Saturday, September 27th
A personal message from Tim:
Well folks, this blog is in fact the last blog I will be writing for the 2008 season, as I am off to travel and then return to my homeland in November. I want to thank you all for reading my blogs this season, and hope you have enjoyed reading them. I wanted to try to give my experience out there on the water from this Aussie naturalist’s point of view, and what a great experience I have had. With that being said, thanks very much to Orca Spirit for taking me on this year. I love being a naturalist, I love driving the zodiacs, and of course, being a self confessed whale nerd, I love the whales and other marine mammals of this beautiful part of the world! I might be back next season, so until then, (in my best Australian accent) “Ave a good one and I’ll catch ya later”
Wednesday, September 24th
The Residents return!
Captain Rick and I (Biologist Tim) headed out this morning, with new trainee naturalist Norel, to again flat calm waters south of Victoria. Although it was raining lightly upon us it was still great spotting conditions, so if something was out there we were determined to find it. We headed south-east out of the harbour into the Strait of Juan De Fuca, always searching for the hint of a fin, splash, anything. Clouds were low and the fog was setting in, but we remained positive and kept on the lookout. Then, just as we were stopped a couple of miles south of Race Rocks to do a scan, we saw a black dorsal fin, and another, and another, and another! I looked around and saw fins way south as far as I could see. I grabbed my binoculars to get a better look at the fins and saddle patch, and yep, sure enough, it was the residents (fish-eating orcas) that had returned after being away for 4 days! Woohoo! We had found the residents and because we were the only 9am boat we got to watch these animals all to our self, their black dorsal fins and blows appearing all around us. There really is something special about just floating on the water and seeing dorsal fins pop up as far as the eye can see. I was able to identify members of J-pod and some of L-pod, so I knew we had at least 25 whales in the area. Spectacular! I then noticed a big black dorsal fin that cannot be mistaken, J1 (aka Ruffles) headed our way. This 57 year old male surfaced near the Pacific Explorer and passengers got a fantastic look at this iconic male with that unmistakable dorsal fin. We then left the residents that continued to head east towards the San Juans, and went and checked out Race Rocks. I just love coming to Race to witness the pinniped fiesta that is happening there this time of year. So many pinnipeds in one area, it’s just awesome. Passengers loved it as well, and again we had another very successful trip. I love being the first on scene with the whales, as there is a certain element of tranquillity I feel when this happens. I may be getting a bit deep here, but still, it certainly is special.
The Orca Spirit headed out this afternoon with Captain Rick and naturalists Aussie Tim, Kitimat Cheri, and trainee Norel to the west side of San Juan Island where J-pod was now moving northward. As we arrived on scene the heavens decided to open up and pour down on us, but thankfully it was short lived and the sun came out as we watched members of our most resident pod head northwards and forage up the Haro Strait. We dropped the hydrophone down and were able to pick up some amazing calls, clicks and even some sounds that baffle the human ear. Just awesome! We then headed north of the group and positioned and switched off to watch these amazing cetaceans go by. We seriously must have a J1 attractant at Orca Spirit because again Ruffles seemed to find us. As passengers and naturalists were on a high it was time to slowly make our way towards Victoria, and as we were exiting the scene we came across the very young calf J42 (16 months old) and her mother J16 (aka Slick). Wow! We’d just seen the biggest member in J-pod and then we got to see the smallest and youngest. Incredible! As we made the trip back to Victoria passengers reflected on what they’d just seen, we talked all things orca and as they left the dock I noticed many many grins from ear to ear. What can I say, another spectacular tour!
