April 13, 2014: San Juan Sunshine Breach!

365 Project, Day 169

Here is my day 169 submission to my 365Project:

Breach!

I feel so lucky that my 'backup' job while in Victoria consists of me going out for boat rides on the waters of the Salish Sea looking for the amazing wildlife that inhabits the area. We had another wonderful afternoon on Great Pacific Adventures' vessel the King Salmon and today's tour was a special charter for some forestry students from India. I was so happy that we were able to show our international visitors the beauty and amazing wildlife of the area and, lucky for them, we had a rare spring visit by K pod! 

K pod, one of our 'Resident' fish-eating killer whale (Orcinus orca) pods came into the Salish Sea this morning traveling through the Strait of Juan De Fuca, south of Victoria, this morning and by the time we reached them this afternoon they were spread out off the south end of San Juan Island, Washington! 

K26 Lobo, 21 year old male

K26 Lobo, 21 year old male

K22, 27 years old and her son K33, a 13 year old 'sprouting' (maturing) male

K33, a 13 year old 'sprouting' (maturing) male

K12, est. to 42 years old and her 4 year old daughter K43

K14, a 36 year old female 

K14, a 36 year old female

K36, an 11 year old female and her brother K26, a 21 year old male

K37, an 11 year old male

K14, a 36 year old female and her son, K26, a 21 year old male

Belly flop!

Probably K12, a 42 year old female with her daughter, 4 year old K43, doing a tail slap and K26, a 21 year old male

Spyhop!

Cruising down Haro Strait with Mount Baker in the background

Off Cattle Point, south end of San Juan Island

Steller sea lions (Eumatopias jubatus) at Whale Rock

April 12, 2014: Lingering Whale Blows

365 Project, Day 168

Here is my day 168 submission to my 365Project



Ahh...nothing like a bit of whale watching on a beautiful sunny day with flat seas! This afternoon I worked for Great Pacific Adventures as marine naturalist on the King Salmon. It was a great afternoon and we had a great group of guests onboard.

On today's trip we got to see two Bigg's (previously known as Transient) mammal eating killer whales (Orcinus orca) who have been dubbed the 'twins'. I have not been working consistently on the water here lately so was not completely aware of the latest sightings information. I don't mind this though as I like the challenge of trying to identify the animals myself. Today was a bit more challenging though and it took myself and the other naturalist some time to figure out we were actually watching two animals...these two male Bigg's killer whales both look very similar and it was not until just near the end of our observation that they both surfaced at the same time and we could confidently say we were seeing two different animals, T77A and T49C. 

This observation of the 'twins' occurred just outside Friday Harbour, in San Juan Channel off the east coast of San Juan Island, Washington State. My favourite thing about today's sighting was the effect of the backlit sun shining through the whales' blows when they surfaced. The air was so still that the blows hung in the air and slowly spread out above the animals. The effect was emphasized due to the dark background of the trees on shore and the backlighting due to the angle we were viewing them. Normally, such backlighting can be difficult to photograph the whales but this time it created a cool affect!