April 2012 Whale Sightings

Click here for Map of April 2012 whale sightings.

April 30, 2012

11:27 - Humpback off deception pass state park southbound.
Deception Pass Tours
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Karen Morton called to 10 am with a report of 1 or 2 gray whales on the east side of Port Susan, at Country Club, headed south after feeding for about an hour. She said this is the first time she's seen one so far north in Port Susan.

April 29, 2012

Orca Network received a phone message from Roger Freel relaying a report of at least 15 orcas off Westport, WA at 1700 between the #2 buoy and the mouth of Grays Harbor.
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Cascadia Research undertook a survey out of Westport, Washington, and encountered a group of ~25 southern resident killer whales including individuals from both K and L pods. The whales were traveling rapidly to the north. We were able to photograph many of the individuals present and the photos are being sent to the Center for Whale Research and Northwest Fisheries Science Center to confirm identity of those whales present.
Here is the list from the Cascadia Westport encounter: K12, K13, K14, K20, K25, K26, K27, K34, K36, K37, K38, K42, K43, K44, L5, L25, L27, L41, L53, L55, L72, L79, L82, L84, L85, L86, L89, L91, L94, L103, L105, L106, L109, L113, L116, L118.
Center for Whale Research blog
Erin Heydenreich, Center for Whale Research
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5:33 p.m. - I believe I may have seen an orca. Solid black with very defined arch when it surfaced out of the water. I saw something black out of the corner of my eye and then saw it surface in rapid succession twice, and then once more about 15 minutes later further south. It did not have a large dorsal fin. It was not a humpback, gray whale, or dolphin. Off of Joseph Whidbey State Park beach in Oak Harbor, WA, traveling south.
Elisabeth Murray
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We saw everything and it felt like we went everywhere today. After being on the water for over an hour a whale report came to Capt. Bill that the [orcas] were in Haro Strait near Canada parallel with the Lime Kiln lighthouse. Leaving Speiden Island we headed back to Haro Strait. On a mission to catch up with the whales, we nearly missed several Dall's porpoises foraging on the north side of Kelp Reef. Soon after, we caught up with a group of approximately 6 Transient Orcas whales near Kelp Reef.
Naturalist Shelly, San Juan Safaris
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My husband and I were in the South Sound (Case Inlet) and saw a whale today around noon. We couldn't tell if it was a grey what or a humpback. We saw it moving North toward Allyn and since there's no outlet going that way we thought we would see it going South but we never did. It was a very cool experience!
Beth Benson
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One gray whale between Gedney Island and Camano Head at 11:30 this morning.
Stephanie Raymond
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11:30 am - A call came in that at least 3 Orca, all small fins were spotted off Atrevida Reef just North of Powell River and Sliammon headed towards Powell River.
Kim Liseberg (sp?), Savary Island/Lund
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12 pm At least 4 Orca which included at least one large male, were taking their time moving slowly Southward off Sliammon.
Steve Grover, Powell River
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1 pm - The first whale watching tour found the Orca just off Sliammon Creek, Powell River. There were 7 whales including at least one small calf. Later, over the radio, it was confirmed that they had at least 8 whales with 2 calves and T02C.
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Transient Orca T02C, Harwood Island
Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures
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3:30 pm - Lee waited with the Transient Orca till Jen, Campbell River Whale Watching got on scene close in to Harwood Island and starting to pick up the pace a bit towards Rebecca Rocks, half way between Harwood and Texada Islands. They again stalled and soon after, Nick Templeman, Eagle Eye Adventures arrived on scene. He was with them till a bit after 4:15 pm.
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We had an amazing day with this Gang of Orca today. There were 8 animals in Total, my rusty eyeballs can pick out T02C and T02C2 and T02C3 I think it is?! The rest I am leaving in your capable hands. (No time to check them all or send them off for verification yet - SM)
Nicklaus, Eagle Eye Adventures
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Maureen Fredericks reported 6 orcas at Klahanie (about 5 miles northwest of Powell River, BC)
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Maureen Fredericks reported 2 orcas at Klahanie (about 5 miles northwest of Powell River, BC)