Tuesday, September 23rd
Expect the unexpected…
The Orca Spirit headed out this morning on the search for cetaceans, and luck was upon us. After heading out to the again calm waters south of Victoria, we had gotten a report that one of the vessels had picked up some transient orcas just south of Beecher Bay. Arriving on scene we ID’d them as the T46’s, a group of four orcas including a brand new calf that is less than 6 months old and we know this because its white patches are still orange! These animals were going on really deep dives (4-7 minutes) and surfacing in different directions (typical transient behaviour they say) so we decided to go and check out some Pacific White-Sided Dolphins (aka “Lags” around here due to their Genus Lagenorhynchus). Now folks it is extremely extremely rare to be able to see Lags in these waters as they are typically found further north up the island, but today was passengers lucky day as they got to witness two Lags swimming side-by-side at extremely high speeds, jumping and leaping in the wake and beside the Orca Spirit. It was just incredible! Now there are whale watchers that I’ve spoken to that have been working here for more than 4 years and never seen Pacific White-Sided Dolphins, so passengers today were unbelievably lucky to be able to witness, these fast-swimming, agile, acrobatic delphinids leaping out of the water right next to our boat. I was seriously jumping around like a little kid at Xmas! Absolutely amazing to witness this! Then just when I thought the trip couldn’t get any better, we look up and literally less than 200m away we saw a huge male orca surface! Then a female right next to him! It was T20 and T21! It was as if they came out of nowhere! Passengers got a phenomenal look at this big male mammal-eating orca as he surfaced again from his deep dive. Wow! It seemed as though the Lags high-tailed it out of the area, which is not surprising as they are a menu item for some of these mammal-eating orcas. We were in Race Passage as we witnessed all this delphinids action and as T20 and T21 made their way towards Race Rocks we saw an abundance of Turkey Vultures hovering around Bentick Island. There were easily 30 of these condors hovering over the island. It was another incredible trip with Orca Spirit. This was my second time seeing Lags. The first time was back in April so I was truly lucky (as were passengers!) to be able to see these majestic white-sided creatures again. And of course seeing orca is always spectacular!
The afternoon trip headed out to unbelievably flat calm seas where we again came across the iconic male T20 and his believed to be mother T21. The sun was out, the water was flat calm, and with the tall peaks and snow caps of the Olympic Peninsula as a backdrop, passengers really couldn’t have asked for better conditions taking photos. As these top predators in the ocean surfaced in the Strait of Juan De Fuca, water broke over their rostrum, the sun reflected off their jet black dorsal fins, and sprays of water shot into the air and faded away into mist, and the sound of their blow echoed for all to hear... just amazing. We then headed across to Race Rocks and upon arriving we had got a report that there was in fact another male orca in Race Rocks. I had never seen an orca within Race Rocks before, and when this happens boats aren’t allowed in as it is a Marine Ecological Reserve. It was very interesting to watch an abundance of Stellar Sea Lions swim around in the waters, not seeming to be too bothered by the presence of their predator. Still, a lone orca is going to have a very difficult time taking down a Stellar on its own. The orca swam through the kelp, draping it over its 6ft tall dorsal fin, and then eventually continued on east towards the San Juan Islands. We then went through Race Rocks and as we watched the Stellar sea lions hauled out and socialising on the rocks I counted at least 60 of them, all together, being very vocal (and a tad on the nose!). I seriously cannot believe the diversity and abundance within this area.
Within one single area you have orca, 4 species of pinniped (Stellar and California sea lions, harbour seals and an Elephant Seal), harbour porpoises foraging just south of the Rocks, and then an abundance of marine birds (at least 5 species). Literally where else in the world can you travel half an hour from the capital of a province and see soo much diversity in a single area?
There aren’t too many places I can tell you that!
Another great day on the water. I seriously cannot get over how much you can see in one trip. It truly is breathtaking folks. Check out some pics below of T20, and the numerous turkey vultures hovering above Bentick Island, the abundance of Stellar sea lions on Race Rocks and a nice landscape shot of Race Rocks with the Olympic Peninsula.
The afternoon sky cleared up with Captain Rick, and naturalists Tim and Kaylin on board the Orca Spirit. We new our resident killer whales were all traveling together, traveling away from us, but really wanted to catch up. Making an exception for the trip, we boated to
Thursday, September 18th
Wednesday, September 17th
A Baleen Whale Day
Heading out this morning Captain Rick and I were on the search from the get go, hoping to come across anything marine mammal. We headed south-east towards Hein Bank and stopped there in the hope of picking up some mammal-eating orcas, but instead we were lucky enough to come across a minke whale. Awesome! Passengers got a great look at this almost 8m long baleen whale, the smallest of the rorquals. To put it into perspective, the largest rorqual and the largest of all animals is the blue whale measuring in at around 30m. After checking out the slinky minke we headed to Whale Rocks at the southern tip of San Juan Island and saw a bunch of harbour seals hauled out on the rocks, as well as three Stellar sea lions foraging in the tidal currents. Looking at this orca prey we were still on the search for the predator, and as we made our way back to Victoria Captain Rick spotted a harbour seal in the water with a salmon in its mouth. It was slapping the salmon at the surface of the water, and a few gulls had been alerted to this so were trying to pick up any scraps that may float to the surface. Pretty soon more and more gulls were arriving on scene, and the little harbour seal was trying to evade them so he could enjoy his dinner in peace. It truly was awesome to be able to witness nature at work and passengers (and naturalist!) were stoked to be able to see this. Certainly one of the highlights of the trip, and although we didn’t see orca this morning, we saw harbour porpoises, a minke whale, harbour seals, Stellar sea lions, and an abundance of marine birds.
