Orca Whale Sightings

Thu, December 4, 2008 6:55 pm

2008-12-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful day on the water. Though we didn't see Orcas, there
were a lot of beautiful sights. Orcas were found as we were coming in,
way south toward Pt. Angeles.

Thanks,

Capt. Jim

Sat, June 14, 2008 8:10 am

2008-06-16T20:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday evening was one of the best! It wasn't a superpod, but it was spectacular. The Js and many of the Ls came together yesterday afternoon in the big waves off of Hannah Hts., and acted like a superpod. Jumping, rolling, spyhopping, the whole nine yards!

And then, right out in front of Snug Harbor, our dock, the amazing views continued for our 5:00 PM trip. I haven't seen so much porpoising in unison for years. Five and six at a time. Big wows from everyone on the boat, including me. We followed them all the way to Turn Pt. on Stuart Is. where they all passed between us and the cliffs and the light house and Mt. Baker. The sounds were amazing as we sat there with the engines off. Long after we could see them the sound of their blows came floating back to us over the calm waters.

Mon Jun 9 and Tue Jun 10 Updates

2008-06-13T18:08:00.000-07:00

Mon, June 9, 2008 7:09 am
After spending the afternoon and evening way south of Victoria, the Js...Oh where oh where have the Ls and the Ks gone to?...came back on in and hit the Westside at dusk last night. (Thanks Sandy...)

Tue, June 10, 2008 10:55 pm
Late this evening I got reports of Js west of Sooke, coming this way. Good news for tomorrow! We had Transients for the afternoon and evening trip today.

Capt. Jim

Sun, June 8, 2008 9:46 am

2008-06-13T17:52:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day with the Js on the Westside, mostly right off our dock at Snug Harbor Marina. They were last seen at Turn Pt. headed up Boundry Pass.

And check out the news of the new K calf...See below - by Kelley Balcomb Bartok, Center for Whale Research

During the encounter a small calf was observed swimming in close proximity to sisters K 14 and K16, both reproductive age females. Later in the encounter staff determined that the calf was indeed a new calf in K-pod, and observed the calf primarily travelling very near K14 and her older offspring K26 and K36. The encounter ended at 3:58 p.m. (48° 41.81 N; 123° 14.51 W)
Kelley Balcomb Bartok, Center for Whale Research
See the new calf photo below, & more photos at the Center for Whale
Research
http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001njiVi8EzZRl6z5z9H3laRQFS0ruRa0Yl45f6fIrU_oFiN0fF9xwMEO36JFZExlYbpC_lqF31kbg7RUyW6N_dNljM7gGNnvqN8KfQRRRA9Nj5dGuB3uItcaUCoTKDSpAcoZAQ9e5

June 3 and 4 Updates

2008-06-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

Tue, June 3, 2008 9:59 pm

What a day! All three pods for the first time in months. Js, Ks and some of the Ls went north late in the day, and about 20 of the Ls came south, yea, and we left them at 7PM off of Snug Harbor on the Westside.

Wed, June 4, 2008 4:41 pm
Js, Ks, and many of the Ls are coming south right now over near
Bellingham Ch. I don' think they will make it to the Westside much
before dusk. We should see them all day tomorrow, I think.

Tue, June 3, 2008

2008-06-03T19:28:00.000-07:00

Tue, June 3, 2008 11:21 am

JUST GOT THE CALL. SUPER POD, WE THINK, RIGHT NOW NEAR LIME KILN.

Js and Ls for sure. Call for more details.

Js continue to show on the Westside. Above is a picture of a juvenile humpback seen in the San Juan and Speiden Chs. late Sunday afternoon. It could be the same one seen in February on the Westside just north of Lime Kiln.

Capt. Jim
378-7996

Sun, June 1, 2008 - 9:37 A.M.

2008-06-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Well, the Js have been like clock work. They spent yesterday on the West Side, and were headed up toward the Frazier River yesterday evening and have just been spotted north of Anacortes, headed south. They should be back on the West Side later this afternoon.

And the rumors are that a group of Orcas have been seen making their way in from the West. Hmmmmm?

Capt. Jim

Fri, May 30, 2008

2008-05-31T07:04:00.000-07:00

We finally located the Js late in the morning yesterday as they came down Boundry Pass toward Stuart Island. Late yesterday evening they were still on the West Side just south of the Lime Kiln Light.

J's are up north and I don't think will be back down here until late today.

Capt. Jim

Thu, May 29, 2008

2008-05-29T22:04:00.000-07:00

We spent the day with J Pod yesterday and left them in front of our dock at Snug Harbor late in the afternoon. Ah, the West Side!

