July 17th and 18th: A Couple Days at Lime Kiln

The whales have continued to be around on almost a daily basis, which means I've been out watching them a lot and getting way behind on blog posts! Here's my start at an attempt to catch up.

On July 17th and 18th I spent a lot of time out at Lime Kiln, and got rewarded with lots of whales. On the 17th I was there as the J2s, J19s, K13s, and K14s went north, and then a short while later, back south.

A full body breach by (I think) K42 Kelp

One of the neatest things about this encounter was that a Lummi canoe was on the water with the whales. They were playing a drum and chanting, offering a prayer to their orca relations. It was very moving to witness.

On Saturday, July 18th I spent about eight hours at Lime Kiln, seeing the whales five times! It started with the J2s, J19s, K13s, and K14s going north around 1 PM and then back south at 2 PM.

What goes up must come down - K26 Lobo heading north....

K26 Lobo

....and then coming back south MUCH closer to shore:

K26 Lobo right off the rocks at Lime Kiln

Some people "complain" (not too seriously) when the whales are "too close" to get fully in their photos. Personally, I love "partial whale" shots - even intentionally staying zoomed in sometimes when I could zoom out and get the full whale. This surfacing by Lobo was one of those times.

Partial whale - gives you a sense of just how close he was, and how tall that dorsal fin is

I always love the water splash when you get to see a surfacing this close, too

In between these first two orca passbys, a minke whale came by too, startling me out of the book I was reading. This whale has been around a lot - he's got a distinct notch in his fin, and is affectionately known as Nick Jagger.

Nick Jagger - a well known local minke

I wasn't surprised this group of Js and Ks didn't go north, because we heard the rest of J- and K-Pods were inbound. Indeed, at 5:30 PM, we could see some of them coming across Haro. It looked like they were all going to go south, when the J16s and J22s split off and went north around 6:30 PM. They came back south again at 9:15 PM, just in time for sunset.

J16 Slick at sunset. Sunset whales = the best kind of whales.

True to form, little J50 was being her spunky little self. She's one of the most active baby orcas I've ever seen, usually jumping and rolling and splashing at the surface in some way, shape, or form. It's hard to believe she's seven months old already!

J50 breaching, with her older brother J26 Mike in the background

She breached her way all the way past the lighthouse!

As she got past the glow of the sunset, it got too dark to take still photos - though in one blurry shot I did catch her and a pink salmon jumping at the same time:

J50 and a salmon breaching at the same time

I switched to video at this point to try and give those who haven't met her in a person a glimpse as to why she's captured so many hearts so quickly:

Also, I've seen a lot at Lime Kiln over the years.....but I've never seen this! Still not sure exactly what was going on:

August 13th ~ A Magical Evening at Lime Kiln

After a very sunny, dry summer we finally got a couple days of much-needed rain. The temperatures were still warm, but with it being so gray out, it was easy to hole up, and I was already in my pajamas at home after work when I heard that whales were heading towards the west side. I debated staying comfy, but only for a moment - soon I was out the door with camera bag in hand. Good decision!

It was one of those nights where most of the people on the rocks are your friends. That's one of the things I love about Lime Kiln - moments like that. The lighting was ethereal as the fog banks came and went. It had the essence of winter about it - except it was warm, and still light after 6 PM!

The mood - foggy some directions....

....clear in others

We couldn't see that far too the north, so weren't sure how close the whales were. We did have a bit of a wait, but there was plenty of stuff to look at, including a Steller sea lion and a couple of bait balls:

See the two with mouths full of fish?

Who says glaucous-winged gulls aren't diving birds?

Finally it cleared enough that we could see a line of whales coming - but then the fog came back in as they passed us. It was pretty neat, though hard to focus the camera!

There was a gap between this first group of whales and the next one, and during this time a minke whale went by way off shore!

There was also a great blue heron drifting towards us on some kelp. First it caught a gunnel:

That's a fish hanging out of the heron's beak

Then the heron took flight, and landed on another raft of kelp right in front of us! With the lighting, it was perfect:

Next up were J42 Echo, who paused to presumably pursue a fish:

J42 Echo

And not far away was big brother J26 Mike, with an amazing blue-gray backdrop:

J26 Mike

Pretty much the only people at the lighthouse other than whale-watching friends of mine were this couple getting married! Perhaps not the weather they were hoping for, but still not bad timing!