The afternoon trip headed out with a report of a Grey whale over between Dungeness Spit and Green Pt on the Olympic Peninsula. I’d never seen a Grey whale before so I was pumped to have my first Eschrichtius robustus experience.
Arriving on scene the whale was in the shallows as this is where they typically feed as they “plough” through the sediment for benthic crustaceans and filter it through their baleen. We could see the blow of this animal from quite a distance away, as it resembled the steam coming out of the chimney on a steam train. We watched this migratory animal (~20,000km round trip from Baja Mexico to Alaska) surface in the shallows and next thing we knew it popped up right near us giving passengers a great look at the barnacles and callosities on it’s rostrum, as well as the distinct “knuckles” on its dorsal ridge. It was awesome!
I was so excited, as were passengers of course, to see this animal close-up (see pics below). It really is amazing to think that in December this animal will be down in the warmer waters off Baja Mexico to breed and calve (if of course it was a female that we were viewing), and then will make its way back up around here in May of next year. Now not all Grey whales head all the way up to Alaska, as we do have a resident population in these waters that stick around in the summertime and feed in the shallow waters off Whidbey Island, WA. After passengers got an unbelievable look at this unique 15m long mysticete we decided to head across to Race Rocks and upon arriving to Race we had got into a fog bank, so it was pretty unique to see the Race Rocks lighthouse and its inhabitants (harbour seals, Stellar and California sea lions and various marine
birds) in quite thick fog. It kind of gave us a bit of an eery feeling, but nonetheless passengers loved it and as we made our way back to Victoria the fog lifted and we had a sunny trip back to the dock. Although no orcas today, we weren’t without whales and both were great trips. Such a diverse marine mammal part of the world this is.
Tuesday, September 16th
T41s and 109’s return
Little did myself (Tim), Kaylin, nor Captain Brad know that when we headed out on the Orca Spirit this morning we wouldn’t even get up on plane before we saw orca. Literally 300m from the Ogden Point breakwall we came across the T41’s (group of 4 mammal-eating orcas). When we got there the family group was very bunched up, changing direction, then we saw two spyhops in a row by what appeared to be T41 herself. It seemed as though she was checking out what it was looking like at the surface so she could decide where the group would go. The four orcas then proceeded to head south and were soon joined up by the T109’s, so passenges were now treated to six orcas travelling in unison together through the flat calm waters just south of Victoria. We got a great look at these amazing dolphins before going on a Humpback search on our way to Race Rocks.
Arriving at Race Rocks passengers were again treated to some active Stellar sea lions, playing in the shallows and some growling and being quite aggressive towards each other. Harbour seals were doing their “banana-like” pose on the low rocks and Californian sea lions were barking how only Californian sea lions know how. After watching these awesome pinnipeds we headed back to where the orcas were, and as they travelled south they changed direction and passengers were extremely lucky to have them surface near the Orca Spirit and thus get some great shots with the Olympic Peninsula in the background. Another great, flat calm sunny trip this morning. Let’s hope the T’s don’t get too far for this afternoon’s trip.
The Orca Spirit and the Pacific Explorer headed out this afternoon to what can only be described as perfect water and weather conditions. The water was so calm and flat it was like a mirror, just spectacular. We headed south-east out of Victoria towards where the T41’s and T109’s were, and arriving on scene they had started to head east, but then decided to change direction and head west, but then they seemed to mill for a while. Perhaps they had found something for lunch? Next thing we knew these six orcas were circling around an area, then we saw some splashes, some rapid direction changes, and one of the juveniles actually appeared to suspend it’s body upside down out of the water, giving passengers a great look at it’s ventral surface. A rare treat! They then went down for a few minutes so while we were switched off just floating in the Strait of Juan De Fuca we popped the hydrophone down and actually picked up some vocalisations from these animals. Transients a generally very quiet, stealth, and only really vocalise when socialising or after they have made a kill, and given that they spend 90% of their time silent and hunting, we were extremely lucky to hear some calls and clicks. We sat there in the sunshine, just waiting for them to surface, and then boom, they surfaced about 50m from our boat! They started moving in small circles and so it did appear that maybe they still had something that they were feeding on, but we didn’t see anything, and this is usually the case as most attacks and the actual consumption of the prey happens underwater. Still, it was just amazing to watch these animals in their natural environment constantly change direction and interact with each other. We should feel privileged to have witnessed the top predators in the ocean go about their daily business, and I certainly do every time I get out there on the water. To watch a wild animal really is a wonderful thing.
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