July 31 - SuperCat Trips

The early afternoon trip we had some wonderful views of a small subunit of the L12's and a few additional males off of Cattle Point on San Juan Island. We had some amazing passes from L85 - Mystery and some beautiful breaches. The late afternoon trip we headed towards Lime Kiln Whale Park where the J's, K's and some more of the L's were coming down from the Strait of Georgia. Enjoy some of the beautiful photos from the late afternoon trip.

Photos from July 27 - FastCat Trips

The bottom picture is J30 - Riptide and the other one is another picture of another member of the J pod. We had a wonderful view of these animals on both the morning and afternoon trip. Please enjoy these delayed photos.

July 29th

With reports of J's in north Haro strait, we ventured across to Salmon Bank where we'd heard L12's were hanging around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGCANWyNdZY

Upon arrival we found L41 (Mega), with Ocean Sun and Matia. There were 2 other females present, but were spread out and exhibiting erratic foraging patterns, with long dives. The evening trip for both FastCat and SuperCat found us south of False Bay with the L12's again, minus L12 herself. We had a lovely visit from Mega again, he's a grand old 29yr old boy!

July 28th

Aboard the FastCat this morning, with news in the bag that J's were way north in Vancouver, we headed deep SW in the Juan de Fuca strait. Scouted for minkes, fin's, orca and humpacks, to no avail. Lots of seabirds out there suggesting the feed down there is yummy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKNd8-rR4nA

We visited the scenic FreshWater Bay, and Crescent Bay in the hopes of meeting a Gray whale of two. Calling by Race Rocks on the way home, the waters on the NW side of Race were abundant with krill forming spiraling shoals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qoCwcrkdEc

2 lazing scratching stellar sealions watched on, as we rounded into Race Channel, viewing 3 elephant seals on top of the main west rock. Another elephant seal lay dozing in a rock pool, blowing bubbles, and then giving us a fantastic side profile of his huge canines!

Our afternoon trip was a big push west in the Juan de Fuca strait, where we had word that K's and L's were inbound. We found the L12's all together, with L41's distinctive dorsal in the middle of the group.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5UP2XIhNlA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRu9W0-IFKE

K's were further inshore, but there seemed to be whales whales all around. It was quite the spectacle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHvjpasHLUg

Our evening cruise ship trip found us several miles NE of Race Rocks with L's once again. They were very spread out, but viewing blows all around us with a stunning misty sunset. Glorious. What an office we work in!

July 27th

FastCat, crew and passengers set off towards Eagle Point on San Juan Island, where we visited J pod. Ruffles, Speiden and Granny were offshore of the younger generations.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grLS51glERs

All were exhibiting playful resting behaviour. Several breaches, many spyhops, and a young female being pushed to the surface, belly in the air off the stern of the boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-v8CYnzXdA

A lovely pass by Ruffles towards the end of time with the J's, then we headed for Victoria. Lovely trip.

July 26th

SuperCat and FastCat were both out at 9am this morning, and with news that J's were over by Vancouver, we both headed west to Race Rocks. SuperCat continued on as far as Otter Point, on the look out for inbound L's, transients, pelagic species such as humpbacks and minkes. No luck. We saw 3 elephant seals at Race Rocks, and numerous harbour seals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD1nthbpGGc

SuperCats afternoon trip found us in Boundary Pass with J's inbound from East Point. We saw them by Monarch Head, lazy foraging speed towards Turn Point with the tidal currents. Several breaches, multiple spyhops and surface foraging chases!

July 26, 2006

We had a great day with passengers off of the Carnival cruiseline. Our morning trip found us heading out west on the lookout for K's and L's. No luck with orca, but Race Rocks was amazing as always. The afternoon trip took us up to Monarch Head on Saturna Island. J pod was heading south against a flood tide. Our passengers were thrilled as we got some great views of the J's as they slowly made their way towards Turn Point.

July 25th

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsJzPpt3R_8

SuperCats 12.30 trip was over by Eagle Point, San Juan Island, with J's spread out seemingly southbound, then towards the end of the trip they were angling north. Ruffles paid us a visit (see above video).