Exchanging vows, then watching whales - all from the top of the lighthouse!

Then the fog REALLY moved in. As J2 Granny came by, we could hear her before we could see her, and then glimpse her only barely. The next couple of whales we couldn't see at all!

Shore-based whale-watching in the fog

Boat-based whale-watching in the fog

Finally, just as I was going up the hill to leave, the fog lifted again just enough to see L87 Onyx rocketing by the lighthouse, a bit behind the others.

Just another one-of-a-kind night at Lime Kiln! :)

Minke Whales, Steller Sea Lions, and Sea Birds

This morning the orcas were all way up north by the city of Vancouver, BC and heading north (away from us), so we decided to go south to see if any might have stayed down there and to see what other great wildlife we could find. On our way down San Juan Channel we came across a big Steller sea lion in the water, which actually came right at us and checked us out! We also saw several harbor seals, including this one which also popped up close to the boat:

The seas were a little bit rougher out where Haro Strait meets the Strait of Juan de Fuca but we decided to give it a good circle about four miles offshore to see if we could find any orcas or minke whales. At first, all we saw were lots and lots of birds. There were a couple of bait balls where multiple species of gull were foraging, and we also saw several rafts that probably totaled at least a couple hundred rhinoceros auklets. There were a few groups of common murres, and several red-necked phalaropes. The phalaropes are so tiny but they never seem to skittish of boats, so I was able to get this shot of one in flight:

After adding only a single bird to my species year list (the Heermann's gull) in July, I knew I would be hard pressed to add any more species in August. But with Dave recently adding the black redstart and little owl to his European year list, I just had to follow suit! There was no better way to do than with the sighting of a single Cassin's auklet (215) today. I only had the briefest of looks, but there's no other small, stocky charcoal-colored sea bird that it could have been. What a great find! I'll have to look for more of them next time I'm out there.

As we looped back towards San Juan Island we were successful in picking up a minke whale, but it was living up to it's name as a slinky minke and we didn't get the best of looks as it zig-zagged around in the choppy water. After watching it for three or four sets of surfacings, we headed back towards Cattle Pass where a half-dozen Steller sea lions were hauled out on the rocks. We have now been seeing these guys regularly for the last week, so it appears they are "back" for the winter - a good month earlier than normal! I wonder if these are some males that weren't as successful breeding this year and decided to hit the foraging grounds early? Or perhaps with the increase in the sea lion population they are simply expanding their range - that would be nice! Whatever the reason, it is good to see them.

By the way, check out that water in front of the sea lions! The waves in Cattle Pass were pretty impressive on the incoming flood tide, looking more like river rapids than anything else as they often do in that area.

Before heading back to Friday Harbor we got a report of another minke whale, this time in the calmer waters of San Juan Channel. We got much better views of this animal, which was also larger than the first minke whale we saw.

On its last surfacing before we had to leave, the minke came up just off the port side of the boat, close enough that we could hear it breathe! It's not often you get this view of a minke, looking from behind it directly at its dorsal fin - cool!

Today was one of those days where the orcas were just out of reach for us, but on the other hand we saw lots of other great birds and marine mammals so it was still a fantastic trip.

Transients South of Discovery Island

We had a fantastic trip today aboard the Western Prince. For the first time this spring, the waters were glassy calm for our excursion, and while there was still a chill in the air the sun was shining. Our first stop was Whale Rocks, where we saw and heard about a dozen Steller sea lions growling at each other, with the nearby harbor seals seemingly taking no notice. As we continued out Cattle Pass, the water conditions were perfect for getting a nice look at about eight harbor porpoise that all surfaced together in a few brief bursts.

As we cruised out towards Salmon Bank, we spotted a minke whale among the pelagic cormorants, rhinoceros auklets, and glaucous-winged gulls that were foraging. I noticed this particular minke had a notch on the leading edge of its dorsal fin (see photo below - click to see a larger view). I forwarded the sighting with the picture to the Northeast Pacific Minke Whale Project. Not only will our sighting we added to their database, but maybe they can tell me which whale it is!

Next we got the good news that some transient orcas had been sighted heading in the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Often transients are in stealth mode, interested in going undetected as they look for the next hunting opportunity. Not so today, as the twelve or so orcas we saw were in more of a playful mood. In fact, our first good look at them included the first of several big spyhops we saw!

