacing down island from the Steller
-the Steller took a few moments before getting out of there!

-the two whales continued down San Juan Channel...after about 45 minutes they were on to something...one whale would be down while the other remained at the surface for 3 minutes...then they would switch...it continued in three minute intervals for close to a half hour...they had something down and were not letting it surface to get a breath...
...then at 3:36 they were both up at the same time and one of them surfaced with a high spyhop!  bingo - lunch was ready!

...gulls began to show up to get their lunch...

...one of the boys tail slapped several times repeatedly...tenderizing his meal perhaps...

...after a while they seemed to spend a bit of time roughhousing...

...

...then they headed for Friday Harbor...

...they passed the entrance to the harbor and went in the south entrance to Jensen Boatyard and Marina!...this was getting pretty wild...not common for whales in come into this tight area...

...they didn't stay long and turned and came back out along the south side and continued to head down island...
...we saw these two whales three days ago as they traveled to the north...I wonder when we will see them next and which direction they will be going then!

4-10-14 This Killer Whale Family Needs a Nickname

Thursday, April 10th
...out on Maya's Westside Charters for an afternoon trip...shortly after leaving the dock we got word of whales sighted in the Strait of Georgia...

...

 ...

...it wasn't until I was looking at my images from the day that I noticed something very unusual on T123...
...at first I thought my focus was off, until I zoomed in...

...'wrong'? well, only because her smooth skin just wasn't...
...then I looked back at the last time I saw her...

...I only got one other image that showed more of the markings...

...I sent the images to the Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research, and to Jared Towers of the DFO Biological Station at Nanaimo..it will be interesting to hear back as to what these markings are from...
...there are so many marks...and they all appear to be horizontal lines...there is one section (bottom arrow) that even has a small divot out of it...and the other 2 arrows point to where it there are other small divots...

...well, she seemed just as normal as can be with her oldest, T123A and young one, I think about 2 years old,...

...T123A has had a skin issue for a while now...aside from the tagging remains, notice how patchy his dorsal fin is...it is like that on both sides...

...now both mom and oldest offspring have skin issues...

...it's just

 'begging for a nickname' 

for this family...