Weekly Whale Round Up

This past week we had one whale of a time out on the Salish Sea. Eyes were peeled, noses were pressed against the glass and binoculars were at the ready. In a whale-showdown, we ended up seeing orcas, porpoise, humpbacks and even a pair of gray whales. Our very own naturalist, Stephanie Raymond, provided us with this beautiful play-by-play.

“Last Wednesday was a really fantastic whale watch. We saw T65A2, a young male transient killer whale, chasing a porpoise, apparently just for sport. He raced up on the porpoise, lunging out of the water with each surfacing, and got within grabbing range, then backed off while the porpoise continued to zip ahead in desperation. The killer whale sped up again, caught up with the porpoise, and backed off. After several more rounds of this game, he returned to his mom and siblings who were hunting seals about a quarter mile away.

The larger groups of humpbacks have been splitting up and scattering around the Salish Sea in the past week. On Sunday, we found a lone humpback in Rosario Strait near the entrance to Guemes Channel. We then continued on to Smith and Minor Islands where two [more humpbacks] were hanging around the north end of the island.

We tried to identify these whales based on the patterns on the underside of their tail flukes, but they weren’t in the catalog of whales known to be regular visitors here. Several passengers [are] submitting their photos to the Center for Whale Research, so their presence will be documented and we will see if these whales do become regular visitors in summers to come.

Yesterday we had a very unusual sighting of a pair of gray whales, seemed to be a mother and calf, again by Smith and Minor Islands where they were apparently feeding on the sandy bottom there. It is very uncommon to see grays here this time of year. I suspect these two were late leaving the breeding grounds in Baja, and now mom needs to replenish her fat stores before she can make it to the summer feeding grounds in Alaska.

After spending some time with the grays, we headed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and found some minke whales lunge-feeding around Hein Bank in some bumpy seas. [We] were thrilled to see them surging up out of the waves, scattering the birds who had come to feed on the forage fish the whales chased to the surface.”

Come take a ride on the wild side with us, and see the “humpback comeback” for yourself. Orca whales more your thing? With seven babies born last year, there are more “orcatunities” than ever this summer. Whether you’ve never been whale watching or consider yourself an expert on dorsal fin profiles, seeing these magnificent marine mammals breach and spyhop in our local waters will leave you breathless.