Transient Orca families T49A’s, T65B’s, T75B’s, T75C’s and T123’s in San Juan Channel

May 3, 2019 – Shortly after leaving the harbor we received news of a whale sighting. A large pod of orcas was seen in Cattle Pass. Lucky for us they were heading our way and tacked back and forth down San Juan Channel to meet them.

It turned out to be several different matralines : – T49A’s, T65B’s, T75B’s, T75C’s and T123’s – over 15+ animals. Throughout the day the orcas travelled in a very tight group zig-zagging up San Juan Channel. We marveled at their beauty as they surfaced in unison with their backlit blows.

We decided to break off towards Green Pt to see the steller sea lions. Many of them were fast asleep. We rounded the corner into New Channel to check out the Spieden Island forest and the Cactus Islands. The orcas followed behind us also turning into New Channel. We caught a stiff breeze and had a nice fast sail as we paralleled the orcas in one of our favorite places. It really doesn’t get any better than this.

When we made it to the end of Spieden Island the orcas milled about for a minute as they decided on a direction. They turned north towards Stuart Island and we turned east to make tracks back home. We enjoyed our supper as a did a bunch of bald eagles who were sharing a seal carcass along the shoreline. We sailed down wind to Jones Island and down San Juan Channel in the warm evening sunshine.