April 28, 2012

A few orcas did their own Tour de Lopez this afternoon coming past the south end of Lopez. A small, slow-moving, tightly packed pod of 5 - 7 orcas traveled east past Iceberg Point, turned and headed out further in the Strait in a westerly drift with at least a dozen boats in pursuit.
Sally Reeve
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One day the Residents, and the next the Transients, and then the Residents and then the Transients...We are soon to finish the best April that I can remember for Orca sightings. Orcas have been seen about two out of three days this April. Amazing. Yesterday it was the Ts off of Iceberg Pt. Lopez Island, with the Cascade Mts. in the background. We left them late, headed in the direction of Deception Pass
Capt. Jim Maya
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We encountered a group of about 12 transients Orcas, including T49As & Bs, at Iceberg Pt on our trip this afternoon. These are the same transients we encountered about a month ago hunting seals near Yellow Island. Today, they were grouped tightly together in a resting pattern.
Captain Brian Goodremont and Naturalist Kevin Culmback, San Juan Outfitters *
While I cannot identify them, I (and my flight-mates) saw a number of orcas (more than 6) in San Juan Channel off Fishermen's Bay on Lopez, Saturday noon. We were flying in on a Kenmore float plane.
Tim Blanchard
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SUPER CLOSE KILLER WHALES from the Ocean Explorer off of Newport Beach, California!! Capt. Larry Hartmann saw 5 orcas; 30 more passed by a bit later!
Alisa Schulman-Janiger
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KILLER WHALE ALERT! The Island Packers, (Monterey Bay CA) saw 12-16 killer whales today...spending over 5 hours with them! At least 4 of these were from the CA51 family!! These can be super-friendly...we saw them on Monterey Bay Whale Watch on 4 days between April 12 and April 20!! The last two days we saw the, they were EXTREMELY active...HOURS of BREACHING, SPYHOPPING, LOBTAILING, SURFING, RACING, CLOSE-TO-BOAT, VOCALIZING...incredible whales, my favorite transients!! WOW! Orca soup!
Alisa Schulman-Janiger
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Orcas today in the Santa Barbara CA channel, Steve has the pics, i think they are the same pod we saw 4/9 up here, the male with the slight bend in the top of the dorsal fin. It was an amazing time with them!
Anthony Lombardi
Alisa Schulman-Janiger: THE CA51s..my favorite transients!!
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Grey whale sighting - going south from Sandy Point toward the ferry dock.!:)
Sue Green VanGiesen
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9:10am - not sure if same whale, but feeding in same spot
7:35am - still feeding S. Bells Beach. Grabbing my camera to see if we can ID
7:00 - 7:18am -lone gray whale is stopping for snack at Bells' Beach 50yrds off beach moving very slowly towards Langley. est 30min to grab cup-o-joe, slippers and glasses to get out and ring the bell.
Kathy Carr
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09:19 PM - Transient Orca are spending more time again close to Myrtle Rocks, just south of Powell River. This is the same group of 8 to 10 whales including the two calves, T02C and T20 that's been close to Powell River for most of April. There are lots of seals and sea lions in the area, so plenty to eat. Also below are some reports of Pacific White Sided Dolphins and Dall's Porpoise.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
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7:40 am A call came in from Steve Grover that there were Orca just off the ferry terminal in Powell River heading Southward. They started to breach, spy hop and do some great tail lobs. I could identify T02C immediately and saw the two calves porpoising close by. With all the birds above, I assume they were on some food. A couple more spy hops, breaches and tail lobs and they carried on towards Grief Point.
Susan Mackay
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10:30 am - Taking their time, the Orca made it past Myrtle Rocks and continued heading South towards Black (Albion) Point and Lang Bay. No amount of activity.
Bill Taylor, Powell River
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4:15 pm - Pod of Orca just off Black (Albion) Point heading Northward towards Myrtle Rocks and Powell River. Two calves in the group close to females.
Nina Falls, Powell River
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Around 4:30 or 5 pm: Thanks again for the call today, we really enjoyed seeing the orca. I tried to get some photos of their return trip (heading Northward). They were further off shore and doing long dives and milling around, so I guess they were feeding. No good show on the second viewing.
Holly Roy, Powell River

April 27, 2012

We had the T086A's with the T124A's and T049C east bound heading towards Race Rocks in the afternoon.. Thanks to Russ from Sooke Coastal for the heads up.
Mark Malleson
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4:05 pm - J and Ks are back today, were spread out between Eagle Point and Hannah Heights. Sounds like they are headed out. Not to worry though they will be back soon.
Melisa Pinnow
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They [orcas] took a turn west when they got to False Bay. I was waiting at land bank.
Traci Walter
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Calm seas, sunshine, and ORCAS! Upon leaving the harbor we traveled along the east side of San Juan Island and found members of the J-Pod at the southern end of the island. For much of our encounter, the whales were spread out over a large distance but would then regroup and spend time within close proximity of each other. Whales were traveling, milling, and exhibited foraging behavior, although no fish were seen. We heard amazing vocalizations using our underwater hydrophone; squeaks, squeals and percussive sounds.
Naturalists Colleen and Amy, San Juan Safaris
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It was SO cool to see these three orcas, with Monterey Bay Whale Watch! I've seen CA20 (adult male) and CA54 (adult female) before; they were first photographed together in Monterey Bay in 1987 - old timers! It was my first sighting of CA177, a younger female and relative newcomer, first seen in Monterey in 1997.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger

April 26, 2012

Lots of Orcas, Js and Ks, on the West Side, and some of them went north in the evening. That means that we well could have them down here today again.
Capt. Jim Maya
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Humpback off Deception Pass, 4:30 pm.
Deception Pass Tours
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Humpback south bound at West Beach in 100 feet of water at 3:30 pm it was 1 mile south of Deception Pass State Park.
Deception Pass Tours
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9:40am - J Pod on OrcaSound hydrophone! thanks Cathy Bacon.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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9:23 am - Thanks to a call from Jeanne Hyde and Breanna Walker hearing faint calls, Beam Reach students are observing members of J pod heading north in Haro Strait. First calls were heard by Jeanne at 7:15 and by Breanna at 7:20. I'm now beginning to hear clicks at Orcasound (5 km north of Lime Kiln) -- Speiden just passed the lighthouse, so they are pretty spread out.
Scott Veirs
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8:50 am - Just got the call...Lots of Orcas...Js and most likely Ks, including Granny, J2, on the West Side headed north.
Jim Maya
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Just watched 4-5 (+) female orcas head north on the west side (of San Juan island) approx 1 mile offshore. Too far out to ID- they are heading towards LandBank as of 8:10am.
Sandy Buckley, San Juan Island
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I saw a gray whale yesterday around 6 pm in front of my house by Boston Harbor, Olympia. I think there was only one. It was going towards Olympia in the Budd Inlet.
Paulina Alanis