The 4pm trip found us back with the J's off Stuart Island with our friends north bound past Turn Point, headed for Active Pass. Granny, Ruffle and Blackberry and co. must have been further north, but we had Mike and co. slightly offshore the remaining 15 J's. Good times!

Here are some photos from July 17 - July 25. Enjoy!!!
Read the entries below for descriptions of these trips.

Ruffles Sprout ?

L Pod Male Orca Surfacing
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

In the afternoon, came a big surprise as more killer whales appeared out of the south west from the direction of the ODAS Bouy:

At first the animal pictured was thought to be J1 but it soon became clear that this was another small goup of L pod that must have split off to the west late Sunday night. I thought it was J1 when I first saw him at a distance but most on the water belived this was L73 after some opportunity to observe him. I did not get a good ID shot.

Best,
Jeff

Getting the whale picture.

Getting the whale picture
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

The big guys make it easy to photo with slow gradual assents to the surface. This big L Pod male was cruising alone along the 300+ foot contour line slightly offshore of the females and younger animals.

Orca feeding photo safari.

Orca Sighting and Photo
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

Floating off of False Bay provided the perfect opportunity to
observe fishing behavior as the small group of Ls worked the slack tide for salmon.

False Bay

false bay
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

Early this morning, Orca whales were sighted off the southwestern coastline of San Juan Island. The small group, a sub pod of the Ls, was feeding in and around False Bay. L 41 was sighted and ID'd by
Ron Bates, MMRG. This little group spent most of the day well spread up and down the coastline ranging from Andrews Bay to South Beach.

Kind regards,
Jeff

July 23 - FastCat (PM)

FastCat's afternoon trip found us off of Andrew's Bay on San Juan Island with mainly the Js and Ks. We were treated to some stunning breaches and spyhops as the whales frolicked off of Kellett Bluff on Henry Island, the whales were in a social mood. The only way to describe some of the sights we saw is through the above photos....so ENJOY!

Super Pod Crew

Ron and Trev look incredibly excited about the 89 whales on Superpod day.....can't you see it? And Tove looks stylish on the FastCat bow with the Orca survey!

Floatation Jacket!

Alex demonstrates the FastCat's floatation jacket while watching whale's through his binoculars.

July 23 - FastCat (AM)

FastCat's morning trip had all three pods of the Southern Resident Community (J, K, and Ls) a distance off of Discovery Island heading towards the False Bay direction of San Juan Island. The tight family groupings were doing fairly long dives, but we were treated to some amazing breaches from the younger calves. We had a wonderful pass by the J's which included J1 (Ruffles) and then another tremendous view of the L12's. (L12's picture first then J1 with another individual in the Js).

July 23rd

SuperCats 12.30 trip today had us out south of Lime Kiln, where we had mainly J's and K's, with rumours of L's further south. Very exciting! All individuals were inshore of us, and there was lots of activity. They seemed to be almost stationary in the current, slowly being driven north into the park. Wonderful sighting all round.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt4BaBXLO_c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojSpREeu124

July 22nd

(recognise the borrowed coat Ron?)

SuperCat had 2 wonderful trips today. The first at 12.30 was in the company of K pod, spread out over the south end of San Juan. We encountered Lummi, the 96yr old matriarch, sat at the surface slightly offshore of all the others, for a good 20 seconds. We had a lovely venture through the Chain Islets (see video link below), and saw many harbour seals, some with their newborn pups.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Trf-KWXvgzM

The evening trip, as Jeff described, was beyond beautiful. The FastCat crew had gone to view K pod off False Bay, whilst we made a gamble to head north to Kellet Bluff to see J's who were southbound. It paid off, and we were treated to some wonderful views of J's in the groups passing by.



J1 (Ruffles) did a huge pectoral fin slap! The sunset was glorious, passengers were very appreciative, and we the crew were once again awestruck by these incredible mammals.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYY3bnf0x9E

Saltspring Island Sunset

Saltspring Island Sunset
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

J Pod Sunset in North Haro Strait

Ruffles Sunset Battleship
Originally uploaded by Jeff Lorton.

