Transient orcas T36A's with T101's, T49A3, followed by T137's

September 7, 2019 – A sail filled with so much wildlife including bald eagles, harbor seals, harbor porpoise, loads of common murres, and lots of orcas. First we saw the Biggs/Transient/mammal eating orcas known as the T36A’s who were with the T101’s. We met them near Pt Disney and traveled with them into Boundary Pass. The whales altered course to the north and we continued on to the west towards Turn Pt Lighthouse.

David spotted an orca in a bait ball near Stuart Island who was porpoising in our direction. With one quick pass the orca whizzed on by us and kept on going. Turned out it was T49A3 who was seen with the others earlier in the day but broke off to travel by himself. Hugging the shoreline of Stuart Island we made way towards New Channel while we started cooking supper.

Drifting in paradise we enjoyed our dinner south of Flattop Island before heading towards Spring Pass to see another group of orca known as the T137’s. Male orca, T137A, was trailing the group by a little distance and was being closely followed by the NOAA research vessel. T137A reportedly had a concerning injury on his peduncle (near tail fluke).

As we sailed nearby we saw them heading towards Pole Pass. Suddenly orcas were leaping and hunting a harbor seal. It was an exciting encounter and energetic hunt with lots of breaches. T137A was in close proximity to the hunt and seemed to be participating by actively tail slapping repeatedly. We had clear view of his injury and included photos below.