April 25, 2012

Humpback right outside of Open Bay, near Snug Harbor, San Juan Island Capt. Jim Maya
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There is a grey whale hanging out at Rosario Resort on Orcas Island...been there a couple weeks or more. I CAN'T believe I just got word. Anyway, I didn't see it as it was a serious low tide and very windy, but my friend who told me did see it.
Ki

April 24, 2012

Saw a dozen or so [probable gray whale] blows from Point No Point between 3:30 and 4:15.
Lila Pharis
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10:06 am - Just saw a small grouping of 3-5 killer whales off of Eagle Pt on SJI traveling North. There was one larger male in the group :).
Brittany Helen
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I received a call that whales were passing Lime Kiln lighthouse heading my way. I spotted transient orcas off Andrews Bay heading north at about 12:15. They soon changed direction and headed back south. Out on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we met up with the same whales as they were heading offshore, toward Hein Bank. The whales present were T49A, T49A1, T49A2, T49A3, T49B, T49B2, T65A, T65A2, T65A3 and T65A4. They began porpoising and continued to do so as they changed direction heading east. We left them at 3:30 off Iceberg Pt. Lopez Island as they continued heading east.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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It wasn't until Pile Point before we caught up with 3 of the T-100's, including T101 and T102 (48°28'N, 123°05'W), traveling south from Pile Point off the west side of San Juan Island. Another group of Transients were reported behind us (6 or 7). We stayed with the T-100's till the Salmon Banks buoy before heading towards Cattle Pass and home. A stop at Whale Rocks gave us great viewing of hauled out Stellar Sea lions covering one end, while several more milled about in the water. And, just like yesterday, we found several groups of Harbor Porpoises foraging in San Juan Channel, between Lopez Island and Turn Island.
Naturalist Shelly
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"Spouting News"
GRAY SKY GRAY SEA GRAY WHALE
On the way home from Oak Harbor around 5:30PM, got a call from a friend/neighbor that a gray whale was out front. When I arrived, gray was still feeding out front near the shore in calm gray waters, with gray skies. Everything gray. Activity included slow swirling with fins out of water, as the whale fed on sand/ghost shrimp. After a brief snack, gray headed pass Mariners Cove pilings/marina jetty entrance. Decided to go from beach to boat whale watcher. When I got out of the marina, the gray had turned and now was spouting/heading back/southwest towards Polnell Point. Picked up another friend on shore and we followed the gray. Gray was feeding almost the entire time we were out there. Usually hundred to 300 feet from shore. Slowly, moving and feeding; both perpendicular and vertically/straight out from beach. Head popping up, fins out of water, water churning, and spouting when necessary. We left the gray halfway between Mariners Cove and Polnell Point. Still feeding in changing windy conditions and a choppy sea. A timely treat on a truly "gray" day.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor/Whidbey Island
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At 5:06 a neighbor and I spotted a Gray whale just south of Strawberry Point (east of Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island). S/he was initially heading south, appeared to stop quickly at the local shrimp bed at Mariner's Cove, then turned and headed north.
Sandy Byers
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Mary Jo Adams saw a gray whale in Crescent Harbor at 2:40 pm.

