Minke on Middle Bank and Biggs Orcas T35A's & T38A's

October 12, 2022 – We had a nice relaxing sail down San Juan Channel passing Deadman Island where harbor seals snoozed and a bald eagle watched the tide drift by. At Whale Rocks the Steller sea lions were up to business as usual. We headed out to Middle Bank where the minke whales have been hanging out lately. From quite a ways out we spotted a minke cruising around. The minke gave us some really nice looks and even lunged through an active bait ball. A whale watching boat nearby across the border south of Discovery Island found a couple families of orcas including the T35A’s and the T38A’s. We were so excited to hear that they were eastbound right in our direction so we took our time enjoying the views of the minke whale. However, the orcas changed course with a 180 and headed west away from us so we needed to hurry quickly to catch up. Once we arrived we had some beautiful views as the orcas spent much time surfacing with very little down time. They were trailing a nice group of harbor porpoise by about 200 yards, but they didn’t pursue them for dinner. We were very close to Trial Island and far from the harbor so we had to make tracks back to Friday Harbor. We chose to go up and over the top of the island thinking the flood current would benefit us, but it in the end it was a small flood and didn’t make any difference. As we neared Kellett Bluff we spotted two Peregrine falcons chasing a belted kingfisher. It was calling and flying as fast as it could to get away, and it splashed down in the water when one falcon came close to grabbing it. We never ended up seeing the outcome as they were flying the opposite direction and we needed to keep moving. We were treated to a pretty sunset and lots of stars as we arrived back to the harbor after sundown.