We have room today for 4 this morning. We are full this afternoon.

Capt. Jim

Mon, May 26, 2008

2008-05-26T23:06:00.000-07:00

Well, after seeing J Pod on every trip for over a week, they took off today. They were out west, way way west! Way past Sooke, but...They were last seen late this afternoon headed back this way. I think they were out looking for the Ls and Ks, who are due any day.

Also, there was an interesting story about Giant Calimari...er...Squid, on the net today.

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/fishermen-net-500-pound-squid/20080526150509990001

Giant Squid are the favorite food of the Sperm Whale, the same kind of whale that sank the whaling ship Essex, November 20, 1820, which let to the great American novel, Moby Dick. You can read about the sinking of the Essex in the wonderful book, In the Heart of the Sea, by Nathaniel Philbrick.

Sperm Whales are one of the deepest diving whales, though the Elephant Seal will dive even deeper, with recorded dives to 1,503 meters. The record for mammals goes however to the Cuvier's Beaked Whale.

The Cuvier's beaked whales were tagged in the Ligurian Sea off Italy, while the Blainville's beaked whales were tagged off the Canary Islands in deep water, between 700 and 2,000 meters (2,300 to 6,500 feet) with steep bottom topography. "Shallow dives seem to be performed between deep dives, and both species dive very deep to hunt for prey. They seem to spend equal time ascending and descending in shallow dives, but take longer to ascend from deep dives." Tyack said. "Avoidance of decompression problems by slow ascent, as in scuba divers, cannot account for this behavior if the lungs of these breathhold diving marine mammals are collapsed at depths greater than 100 meters (330 feet)."

Beaked whales are very little known because they spend little time at the surface and are difficult to tag. The better studied sperm whale can dive for more than one hour to depths greater than 1,200 meters (roughly 4,000 feet), with average dives of 45 minutes to depths of 600-1,000 meters (1,968 to 3,280 feet).

Elephant seals can spend up to two hours in depths over 1,500 meters (nearly 5,000 feet), but average dives last only 25-30 minutes to depths of about 500 meters (1,640 feet).

WOW!

We do have room tomorrow.

Capt. Jim

Thu, May 22, 2008

2008-05-22T13:43:00.000-07:00

We have been seeing Orcas on every trip, and will see them again today.
We are full today but will have room tomorrow.

Capt. Jim

Fri, May 16, 2008

2008-05-17T21:54:00.000-07:00

Fri, 8:27 am - We are seeing J Pod right out in front of my house, just south of Henry Island, headed north...

Summer is here for a couple of days. Yea!

Capt Jim

Wed, May 14, 2008

2008-05-17T21:41:00.000-07:00

Wed, May 14, 2008 9:02 am - I just got a call from a boat out of Victoria and we have Ts on the West Side headed towarad Victoria.

Wed, May 14, 2008 11:25 am - There are now two sets of Transients out there. I just got another report of Ts going north up near the Penders, Canada Gulf Islands.

Wed, May 14, 2008 12:15 pm - This is the last posting for the day. I think. That last report about the Ts near the Penders, turned out to be the Js near the Penders.

Capt. Jim

Mon, May 12, 2008

2008-05-13T19:20:00.001-07:00

Mon, May 12, 2008 PM

Adam U , out on a bird counting mission, shot up to me this afternoon in his Whaler out in front of Mitchell Bay, and told me about seeing some Pacific White Sided Dolphins down near False Bay. We zoomed on down to Pile Point and got out our binocs.
After a half hour search, we found them just north of Eagle Point and had a great 45 minutes watching them play, feed and travel east along the shore. This is only the 5th time in twenty years on these waters that I've seen these acrobatic marvels.

Tues, May 13, 2008 - 11:00 AM

J pod has been sighted over near Anacortes headed toward the West Side... I would suspect that they will be close to Lime Kiln later on this afternoon or early evening.

Cheers,

Capt. Jim

Mon, May 12, 2008

2008-05-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

J Pod has been around for two of the last three days, and I think there is a good chance of seeing them today.

The pic is of a Steller eating a small Big Skate on the late Saturday trip. It's tough being a skate sometimes. The gulls are waiting for leftovers.

Sunny and no wind.

Capt. Jim

Fri, May 9, 2008

2008-05-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

Still no resident pods, but good rumors of a large pod of Orca
down south of Cattle Pass. One of our local Orca aficionados saw
them from a Kenmore plane.