April 23, 2012

10:56 am - Connie Barrett saw a gray whale in Saratoga Passage heading north about 1.5 miles from the Camano State Park.
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Saw and followed a grey whale just south of kayak point (north of Everett) heading south on 4/14 then today 4/23 watched and followed two gray whales just south of Warm Beach headed north up into Port Susan bay.
David Westin Millard
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10:00-13:00 - We saw possibly more than one Gray whale (based on frequency of breath spouts) in the Carr inlet (south Puget Sound) between the Maple Hollow Park on the Key Peninsula and Horse Head Bay to the North and Fox Island to the South. It looked like feeding behavior with Fin out of the water and a lot of rolls, but I believe the water was fairly deep, as opposed to a tide flat.
John A. Campbell, MD
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2:40 pm - Brooke McKinley saw a gray whale in the western side of Crescent Harbor while the necropsy was underway on the east side of the bay on the gray whale that was found off Camano Island on April 22. Blows were seen until about 4 pm.
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Around noon, two grays passed by off shore from Tulalip Shores. They are heading north towards Spee-bi-dah. They don't seem to be feeding, but appear to be moving along with some purpose.
Vicki Mattson, Tulalip Shores
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Grey Whale feeding just off the shelf this morning (west side of Whidbey Island)! Looks to be alone but will keep looking. Moving from North to South so someone may catch it at Sunset Beach later this morning.
Charles Niedzialkowski, LMHC, Naval Air Station, Whidbey Island
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8:15 - 9:00 am - Fred Lundahl is watching two gray whales in the mudflats off Langley.
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This morning I had the delight of being woken up at 5:20 by a gray whale feeding in front of my house, northwest of Langley (Saratoga Passage). The whale worked back and forth for 45 minutes before heading off to the north. I was not able to ID it.
Veronica von Allworden, NW Langley
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Beam Reach students are observing ~10 transients passing the Lime Kiln lighthouse northbound at 11:30 this morning. There are two groups of ~4 and ~6, including an adult male and 1-2 calves. As they passed the lighthouse a Steller sea lion was swimming quickly southward, breathing hard...
Phinn, Jamey, Taya, Rachel, Breanna, Dana, and Scott
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From 3:15 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. transient calls were on the Lime Kiln hydrophones. They started out faint, increased in volume, with lots of buzzing occurring at 3:30 a.m. and at about the same time, I heard their calls for a few seconds on the Orca Sound hydrophones.
Orca Network
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When we joined the orcas they were in Haro Strait, SE of Victoria, Canada. And they were headed west into open waters. It was a part of J pod that we were viewing - about 8 animals. They were in traveling mode. We watched the rhythmic up-for- air/down/travel/up-for-air. A youngster gave several tail slaps. And there were a few 'spy hops'. No vocalizations. We were all a bit mesmerized.
San Juan Safaris
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On Maya's Westside Charters we encountered the K14s, J14s, J-8, J-19 and L-87. A couple others were present but I wasn't able to get ID pictures of them. We left them a few miles south of Discovery Island heading in a westerly direction at 2:40. At 6:39 pm I heard Resident calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones. They were faint, increased in volume for a few minutes and then became so faint I had to have my speakers turned all the way up to hear them. Their calls lasted for about 18 minutes.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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12:22pm - Four or more orca, quite spread out, headed northwest past Eagle Point and presumably up the Haro. One came fairly close to shore here at the point, and others following at the same time were nearly a mile out. What a joy to hear, and see them, again!
Alex Shapiro
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19:38pm (approx) faint sound of calls on lime kiln hydrophone, two possible three distinct animals. Silenced by passing ship.
Nicole O'Neill
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Josh Azevedo, a sport fisherman, called Orca Network to say that at 11:25 am he had seen about ten orcas, 3 miles west of "the buoy" off Ft. Bragg CA in about 50 fathoms depth, seeming active. He had seen the signs all around the harbor with our number. No photos and no direction given.
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Just to report a sighting of about seven orca at Myrtle Rocks this morning at 7:45 am. They were heading south , taking long, long dives. What a great sight to wake up to!
Holly Roy, Powell River
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8:30 am - At least 6, maybe more, Orca including 3 larger dorsals and at least one small calf tight together heading Southward. Between Myrtle Rocks and Black (Albion) Point, south of town.
Bill Taylor, Powell River

April 22, 2012

J pod calls woke me up at 6:25 a.m. Granny and her group were up ahead of the rest of the whales by a couple miles or more. The rest of J pod - the J11s, J17s and J22s along with Cappuccino K-21, Raggedy K-40, Opus K-16 and Sonata K-35 were the trailing group. I saw the K13s only once and was glad to see Deadhead K-27 and baby K-44. More of the day on my blog: Whale of A Purpose.
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Heidi Malcomson called with a report of a pod of orcas off West Side Road on San Juan Island at 7:30 am, heading south.
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UNKNOWN WHALE (probably a gray whale, see April 25 post). On both Saturday and Sunday in East Sound Bay, between Olga and Obstruction Pass, Orcas Island, we observed a solitary whale (humpback? gray? couldn't tell...) surfacing and moving slowly in the same general area. Couldn't tell the size since we were looking across the Bay from the White Beach area of Orcas. I was able to get numerous pictures of spouts and one picture actually captured the back as it surfaced - on blow up the whale looked extremely thin, with the spine quite prominent. We never saw a tail. We did see a head, though, and thought it looked like a humpback (which we have seen many times in Maui). At one point a fixed wing plane flew over the whale and circled him two or three times. The whale spent a good deal of time right on the surface from what we could tell at our distance. We first heard him spout on Saturday about 1000 and he disappeared about noon on Sunday. I thought you might want to know as he most likely is sick and may surface elsewhere in the San Juans... It is very unusual a whale is seen in this area (except maybe for rare orca).
Sarah Layman
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1:22AM - Spotted a single gray whale feeding in Carr Inlet, about a half mile S.W. of Cutt's Island off Kopachuck State Park (south Puget Sound). We watched for 30 minutes as it stayed in the area coming up several times to breathe and then going into a dive. We where more than a mile away and could see the blows and hear then a second later. This was the first gray whale I have seen in that bay, we were very excited.
James Neil
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Natalie Bowes saw orcas from the BC Ferry from Vancouver today at 4:15!
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Today we took off with reports of our resident orcas coming north on the west side of San Juan Island. We made our way slowly into Haro Strait between Henry Island and Stuart Island. Up came dorsals. Out came whale breath. Over all there may have been 15 - 20 animals. They were traveling in small groups of 6 - 8 and it appeared to me that they were in a resting-style mode. Residents can be very vocal. No vocalizations today - we dropped the hydrophone three separate times. Residents can be very playful and energetic. None of that today. Lots of slow "up" and sinking back "down". The water was glass-like. No wind. No noise. It felt very peaceful bobbing in the water with the engine off.
Naturalist, Colleen Johansen, San Juan Safaris Whale & Wildlife Watching
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Ken Balcomb just called to report that J pod, K pod and L87 went north up San Juan Island this morning beginning around 6:30 am. They headed north slowly in Haro Strait, working against the tide. When the tide changed, they started moving on, by about 3:20 pm he believed they were up near Turn Pt, Stuart Island. Good to have some Resident orcas back in the neighborhood!
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8:29 - K pod is now in front of False Bay, sounds like J pod is coming down south possibly now!!!!
8:18am - J and K pod are back!!!!! J pod is around Lime kiln/ Henry island still going north last time I saw them. K pod is at Hannah Heights going south.
Melisa Pinnow
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8:00am - calls, whistles, echo still so clear/loud on both OS & LK. Waters calm quiet.
7:29am - still loud calls on LK too! Sweet Sunday to ya!
7:27am - excellent loud calls, whistles and echolocation on OS.
7:15am - still loud calls. Too bad tanker coming through going to obliterate the conversation for a while. It was calm quiet when I first started listening.
6:54am - J pod on Lime Kiln! Happy Earth day!
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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We found gray whale #22 and with another gray, southeast of Gedney Island about halfway between Gedney and Everett, at 3:30pm. After several deep dives showing their flukes, the whales logged on the surface, occasionally lifting a fluke out of the water.
Stephanie Raymond, Naturalist, Victoria Clipper III
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One gray spotted in the middle of Possession Sound at 3:00, just south of the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry route. Just one blow and then it was gone, on to the next meal!
Kate Schmiett
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Tonight around 10:00PM, two whales passed by Tulalip Shores, heading north. Heard them for about 15 minutes until we couldn't hear them anymore as they turned the corner towards Spee-be-dah.
Kelsey Fitzgerald, Tulalip Shores
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Gray whales in Cascade Bay, off Rosario, Orcas Island. I saw one adult. Someone told me there were two.
Susen Oseth, Orcas Island
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There were a number of gray whales seen some distance from the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry this morning about 9:10, headed both north and south. Very still waters and easy to spot the blows.
Robin Lindsey
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We spotted a small boat with people leaning out watching something at about 11:30am, just south of Oak Harbor. Then we spotted fins, and thought we had found some transient orcas. A closer look revealed them to be Risso's dolphins. I got a good look at the melon on one as it surfaced coming toward our boat, and one of them spyhopped, leaving no doubt about their identity. I wonder if they are the same ones that were in south Puget Sound a while back? They were milling around in the area where we found them, sometimes surfacing together a few times, sometimes with a few hundred yards between them. At one point a sea lion swam along with one of them for a few breaths! About 3:00 pm we spotted two Dall's porpoise heading west between Gedney Island and Whidbey Island.
Stephanie Raymond, Naturalist, Victoria Clipper III

