T49As hunting at Battleship Rock

June 27, 2018 – While leaving the dock we had a tough decision whether to go north or south. We had our Southern Resident orcas inbound from Victoria and transient killer whales who went passed Friday Harbor and were now on the north side of San Juan Island. Since it was a big flood, we decided to go north. Luckily for us the transient orcas, the T49A’s (minus T49A1), were hanging out in Spieden Channel milling for several hours. We watched them going back and forth near Battleship Island socializing and hunting. At one point we noticed T49A with a piece of seal in her mouth and T49A4 did a couple small spy hops with some flesh sticking out of his mouth. It was a fun encounter with orcas especially watching the newest calf, T49A5, as she back flipped and tail slapped alongside mom and siblings. At one point we even had Greenpeace vessel, ‘Arctic Sunrise’ join us in watching the orcas. We explored the beauty of New Channel and drifted through the Cactus Islands listening to the sounds of pileated woodpeckers, eagles, kingfishers, and Barbara’s favorite, the black oyster catchers. The day wouldn’t be complete without a visit to our favorite island, Flattop. We were excited to spot what looked like a golden eagle. It’s not often we spot one of those!