16 March 2011
We went to Spieden Channel and happened upon more transients traveling east. - T18, T19, T19B and T19C.
More of the interesting encounter with the Spieden Channel Ts and the Steller sea lions on my blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island, WA
6 April 2011
Distant calls audible.
The Transient's were last seen at Bauza Cove, SLOWLY heading west, at 1916. The current has turned to ebb, since then, but we are still hearing distant chatter on CP hydrophone.
Leah and Marie
06 Apr 2011 20:46:43 PDT
The transients from April 6th were IDed as: T018's, T137, T137A, T137B, and likely T036A. Thank you to Graeme Ellis from DFO Pacific Biological Station for assistance with the ID's.
Marie & Leah
May 12, 2011
5-12-2011 on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon, after receiving a call, we headed north and west to the north side of Galiano Island, B.C. where we encountered T20 and T21 heading east at 3:00. Farther east another boat came across T137, T137A and T137B. T137C was not present. Another boat was about 3 miles northwest of our location, returning to Vancouver, and came across several other whales. We did not see those whales and left the scene at 3:40. We made a return trip and at 5:35 encountered the same whales. However, this time many more whales approached from the west and joined the others. There was quite a lot of above water vocalizing and extraordinary surface action. The whales present included some of the same whales that were photographed at Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, B.C. Wednesday. The whales ID'd on the late encounter were: T20, T21, T137, T137A, T137B, T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T18, T19, T19B, T19C, T23, T23D, T26 and T26A. There was a total of 22 whales identified and possibly one or two more. I'll post more about the encounter along with a video clip and pictures on myblog.
Jeanne Hyde , San Juan Island
May 22
Out with Aboriginal Journeys watching
Transient orcas T-018s, plus others. 5 animals total. 4 miles west of Savary Island in the Straight of Georgia.
Nick Templeman
May 22
All day long, the same group of Transient Orca which included T019B T018 and T023 were almost down to Powell River. Although I scanned during the day, not a blow, splash or dorsal was spotted off Powell River. The closest they got was around Grant's Reef, just South of Sentry Shoal. This morning the Whale Watching boats caught up with them just inside Discovery Channel by Cape Mudge. So they didn't go very far. They did take a couple of Sea Lions close to Mittlenatch Island.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
May 25,2011
Well, as per our "norm" this year, we left the dock with vague rumors and muffled hints of perhaps maybe whales in the Salish Sea area. As we left the dock, we had a report of 5-6 orcas up near Gabriola Island, which was way too far for us. But we thought where there's one group, perhaps another one is lurking a bit closer. As we passed Flattop Island, we got another 2nd hand report of whales "somewhere between Active Pass and Pt. Roberts." Still a lot of area, but smaller than before. So we headed towards Eastpoint to view the Steller Sea Lions, and had just made the corner when out of nowhere----WHALES! I love it when our boat finds the whales that no one knows are around. Turns out we had stumbled upon T18 and T19, T19B, and T19C. As they passed offshore of Boiling Reef, T19B went into overdrive and started rooster-tailing a huge spray off his dorsal fin. Hunting!!!! 5-6 high speed zig zags and it was over, and the group had a nice little snack on a small harbor porpoise. After lunch, the whales seemed to be a bit more sedate and continued around the point and headed for Skipjack. We wondered why we were the only boat with this great group of whales, and then we heard on the VHF that a large group of approximately 20 Transients (I think the T100s and T102s were a part of that group) were quite aways behind us heading for Alden Bank. AND another group were up near the Bellchain Islands. At last count, this meant we had about 28 Transients in the Strait of Georgia! So much for vague rumors! It was an amazing day.
John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, Friday Harbor, WA
May 25, 2011
On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we headed up Boundary Pass toward East Pt. where transients had been spotted. The 1st group we encountered were 4 whales, which included T19B (I could see three other whales with him & am assuming his constant companions T18, T19 and T19C, but I didn't get pictures of them for proof of presence.) We left them and headed toward Alden Bank. Just north of Sucia Island we encountered a 2nd group: T124C, T124A, T124A2, T124A3 and T124A4. We continued on and encountered a 3rd group: T100, T100B, T100B1, T100C, T100E, T101, T101A, T101B, T102, T124, T124D, T124E, T124A1, T36, T36B,and T36B1. They changed direction and the 2nd group and the 3rd group joined up heading back in the direction of Pt. Roberts.
On our way home, traveling through Boundary Pass we encountered a 4th group: T137, T137A and T137B. A grand total of 28 killer whales.
Of course I'll be posting to my blog about this exciting day on the water.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
May 28 , 2011
After an hour of solid travel, several sea birds, numerous islands and a swimming harbor seal, we edged up to East point off Saturna Island. And there they were: a pod of transient orcas!
As we approached the area, we heard through the vessel radio grapevine that the pod may have made a recent Steller sea lion kill. When we got to the scene, the whales were zig-zagging and milling about; no obvious foraging activity was seen. While observing the pod, we noticed a very large adult male dorsal fin that had significant lean to the left and was very curved for a male. The other individuals in the pod appeared to be females and juveniles. Later, another vessel identified one of the orcas as T18.
After ten minutes or so, the pod started traveling faster towards the south, moving more erratically and then thrashing about. The hunt was on! And it looked like another Steller sea lion was the target. We saw the pod of four orcas thrashing about, throwing their bloody red tasty morsel in the air. At one point, it looked like the sea lion had gotten away and it made some headway with about forty feet of distance from the whales. But then the transients caught up to their meal and continued thrashing and tossing it around. Eventually, the male and a second orca split off from the other two, leaving the latter to contend with the sea lion. Time was running out for our whale watch and we began making our way back to Friday Harbor. All in all, quite an exciting day. Seeing transient orca whales feed is never a boring event, especially with the thrashing, breaching and tossing of a bleeding sea lion in the air!
Serena, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris, San Juan Island, WA
June 7, 2011
Got back to the dock after two trips today (6/7) and hear that four Orcas are at Lime Kiln. We all ran to the head and went back out in time to see the Transient Orcas T18 and the T19s, take a Dall's Porpoise off of Mitchell Pt., West Side, San Juan Island in Haro Strait (see photo below). Life and death in the San Juans! Amazing! 5:00 PM, June 7.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island, WA
Transient Orca with Dall's porpoise (dinner), San Juan Island, June 7, 2011
Photo by Jim Maya, Maya's West Side Charters