Several of our passengers had heard recent news reports about transients recently ramming a gray whale in Puget Sound, just a little ways south of us here. You can check out an article and some video footage about this incident here. There have been several groups of transients roaming the area lately, and some of the whales involved in the recent gray whale incident were among the whales we saw today. Here is a group of them surfacing with the southern tip of Vancouver Island in the background:

While I'm pretty good at identifying Southern Resident orcas, who spend a lot of their time here in the summer months year after year, I'm less familiar with the transient population, which roams further and with less predictability. I did, however, recognize the big male T87 - the same male we saw last Sunday who has a distinct couple of notches near the top of his fin. Here is T87 surfacing with a female whale in front of him:

There were two males in the group: T87, who is pictured above, and T30A, pictured below.

These two males demonstrate nicely how we identify transients when comparing what we see to the photo ID guides. T87 has a notch, and T30A has some black scratches and serious rake marks near on his saddle patch. Those uniform rake marks look like they may have been caused by the teeth of another orca. While orcas aren't ever seen to really fight each other, they may bite each other as a form of discipline or other communication. Here's a cropped version that shows T30A's saddle patch better:

I have to give thanks to Jeanne who filled me in on the whales present today. In addition to T87 and T30A, we had T88, T90, and T90B (also among the whales we saw Sunday); T30, T30B, and T30C; and the final family group was T124, T124C, T124D, and T124E. The T stands for transient, and the number indicates the order in which the whales were identified. If a whale has a name like T124C, it means she was the third offspring (A, B, C) of the whale T124.

Finally, the strangest thing I saw today - something which I had never seen before - a whale surfacing backwards! It's hard to tell based on the photo below except that this whale is facing the opposite direction of all the others as seen in my other pictures above. On two occasions, this whale came up going from left to right but facing backwards. First its dorsal fin came up, followed by its head. This picture was taken right before she resubmerged.

Now, I know belugas are noted for their ability to swim backwards, but what about orcas? I've never heard of it, and indeed I'm not sure if if it possible. So, if this whale wasn't propelling itself, it must have been pushed by another whale underneath it! Very bizarre!

A Spectacular October Wildlife Day

We've had some rainy, blustery weather during the last week, but yesterday there was a break in the stormy weather and we had a fantastic wildlife trip aboard the Western Prince. It was overcast and chilly, but the seas were calm as we headed out of Friday Harbor to see what we could see.

Our first stop was in San Juan Channel where we paused to see a pair of bald eagles perched along the shoreline of Lopez Island. The eagles take a 4-6 week absence around the month of September as they, as far as I understand it, head over to the mainland of Washington and feed on the salmon that are spawning over there. Other than that short break, bald eagles are year-round residents here, and now that we're halfway into October they're back to being a common sight here in the San Juans.

Next we pulled over to Whale Rocks, where more than 60 Steller sea lions were either hauled out on the rocks or swimming in the water. Local pinniped populations are booming, and I think there are more Stellers hanging out at Whale Rocks than I've seen in recent years. The males all crowd together on the haul outs during the winter season, but they're territorial during the summer at the breeding rookeries. Some of that animosity carries over to this time of year, as they were roaring and growling at one another and we saw a few try to bite each other.

Whale Rocks - photo by Sarah Taber

On our way over to Long Island to see a bald eagle nest (and another adult bald eagle perched nearby), there was a smaller rock covered in harbor seals. Unlike the seasonal sea lions, the harbor seals are here year-round, but they get displaced from Whale Rocks by their larger cousins this time of year. The seals are not small animals - about five feet long and 200 pounds - but they look amazingly small after looking at the twelve-foot, 2000 pound adult male Steller sea lions.

Our plan was to circumnavigate San Juan Island, so we started heading north in Haro Strait along the westside of the island. We didn't get too far before we spotted a minke whale near Eagle Point. We often call them "slinky minkes" because they can be very erratic in their surfacings, but this one came up in relatively the same spot allowing us to get nice views of about a half-dozen surfacings.

