Sailing with a Minke whale and T18's Biggs/Transient Orcas

August 15, 2020 – When we left the harbor we decided to head south upon hearing of orcas (T65A’s and T137’s) coming down Rosario hugging the Lopez shoreline. We came inside of Turn Island passing a great blue heron and finding lots of harbor seals on Danger Rock. With the flood current against us we stuck to the inside of Griffin Bay to stay in the back eddy down to Cattle Pass. A bald eagle was perched in a pine tree and he was being yelled at by a black oystercatcher unhappy by his presence near their hang out. The double crested cormorant nests were vacant as we sailed by Goose Island, however many cormorants were perched lower down on the island and gulls guarded their growing chicks.

After passing Cattle Point Lighthouse we branched off to check out the sea lions on Whale Rocks. There was a really small pup laying next to a large adult male and he had his head resting on the adult’s pec flipper. Most of the sea lions were zonked out while others were growling at others as they climbed out of the water looking for space on the rocks. We sailed over to Long Island and found a bald eagle perched by her nest and a group of female harlequin ducks flew in and landed behind us. We’re noticing lots of female harlequin ducks throughout the area, but haven’t seen any males in quite awhile.

During our sail we were listening to boats on scene with the T65A’s and T137’s and heard the orcas did a 180 and were eastbound heading away from us towards Whidbey Island. We debated whether or not we could catch up with them or if they’d end up getting away from us. There had also been another report of the T18’s who were eastbound south of Discovery Island and heading our direction. They were quite a ways away but with the flood current they were eastbound towards Hein Bank and pointed in the right direction. So, we changed course and went that way with the hopes of seeing them.

As we were between Salmon Bank and Hein Bank in roughly 350-400 feet of water a minke whale popped up off our starboard side. The minke gave us many good looks as it swam around in circles nearby. It wasn’t one of the usual places we find them either as they spend much of their time circling the shallow areas near the bank. We were treated to a few lunges as the minke twisted at the surface revealing the tail flukes. As we drifted we could hear the exhales of a nice group of harbor porpoise who were surfacing nearby as well.

After a great time with the minke whale we decided to continue our journey towards the orcas. The orcas’ progress had slowed for quite awhile as they stopped for lunch on the Canadian side of the border. We pressed on hoping they’d pick up the pace and join us on the American side of the border. As we got closer the only boat on scene was about to leave and said the whales turned more northerly and were aiming more towards False Bay on San Juan Island. Two of the four animals they lost track of. We changed course to intercept the orcas and scanned with the binoculars. Alas, there they were – the unmistakable T19B with his massive dorsal fin could be seen about 2 1/2 miles away and his mother was traveling with him. We didn’t see his younger brother or his (presumable) grandmother. We paralleled the orcas as they traveled into shore at Hannah Heights and they turned south. Another boat spotted the other two family members further south (maybe 2 miles away) and they were northbound headed towards the others. Both pairs of orcas traveled down the San Juan Island shoreline and we stayed with them until Eagle Cove before breaking off to head back to the barn.