April 21, 2012

3 pm - John Rogstad of Wa State Ferries reported 7 orcas heading south past Kingston in the southbound traffic lane.
Residents in Haro Strait
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On my way over to Whidbey this morning for the Welcome the Whales day, I saw 3 different grays...one about half way across between Mukilteo and Clinton...one just off Clinton that did the most awesome high in the air tail flukes deep dive...and one more off Bells beach on my way to my friend Marilyn's house! I feel like it's a sign of good karma for a fantastic day ahead!
Pam Ren 10:18 am - Patch and friend south bound mid channel in front of Langley happy welcome the whales day sorry we couldn't make it.
Deception Pass Tours
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A single gray mid channel off Langley at 10 am visiting for Welcome the Whales Day. Too Cool
Fred Lundahl
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10:00AM, we are watching two single gray whales swimming mid channel Port Susan between Tulalip Shores/Spee-bi-dah and the east side of Camano. Traveling north without much delay.
Kelsey Fitzgerald, Tulalip Shores
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9:35 AM - Single gray whale spouting near the beach on the east side of Whidbey island about 2 miles north of possession point. Can't determine direction yet. 10:02 AM - Still in the same spot.
Dave Davenport
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5:31 pm - Just spent about an hour with a Humpback off of West Beach in front of Soundview Shopper, Whidbey Island.
Deception Pass Tours
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2:40 pm - Just sitting on our deck watching 4 to 6 Orca cavorting and milling about out in front of the Meadows on Savary Island. (Southwest side of Savary Island looking towards Grant's Reef). No direction and have been there for a bit.
Lesley Roberts, Savary Island
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3 pm - Lesley called us to look for the Orca in front of our place.
Dee Ingraham, Savary Island
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4:18 pm - After a short search for them, Aaron, Campbell River Whale Watching found the Whales still in the same area. There were at least 8 Orca in total with T02C and one Sprouter (young male whose dorsal is growing to it's adult size) and possibly another male off in the distant. The two groups of around 4 each joined together. 2 very young calves still tinged with orange were cavorting. They were resting, spyhopping and very slowly working their way towards the green buoy marking the end of Mystery Reef and the mainland. By 5:30 pm when Aaron left them, the Orca were still between Savary and Grant's Reef. Reports were received over the radio from Aaron 'as it happened' and they never did show up closer to the mainland by dark
Susan McKay
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6 pm - Marie Waterman of Wa. State Ferries called to say a ferry captain had seen about 8 orcas at the Tango buoy, just NW of Alki Point, headed north.
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we saw a large grey whale surface and blow several times as it moved north of Steamboat Island and south into Totten Inlet (south Puget Sound), and later that same day as it returned to Budd Inlet and traveling North.

