Orcas, also known as killer whales, can be found around the
islands off the coast of Washington state during the late spring and summer
months. There are a number of whale
watching boats that take groups out to find the whales in the wild – and seeing
them in the ocean is much different than watching them at Sea World.
This blog entry will discuss how whale watching groups find
whales and the types of animals they typically pursue. The pictures are from my recent whale
watching trip through the San Juan Islands from Anacortes, Washington.
 A Six Hour Tour
The trip lasted nearly six hours, with about 20 minutes of
actual whale watching. Much of the time
was spent sailing past islands off the coast of Washington as well as Vancouver
Island, Canada. Along the way we saw
harbor seals and porpoises, bald eagles and loons, and a few other species of
marine life like starfish.
The orcas we eventually found in Canadian waters (no passport
needed!) were resident
orcas, part of the L pod. Our naturalist was able to identify several
of them from notches in their dorsal fins and the patterns of their white
saddle patches. One of the whales we saw
was  Mega (L-41) – one of the largest males in the pod.
We followed about 10 orcas in all. They were heading south from Canada and we
discovered them just north of Stuart Island.
They were mostly swimming quickly, but some were porpoising (swimming as
porpoises do by hopping out just a little), breaching (jumping out of the
water), and one did a spy hop (poking just the head out of the water to look
around).
Orca-Location
How do whale watch groups find whales? Our naturalist and ship captain used data
from researchers and other groups. They
also track whale
pod locations. Some orcas had been
spotted much farther north in Canadian waters the previous day. It was hoped that they would head south on
the day of our trip, which they did -- allowing us to see them off the coast of
Vancouver Island!
At first, the whales appeared to be playing in the water a
little bit before continuing their journey south. We followed alongside to monitor their
progress. It was fun to travel with a
pod of orcas!
Interestingly, the entire L pod does not live together as a
cohesive unit at all times. They often
split-off into smaller subgroups.
Offspring typically stay near the mother for a lifetime.
The Ship
Our ship, the Island
Explorer 3, had some pretty cool technology on board. There  was a GPS navigation system that
displayed our location relative to surrounding islands and tracked our progress
on a flat screen TV inside the nice warm cabin.
(Despite it being early May with temperatures reaching the 70s, it was
quite chilly out on the water!) The ship
is also eco-friendly – green materials were used when it was built, gray water
is held onboard, and there is an oil catchment system in the engine room.
For more information check out Island Adventures whale
watching. The organization blogs about every day at sea.
 Resources:
http://www.orcanetwork.org/nathist/salishorcas1.html
http://www.whalemuseum.org/programs/orcadoption/whalelist.html
http://www.island-adventures.com/
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Re: Washington Whale Watch – Orcas & Other Sea Life