Off of Lime Kiln Lighthouse we ran into a mob of Dall's porpoise. Dall's were uncharacteristically absent for much of the summer, but since the beginning of September they've been back in huge numbers. We estimated there were probably between 60-75 of them in the area, when often we will encounter fewer than ten! For a while we kept up our speed and they were riding on our bow and surfing in our stern wake. One of the coolest wildlife sightings you can have here in the San Juans is looking straight down at a porpoise swimming just feet below you as it gets pushed along by the bow of your boat, but the best part of our encounter today actually happened when we stopped the boat to just hang out with them. A group of about twenty of them started circling the boat at high speeds as if to say, "Hey! Why did you stop playing with us?!" Then, rather than zip off along their way, they slowed down but still kept swimming around the boat for about ten minutes. It was beautiful and you really got a chance to take in their striking colorations as you looked down underwater and saw their whole bodies twist and turn as they effortlessly glided through the water. It was one of the best and longest Dall's porpoise encounters I've ever had. Eventually it was time to continue on our way, but even as we left a few more porpoise rode the bow and swam alongside the boat.

Dall's porpoise bow-riding - photo by Sarah Taber

We went through Mosquito Pass between San Juan and Henry Islands, which is a narrow channel with a no-wake zone which gives you time to slow down and take in the scenery. In addition to the common murres, Pacific loons, and pelagic cormorants we had seen earlier in the trip, in the Pass we saw a flock of approximately 150 surf scoters and also a group of Bonaparte's gulls.

Next stop was Spieden Island, and the exotic land mammals that live there were out in full force as we saw dozens of Mouflon sheep, fallow deer, and Sika deer grazing on the hillsides. It's rutting season, and that was fully apparent as we saw an anterled fallow deer male chasing a female at one end of the island, and a male Mouflon ram chasing a female along the cliffs a little further along. Another treat was off Green Point at the end of Spieden Island, where another ten Steller sea lions were in the water. Three of them "spy-hopped" near the boat, craning their necks to get a look at us as we looked at them. Then the whole gang of them swam off together, with two different pairs of them surfacing repeatedly nose-to-nose. Finally, our last sighting as we headed back down San Juan Channel towards Friday Harbor, was of a lone steller sea lion surfacing with a fish and being harassed by a few dozen gulls.

I didn't take any photos today (Sarah, one of our other naturalists, came along and took the photos above), but just took in all of the amazing encounters we had. This time of year the orcas aren't around quite as regularly, but even though they haven't been sighted for a few days I wouldn't hesitate to call this one of our best trips of the season. We really saw nearly all the other wildlife we routinely see here in the San Juans, from the massive "grizzly bears of the sea" (the Steller sea lions) and solitary minke whales to the flocks of sea birds, cute harbor seals, and zippy, playful Dall's porpoise.

Bizarre Orange Algae(?) and Spread Out Ks and Ls

Today was the second day I observed a strange orange patch on the surface of the water. I'm assuming its some sort of algal bloom? Its very diffuse and cloudy looking, as you can see at the bottom of the photo. Both times I've seen this the patches have been in zig-zaggy lines maybe 10-15 yards long, and don't seem to penetrate more than a foot or two deep. Any ideas what this might be, anyone?

This afternoon on the Western Explorer we headed out toward Hein Bank where K-Pod, L-Pod, and perhaps a portion of J-Pod were spread out over several foraging. On the way out we stopped to check out a good sized bait ball of feeding birds, and one of our passengers spotted a separate little flock of birds that turned out to be my first red-necked phalaropes of the season. I was expecting them any day now....cool!

The whales were going on uncharacteristically long dives of up to 7 minutes, but we had the chance to check out several different small groups of 1-4 animals. At first we followed who I believe might have been K12 Sequim and K37 Rainshadow. There was a minke whale in the area with them, and at one point the minke surfaced within 100 yards of the orcas and just a second or two after they dove. You have to wonder what the two different cetacean species make of each other!

After watching K21 Cappucino and his sister K40 Raggedy swim by, we followed along big male L74 Saanich for a little while. He has such a broad dorsal fin:

It was a calm Pacific Northwest afternoon, with gray skies and flat calm waters, to the point where it was hard to differentiate the sky from the water. Do you see the horizon in the photo below? This is L100 Indigo, an eight year-old male who was travleing with his mom and younger brother:

It was beautiful lighting for watching the whales, but a bit hard for making out saddle patches to get IDs. We saw several little family groups like this one traveling together:

It was hard to leave as even when we started to make our way back towards Friday Harbor we would run into spread out groups of whales. The last ones we watched were the K14 family group (K14 Lea and her three offspring), including big male K26 Lobo, pictured below:

Did you join us on this or another trip with Western Prince? We always appreciate your reviews on Trip Advisor.