April 20, 2012

5:30 p.m. - Small pod of at least six Orcas slowly traveling in northbound shipping lanes in the mouth of Useless Bay (south Whidbey Island). There was at least one male with the group. We believe they were feeding.
Maria and Geoff
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We have spotted 2 Ts 12:45 pm at the number 5 channel marker in Oak Harbor in stealth hunting mode.
Deception Pass tours
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12:20 - The two transients at now just SE of possession point still headed south.
Dave Davenport
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11:38 am - Still watching [orcas] from Mukilteo. They are close to the Whidbey side but you can see them still!!!!!
Megan Taylor
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11:22 - Mid channel heading south past mukilteo now.
11:18 - Cathy says they're near ferry lanes again heading towards Clinton. Direction of travel unclear.
10:56 - Cathy Bacon spotted [orcas] mid channel looks like heading towards Saratoga. Boat following, chasing them.
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11:12 - 8 orcas including one male off Mukilteo.
Megan Taylor
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John Rogstad of WSF called at 9:57 am to relay a report from the Captain of the Cathlamet ferry of 7 orcas - 4 lg. and 3 smaller, 1 mile north of Mukilteo, frolicking and heading north
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9:56 am - just got a call from Dave Davenport in Mukilteo of a group of about 5 or 6 orcas heading north, about 200 yards off the Mukilteo lighthouse. They would be crossing the ferry lanes about now.
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Grays were in Port Susan at 7:00PM, two gray whales were spotted feeding just off shore in front of Tulalip Shores. They headed north towards Spee-be-dah, and continued feeding, north along the coast.
Kelsey Fitzgerald, Tulalip Shores
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1:25 pm - Gray whale, possibly two, slowly going south in Saratoga Passage 300 yards off of Whidbey Island, south of Race Lagoon, and just South of Shangri La Shores, just south of Penn Cove.
Bill Wiegand
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1:28 - They're over by Hat Island.
1:12 pm - Still at Mukilteo Beach and watching two or three grey whales feeding between Mukilteo and Clinton along the ferry lanes, heading north. They're showing off their big whale spouts!!!
Kristin Zoller Kohorst
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6:40 pm - 4 Orca by April Point, across from Campbell River, heading Northward. One big fin (male). Reports came in from Laura to Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys and also
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale Watching

April 19, 2012

Amazingly enough (to me anyway!) about 2:oo I stopped by Legion Park in north Everett. It took less than a minute to see the first blow, then looking that direction with my binocs, I caught 3 seperate whales spouting all in the same time! It's crazy how many are hanging in that area at the moment.
Pam Ren
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6:26 pm - Small pod of orcas moving slowly north mid channel between Seattle and Bainbridge, just lost sight off Bill Point.
Heather Polverino
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6 pm - Report from Graham Dewitt of the Wa. State Ferries that at least three orcas were headed north off Elliot Bay, toward West Point.
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5:53 pm - 2+ Orcas off Magnolia now... Seen from Bainbridge Island ferry.
Katie Geraghty
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Mike Sullivan of Bainbridge Island called to say that on the 5:30 ferry to Seattle the captain announce about half way across that there were orcas north of the ferry lane about a quarter mile. He saw at least two adults, including one male, moving north.
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8:13 pm - Orca call in the background...Lime Kiln hydrophones.
Robo Lon
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Erin Horan wrote: We saw a whale today off Luana beach (Vashon Island) - 12:45ish. Can anyone tell me what it was? No dorsal fin, but a triangle shaped "hump" in its place, large tail, loud blow hole sounds, gray and barnacle-y.... ? It was heading south- Towards Point Robinson. it was definitely a Gray, just a slight bump, no fin, lots of barnacles and "knuckles" for sure!
Forwarded by Preserve Our Islands
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12:40pm - Gray whale off Naval Air Station Whidbey Island (west side).
YG ES Janaan
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"Spouting News" - SARATOGA GRAY CAUGHT EXHALING
Shortly before 8AM; a Mariners Cove friend and neighbor called to notify me, to check out whale spouts mid channel, between north Whidbey and Camano islands. Traveling south, first seen from Camano's Brown Pt., passing Utsalady Bay, old time boat house/fishing communities of Maple Grove and Camp Grande. Right before Camp Grande's boathouse near Camano's Rocky Pt, gray turned west towards Crescent Harbor off Polnell Pt. At one point, saw two spouts within a second of two of each other. Two whales, exhaling? However, that was the only time I saw the two spouts together and wonder if my eyes were playing tricks on me. Will be curious if any reports come out today of gray sightings from the Crescent Harbor off 'Oak Harbor" and/or Penn Cove near Coupeville.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor Whidbey Island

