Biggs Orcas T65A's, T77 with T77E, and T75B's pass Friday Harbor

May 22, 2021 – North south east or west? We debated which way to go after leaving the dock, but in the end decided to go north with the winds behind us. After crossing from Pt Caution to Shaw Island a report came in of Biggs orcas northbound from Big Rock so we came about and sailed back to Pt Caution. Pointing into the wind we came down the shoreline passing Friday Harbor with excitement building. We spotted the blows of the orcas as they traveled quickly along Turn Island traveling right by Friday Harbor. We had a great first pass watching this large group of orcas go by including a couple males, females, some juveniles and a tiny calf.

The orcas were identified as the T65A’s who had been traveling with T77 and her calf T77E and the T75B’s including her new calf born this year (T75B4). The orcas moved quickly up San Juan Channel and split into two groups. The T75B’s hugged the San Juan shoreline while the others did some porpoising north. We did our best to keep up with the porpoising whales thinking they were on a hunt, but they got away from us. We stalled for a bit while the T75B’s caught up to us. When we reached Spieden Channel the T75B’s went west and we sailed east with the intention of heading for the harbor. But, when we realized the T65A’s and T77’s were north of Flattop Island milling we decided to head that way to get another look at them. They were finishing their lunch while gulls circled above for scraps. We paralleled the orcas passed White Rock and up to Pt Disney before breaking off to sail across Presidents Channel to Orcas Island. We hugged the coastline down and cut through the Wasp Islands before sailing back across to Pt Caution yet again and down to Friday Harbor.