Sunday, May 25

Morning trip - J’s at Vendovi Island

This morning’s trip, although a little longer than normal, was well worth the wait for passengers. We had got a report of J-pod way off in Rosario Strait, but where exactly we didn’t know, and so the Orca Spirit with Captain Brad at the helm and marine naturalists Tim and Megan headed out with the goal to show passengers this amazing group of orcas. We headed across the Haro Strait, up Middle Channel between southern San Juan Island and western Lopez Island, then through Upright Channel and Obstruction Pass south of Orcas Island and into Rosario Strait. From there we headed east between northern Cypress Island and south Sinclair Island until we came to a body of water south of Vendovi Island, and here my friends, is where we found J-pod! They were quite spread out, but passengers were extremely lucky that the first member of this pod that they came across was in fact the oldest male (~55 years) in the Southern Resident Community, the iconic and studly, J1 (aka Ruffles). This big male with his almost 6ft tall wavy dorsal fin surfaced several times, as if to make sure that all our passengers got great photos of him. He is after all the most photographed killer whale in the world! Passengers witnessed tail slaps, porpoising and other behaviours from other orcas, suggesting to the naturalists that they were in fact foraging, and hopefully getting a good feed of salmon.
Before we knew it it was time to leave and make the long journey back to Victoria. On the way back passengers marvelled at the scenery and coastline, as did this Aussie naturalist who hadn’t been to this part of the San Juan Islands.
What a treat! And a beautiful sunny day it was as well! Although the trip was a bit longer than normal, we made sure passengers got to see these majestic creatures in action. Smiling faces all round!

Afternoon trip – J’s south of San Juan Island

For this afternoon’s trip, Captain Brad and Aussie marine naturalist Tim headed out with a dozen keen passengers enjoying the open top deck of the Orca Spirit and lapping up the sunshine on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. We were in extreme luck as J-pod had made quite a distance closer to Victoria than this morning’s trip, and by the time we got to them they were at the southern tip of San Juan Island. As we approached slowly on scene, passengers saw the sprouter male J26 (aka Mike) travelling alone, with the rest of his family (mother J16 ‘Slick’, younger brother J33 ‘Keet’, J36 ‘Alki’, and little sister J42 that just turned 1 year old) trailing closely behind. Then all of a sudden, about 150m off our starboard… breach! The group made a few more surfacings, then… breach! And again! 1 year old female J42 breached twice in a row, which was an absolutely phenomenal sight! Passengers were in absolute awe (as was the naturalist!), and very lucky to witness 3 breaches by two different individuals all within 5 min of each other. We then re-positioned ourselves away from other boats and were able to view the leaders of the pod that were travelling in a northerly direction up the west side of San Juan Island. We saw the other sprouter male J27 (aka Blackberry) and mother J11 ‘Blossom’, daughter J31 ‘Tsuchi’ and younger sibling J39 ‘Mako’ all travelling close together. It was fantastic to see a family unit cruising together, which I think really hit home with the passengers, as it’s important to appreciate family, and family is very important when you’re a killer whale. Then off in the distance came a dorsal fin that we all know and love. Yep, the big man on campus, J1 ‘Ruffles’. He made quite a few surfacings, giving passengers a great look at that iconic dorsal fin, and creating an image in their mind that they will remember for a long time. The sun was out, dorsal fins were shining, saddle patches were glowing, and passengers were grinning from ear to ear. What an absolutely magical trip this afternoon was, with passengers ecstatic about what they’d just seen. It’s days like these that you just love to go whale watching.