With word of J POD coming down from Turn Point, The Supercat headed north with the last of the flood tide towards Kellet Bluff on Henry Island. About 10 minutes after sunset (2115) and one mile north, we encountered J1, J2 Mike and Blackberry the sprouter lads. We could see the rest of the pod about an eighth of a mile up the strait and all onboard were entranced by the calm water and deep hued sunset reflections off of the Orca's smooth bodies. Beautiful
does not do the experience justice. It was another wonderful evening Orca adventure on the Supercat.

Kind regards to all,
Jeff

July 21st evening

SuperCats evening trip found us over at Salmon Bank with a small collection of K's, which turned out to be the nursery group of K38 and K39 and their Mum's. I saw what I've been telling alot of guests on board about, but have never seen it, until tonight. K39 was lifted out of the water on Raven's (K28) rostrum. Very very sweet. Lovely evening after a hot hot day.

July 21st

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYUksIj9x7s

SuperCats morning trip found us out by Lime Kiln Lighthouse with J's and K's. There was a tight group to shore, a group by Andrews Bay, and an offshore group who we stuck by. J27 (Blackberry) was in there with some ladies from both families, and associated calves. The above video shows a duo breach by 2 young killer whales. The video below shows J27 travelling with the ladies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQnhEVmvytg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wRvxBPGU7E

The final video link above shows a single breach. We saw lots of percusive behaviour from the orcas today, lots of breaches, tail lobs and pec slaps.

Night J's

Our scheduled 8pm trip found us in a tricky situation. We heard that K pod were still somewhere around Salmon Bank, so off we set. The sun set as we were approaching. Chelsea and I were glued to our binoculars scanning the horizon, looking for our black and white friends. No sighting.



Jeff heading north to the lighthouse where he had just recieved word on the phone. There we had not K's, but J's as Polaris came close by in the dusk light, her nicked fin making her distinct. Ruffles and co. made an appearance as well.
As SuperCat sat in the waters, shut down, all of J's passed by, their woosh of a blow echoing in the stillness of the 21:40 air. We were watching J pod in the dark, with stars in the sky above, and the moon somewhere! Very surreal. A definate first for us all. We, the crew, were blown away. When will these incredible animals cease to amaze us? Hopefully never.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dgqt-WQ-1Bw

July 20th FastCat

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcU6SCGBoXk

Taken aboard FastCat with foraging K's off EaglePoint, San Juan Island

Got Seal?

For Ron!

July 19 - FastCat

See Claire's post below...with additional bits of info to go with additional photos. Off Lime Kiln Whale Park on San Juan Island, we had a beautiful pass by K26 (Lobo). The FastCat went farther offshore to have a view of one female, then a mother and calf pairing, and then we had an amazing pass by K21 (Cappuacino). (K21 photos first then K26 photo last).

July 19th

FastCat's 2 trips today found us with J's and K's in the morning in Boundary Pass SW bound, with J27 accompanying some K ladies. Then K's in the afternoon off Lime Kiln, San Juan Island. We had some harbour seals in Smugglers Cove, Chatham Island, and spotted a pup with one. Photo shown is at 32x zoom hence the shaky quality!

I spent alot of the time spent experimenting with my new digital camcorder taking both video and photo clips! The quality is not as good on the camcorder as it is on my still camera shots. I shall try to now attach both, and a video...



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlILvjRA2KQ

July 18 - FastCat

Beautiful day with Ks and a couple of J's off San Juan (in the morning) and then North Pender Island (in the afternoon) heading into Active Pass. Socializing, foraging, breaches, spyhops, and porpoising while travelling along. Above photos are J27 (Blackberry) and K26 (Lobo).

July 16th (Supercat)

We had J's and K's travelling together today. We picked them up coming around Colville heading Northwest towards Salmon Bank. Our passengers were treated to some big breaches by the orcas. Our 2pm trip found the orcas in an indecisive mood. When we reached them they were in a southwest direction from the South Beach area on San Juan Island. They looked as if they were going to head out west...possibly to meet up with L-pod who went west the day before. Then, after going as far as the ODAS buoy, one of the orcas slapped its dorsal fin two times in a row, and everyone turned around and headed back towards San Juan Island. Very interesting behaviour to witness.