Even with no whales passengers enjoyed a spectacular show of
about 20 Eagles feeding of a school of large herring. Also, seals
and sea lions were feeding on the herring and small shark that
were also feeding on the herring. It was about 6:00 PM at Turn Pt.
Lighthouse. The flood tide was raging, the sun was shinning, the
Eagles were fighting with each other and the gulls whenever one would
catch a fish. It seemed that there were at least 10 Eagles over our
heads at all times for about an hour, with many resting in the trees
above the lighthouse. Two Steller Sea Lions and many seals also in
the food fight. The gulls were always right above the sea lions
waiting for scraps.

It was magic!

Capt. Jim

Thu, May 8, 2008

2008-05-09T22:52:00.000-07:00

In spite of no Orca near the West Side, yesterday we did see
dozens of Dall's Porpoise playing in the bow wake of our boat,
scores of Bald Headed Eagles and one of them in prolonged attempt
to catch a female Common Merganzer, Peregrine Falcons feeding
their new chicks, six Steller's Sea Lions feeding near Kelp Reef
and we had great fun!

There were some Ts out west of Victoria.

Capt. Jim

Where are the Orcas...Ts today

2008-05-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Still no Js but some Transients were sighted west of Victoria. Orcas
have been seen well over 60% of the time over the last two weeks.

Capt Jim

Sat, May 3, 2008

2008-05-04T16:20:00.000-07:00

Last evening, just as we were coming in from our 1:00 trip, 
I got a report from Jeff LaMarshe out of Victoria, that he had 
discovered a large number of Orcas headed this way. He found 
them west of Pt. Angeles.

I have room for four on our 4:00 trip today. The Js are late. 
Could be here today.

Capt. Jim

2008-05-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

Fri, May 2, 2008 8:12 am

One lone Orca was seen yesterday near Victoria. It was T14 back on his
own again. Oh well.


Capt Jim

Where are those Orcas??? I wish I knew! - Thu, May 1, 2008

2008-05-04T16:08:00.000-07:00

No Orca since Monday, but J Pod should be showing up soon. I had a chat with Ken Balcomb yesterday, and he hasn't heard anything about J Pod for some time.

Yesterday we had a super non-Orca trip with the brightest three year old boy, Elliot. It was amazing how much he knew about wildlife, and his dad said he is a whiz of a chess player.

Here is a shot of the Kellet Bluff Eagles and their nest.

Capt. Jim

2008-04-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

2008-04-29T13:47:00.000-07:00

In rough seas, we were the last boat with Transient Orcas
T36A's & T49A's and T14 on Monday, west of Victoria,
near Beecher Bay headed Southwest at 1230 hrs.

This was the fourth day in a row that this group of Ts has
been in the San Juan Island/Vitoria area. That's unusual.
Also unusual is to see T14 "podding" like this. Could he
have found a new "home"? Most of the time he is by himself,
which from my human mind has always seemed more than a bit
sad.

Also, I wonder if that Humpback in your last report could
be the same one we saw in Feb. on San Juan's West Side.

We have lots of room today.

Capt. Jim Maya

2008-04-28T19:40:00.000-07:00

And a good Monday morning to all. It's foggy for the first
time in while, but we will go out twice today.

The weekend was wonderful for watching Orcas. We saw 7 Transients
Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and twice saw them go after Steller
Sea Lions, once right in front of the boat.

My passengers were in awe!
In this part of the world, Northwest Washington and Southwestern
British Columbia, we see four different cultures of Orca. By culture,
I mean the same species of mammal, but with different languages,
family patterns, hunting habits, eating habits, breathing patterns
and seemingly different values.

For the last three days we saw Transients, as opposed to our
Residents, or Off Shores or Northern Residents. The latter two I
have seen only three or four times in my 1100 hours with Orcas in
this area.

So, we will go out again today and try and find them, or perhaps
the Js, one of our local pods which should be showing up on a
regular basis around this time of the year.

Have a great week.

Capt. Jim

Transient Mammal Eating Orcas

2008-04-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

















For the last two days we have seen Transient,
mammal eating, Orcas.

A lot of folks ask why Transient Orcas are
different from our regular Resident Orcas.

One way that we can tell the difference is
when we see Pender, T14. If you look at the
front base of his big male dorsal fin,
you'll see some bumps. These are old scars
left from a time when he had a transmitter
bolted...yes, bolted...to the front of his
dorsal fin. Somehow he or another Orca ripped
it away from his body. This all happened almost
thirty years ago.

That's only one way that we know we are seeing
Transient Orcas...

Capt. Jim

Fri, April 25, 2008 11:50 am

2008-04-26T21:46:00.000-07:00









We now have two sets of Orcas within
our range. T14, Pender, by himself
4 miles South of Trial Island and a larger
group headed in toward Victoria from
Race Rocks.