April 18, 2012

Dave Ellifrit was able to identify individuals from Meg McDonald's photos in Colvos Passage by Southworth: Well, I'd bet the whale in the first pic is T49A1 and the last pic may be T65A3 so I think you probably have at least the T49As, T49Bs, and T65As down there. They have been spending a lot of time together this spring.
Dave
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5:15 pm - Phillip Parkes called with a report of 4 - 6 orcas in Nootka Sound, at the base of the Muchalat Inlet, at Gold River, heading NW out toward the sea. There was one male, and he saw one spyhop while paddling a kayak. He said the locals told him that was the first time they'd seen an orca in Nootka Sound since Luna died there in March, 2006.
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Bruce Martin called to report a pod of 4 - 5 orcas just off the south end of Blake Island, heading east (toward Fauntleroy/W. Seattle) at 7:25 pm.
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Saw 6 Orcas traveling south through Colvos Pass 4:00 PM. I believe there were 6. Three close to shore and swam inside the #6 buoy at Pt Richmond Beach and three out in the middle.
Jack Sutton
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Amy Carey called at 3:52 pm to say she was watching about ten orcas moving fast down Colvos Passage, past Lisabeula and coming up on Gig Harbor. Amy had called earlier at 2:50 pm to say about they are headed south down Colvos Passage, between Cove and Olalla.
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Amy Carey called at 1:20 pm to report the Transients are now off the North side of Blake Island heading west, closer to the Blake Island side.
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11:12 am - He just posted another tweet. It was seattle-bremerton boat facing seattle, left side of boat about a qtr mile away. He said "huge"pod.
10:54 am - I just saw a tweet about a large pod of orcas about 20 min south of the ferry terminal(?). I know its vague - anyone else seeing any thing? Tweet was at 10:24.
Connie Bickerton
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Watched 2 gray whales this evening off Jetty Island in Everett from Harborview Park on Mukilteo Blvd. Wasn't sure at first if I was watching one very active whale or two, and then they both surfaced next to each other and spouted at the same time, so I knew it was two. One was prettty active, I saw fins and flukes a couple times, and one came out of the water enough one time to see that it had a lot of white on it's side. Wondering if maybe it was Patch.
Pam Ren
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Watching 2-3 whales in Saratoga Passage near the North end of Camano Island (1400 today).
Steve Rothboeck

April 17, 2012

The cool sighting of the day was that down toward the eastern end of the Burrows Island (NW of Deception Pass in Rosario Strait) about 100 yards west of the big white round buoy in the channel, I think I saw an ORCA! headed eastward around the end of the island. I saw its dorsal fin (a female?) and back, but not enough of it to identify the individual-- maybe a transient. It surfaced the one time that I saw it with the naked eye, and then I was too late to get my binoculars on it, but it resurfaced and I heard its blow. That made my day.
Chris Brown
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I saw a whale surface off of Battle Point sand spit (western tip of Bainbridge Island, Port Orchard Bay) at 6:30 pm. It surfaced again a mile south then dove displaying it tail. I never saw an orca fin.
Mike Dauber-Ads
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4:43 pm - Updating, she's saying they're in the cove just S of Cama Beach, Camano Island.
3:53 pm - My daughter just called reporting Greys out front. That's Saratoga between the Camano State and Cama Parks.
Will Murphy
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I saw a pod of 4-6 transients from Bainbridge Ferry en route to Seattle in the evening. Approximately halfway through the crossing, I noticed the pod about a half mile north of the ferry, potentially pursuing prey as they appeared very active. There were some California Sea Lions in the vicinity.
Tyler
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2:00 pm - 2 bull male orcas heading north between Blakely and Cypress.
Brian Endres
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10 am - I spotted a group of whales moving N through the Tacoma Narrows, N of the bridges. I saw at least 5 spouts. My friend saw a tail. It was too far from my deck to get a good photo or make an ID. All I could see was the water disturbance and the spouting.
Jennifer Chushcoff

April 16, 2012

We were in our boat headed to des Moines off Vashon island when we were treated to watching a pod of 10 or so orca. They had a chase boat with them which was cool. I'll send pix if I have any good ones. We were pretty far away, must have been around 2:30pm. We were heading east, orca west along dash point side of shipping channel.
Peggy Claar
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3:40 pm - Sandra Pollard just called from the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry. She's seeing 4 or 5 orcas, including two adult males, heading east a bit north of the ferry lane. At the same time the captain of the ferry just reported a gray whale off the bow.
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We lost them shortly after 3 tree point. They either turned when I was driving to Point Robinson or managed to shoot past the folks waiting - possible if they hit the far shore as it was pretty blustery. That was around 12:30 ish.
Amy Carey
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Amy Carey called at noon with a sighting of a group of orcas that looked like the same ones from yesterday, heading south off Three Tree Point, Vashon Island.
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10:52 am - Marie Waterman of WA State Ferries called to relay a report that the captain of the "Tilikum" just saw two orcas heading south of the Fauntleroy dock.
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3:40 pm - (posted twice due to two species reported) Sandra Pollard just called from the Clinton/Mukilteo ferry. She's seeing 4 or 5 orcas, including two adult males, heading east a bit north of the ferry lane. At the same time the captain of the ferry just reported a gray whale off the bow.

