Orcas, a minke whale, falcons and more

October 19, 2022 – Today was one of those days where everything is always working out for us. It started out with a nice, relaxing sail up the channel. Near Green Point we were surrounded by a really large pod of harbor porpoise. Nearby wildfires made for smokey skies in our area which revealed incredible rays of light shining through the forest on Spieden Island. In New Channel we saw lots of harbor seals, harlequin ducks, Mouflon sheep, a great blue heron, bald eagles, a Steller sea lion, and a Peregrine falcon flying by calling. Another Peregrine falcon was perched on the cliff near Kellett Bluff and a bald eagle flew toward a nest carrying a bird in its talons. We also saw more bald eagles, harbor seals, and another great blue heron. White on route to see a pair of orcas we spotted a minke whale northbound in Haro Strait. It would’ve been cool to spend more time with the minke whale but it was moving the wrong direction and we were headed south to see the orcas. The two male orcas, T49C and his nephew T49A2, were traveling north from Kelp Reef to Little Darcy Island. They were first spotted south of Discovery Island and they zig zagged their way up Haro Strait. At one point they stopped to play in a kelp bed with lots of spy hops by T49C and T49A2 kept surfacing with kelp draped over his back and dorsal fin. David said he thought he heard a blow behind us and sure enough he was right. The T18’s showed up trailing the two males, but they didn’t join up. We said bye to the two boys as they went in the shallows between Darcy and Little Darcy, and then we had some time watching the T18’s. T19 was with T19B slightly ahead of T18 with T19C. The groups separated at the southern tip of Sidney Island and we had to split to make tracks back to Friday Harbor. A pretty sunset filled the sky as we rounded Limestone Pt down San Juan Channel.