Minke Whale and Biggs/Transient Orcas T65A's

June 15, 2023 – Today we decided to go south and try our luck looking for minke whales. As we sailed around Turn Island we spotted about 4 raccoons foraging on the tide line, harbor seals hauled out on the rocks and bald eagles flying overhead. We cut inside of Griffin Bay to find a back eddy against the flood tide. Goose Island was busy with cormorants and gulls tending their nests, but quickly became alarmed as a bald eagle came swooping down on their homes. Several gulls chased after the eagle to scare him/her away.

On Salmon Bank we found one minke whale milling on the bank. It was one we recognize and see often with the nick on the leading edge of the dorsal fin. We lovingly refer to her as “Minke Mouse”. As we were leaving the bank, another whale watching boat found a group of orcas breaching on Hein Bank. It turned out to be a family of Biggs/Transient orcas known as the T65A’s (minus T65A5). The orcas were moving NE towards San Juan Island and we had some excellent views as we paralleled the whales. We watched the whales up to False Bay before coming about and heading south down the San Juan coastline.

In the distance on Salmon Bank we spotted lots of bird activity in the binoculars and decided to head that way. Again, we spotted the same minke whale we found earlier, but this time it was lunge feeding amongst the various diving birds. On Whale Rocks there were many Steller sea lions and also several black oystercatchers chatting to one another.