Transient Orcas and Minke Whale. June 15th, 2008.

T30's

We set out this morning and headed East as there was a large fog bank to the West. As we headed over towards the San Juan Islands we received a report that at least one if not two Minke Whales had been sighted between Middle Bank and Hein Bank. We had some nice passes by the Minke Whale once we caught up with it, which took a while as Minke Whales can be elusive. On our way home we heard reports that Transient Orcas had just been found in the fog east of Race Rocks and so off we went to investigate. When we arrived on scene Ron Bates, MMRG, soon identified the group as the T30's, a group that includes one male, two females and a calf.

In the afternoon we set out again and caught up with the Transient South of Discover Island heading towards Port Angeles. When we arrived the Orcas were in a resting pattern and were moving slowly through the water. In fact the T30's did not wake up until just before we were heading for home and then they started moving rapidly south west. So we had been lucky to have been on scene when the Orcas were easy to see and moving in a consistent direction. We headed for home on a stunning beautiful day after another awesome experience with Orcas.