April 15, 2012

Folks - there is a pod of Orca whales swimming off of Anderson and McNeil Islands...right here in South Sound. I guess they have been out there all day. If you are out that way with a camera...video equipment, etc...please play movie maker - without disturbing the magnificent creatures - thanks! Wow...
Sue Patnude (forwarded by Pat Rasmussen)
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Amy Carey reports that a friend heard orcas in Colvos Passage around 11 pm.
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Natasha Bevin called after seeing 8 - 10 orcas from the Tacoma Narrows park. They were headed south between Fox Island and Gig Harbor. She said they came very close to shore as she walked and ran down the beach with them. She said at one point three orcas lunged after two ducks, but the ducks got away at first. Then the orcas dove and came back from under the ducks, and "there go the ducks."
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8:14 - There are 2 Orcas right off of mcneil island. Right across from where the ferry leaves steilacoom. Saw a nice big pod of porpoises. Big unidentified whale swimming midchannel between steilacoom and mcneil. Tonight is my lucky night! I don't have a camera.
Tracie Rodriguez
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6:38 - We are watching them about mid channel in front of the Narrows Marina! Beautiful!
Sandi Estes Hill
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Pod that was off Pt. Defiance near Tacoma, WA just went under the narrows bridge. Still heading south at 5:55pm. 5 or maybe even 6 whales.
Tracie Rodriguez
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And another update on the Puget Sound Transients from Lori Willson - at 5:50 pm she reports they are at Titlow beach in Tacoma, they've just come under the Narrows Bridge, still heading south.
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I spent nearly 8 hours following this group of transients from West Seattle down to Titlow Beach in Tacoma. These photos were all taken from various points along 5 mile drive in Point Defiance Park.
Lori Willson
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5:50 - Brad Hanson called from the Tacoma Narrows bridge where the Ts were still headed south against a very strong current. 2:10 - Brad Hanson called from about a mile SW of Pt. Robinson with the T49Bs, still headed south.
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There was a pod of Orcas off Point Defiance Sunday night. There were about 5 -6 minimum. They were close to the shore by Point Defiance headed south towards the Tacoma Narrows bridge. They crossed the channel towards the Gig Harbor side. This was about 5:30pm. There was some sort of research type of boat trailing them. Later that night (about 7:45pm), as we were entering our marina, we heard another call on the radio warning a boat "Slow down, there are killer whales dead ahead" so they were still around a couple of hours later.
Jeff Eaton
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3:32 - Still southbound. Now near browns point/piner point.
3:21 - Now at the south end of vashon. Definitely picked up speed.
2:50 pm - Whales still southbound near the former Glacier site (love saying former) along the se shore of maury island.
Preserve Our Islands
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1:57 - Six to eight orca at Pt. Robinson, Vashon Island!
Kate Doran-Vanderwaal
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1:13 - Lori Willson sees the orcas from Des Moines, closer to the Vashon side, approaching Pt. Robinson.
11:29 - Lori Willson confirms they are now heading south along between Vashon and West Seattle.
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12:42 - Nearing 3 tree point on the west seattle side. Still southbound.
Amy Carey
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Amy Carey called at 12:08, watching the orcas from just north of Dilworth on Vashon Island, closer to the West Seattle side, 6 - 10 orcas southbound.
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11:17 am - Chris Kennedy of the WA State Ferries called to relay a sighting from the ferry of 8-10 orcas heading south from the Fauntleroy ferry lane.
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10:56 am - Lori Willson called from West Seattle to say she was watching 5-6 orcas between the Vashon ferry dock and West Seattle, closer to the Vashon side, milling and circling and not really going anywhere.
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Clipper IV reported transient orcas at 4 Mile Rock in Elliott Bay at 8:30 am.
Stephanie Raymond, Naturalist, Victoria Clipper III
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I have a second hand report from 2 coworkers who went out on a charter in Westport the 15th. 4 Orcas seen from a distance. The captain said 2 crossed his bow Wednesday. They went through deep sea charters.
Bryan Owens
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On our Monterey Bay Whale Watch trips today, Nancy Black and Alisa Schulman-Janiger saw three groups of transient killer whales. On our morning trip we saw a group of 10 whales that included the CA39s and the CA180s that had killed a minke whale and were feeding on it. On the afternoon trip we first saw the CA51s, and later saw the CA138s that had killed a harbor seal.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, Nancy Black, California Killer Whale Project
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Just wanted to report two separate killer whale sightings in Monterey today. The first sighting was a group of 8 killer whales including this male, CA24. They attacked and killed a Minke Whale. The second sighting of killer whales was of 5 animals, the ones known as the CA51's. They were also feeding on something but could not confirm as to what it was.
Peggy Stap
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6:30pm - gray right in front of our place at whidbey shores! We are just south of the spit on the cliff. Headed south! Slowly!
Sara Young
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While enjoying, the beach on Ala Spit, heard spouts off Hope Island (north end of Saratoga Passage). Perfectly calm waters/easy to hear the spouts/not so easy to see them. Gray hugged Hope's rugged/rocky bank shoreline. Traveling at a snail's pace. Few spouts/most of the time submerged. Continued this pattern as it cruised over to nearby Skagit and Kicket Islands. First time ever have seen a gray around these picturesque islands. Kudos to Orca Network for posting a gray sighting in this area recently. Would not have gone/been there enjoying this evening's experience without the report. Thank you.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor/Whidbey Island
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5:46 pm - Two greys between Cama beach & the State park. Closer to Whidbey. Moving s...l...o...w...l...y
Danelle Murphy
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4:54 pm - Orca just past baby island (Whidbey Island), headed south, two for sure:) from where I stand on Camano Island between Cama beach and the park.
Danelle Murphy
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4:39 pm - One gray south bound 2.5 miles north of North Bluff Rd.
Deception Pass Tours
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1400 (2pm) - three grays sounding ½-mile north off Gedney (Hat) Island in Port Gardner, including a smaller whale clustered and moving in synchronicity with the medium sized gray. Two additional whales feeding in the mud half-mile NW off Jetty Island in the flats off Priest Point, occasionally rolling on sides. One additional (very large) gray just west off the mouth of Tulalip Bay.
Michael Kundu, Project SeaWolf Coastal Protection
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While looking for the Transient orcas reported in Saratoga Passage (anyone else see them yet?), I saw a Gray whale spout a few times between Noon & 12:20 - south of Elger Bay, W. Camano Island, looks like it's feeding in the shallows & heading slowly south.
Susan Berta
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Suspected whale surfacing in Oak Harbor as we were finishing up rounding the final stretch of the Whidbey Island Half Marathon today! Definitely something out there, but hard to see exactly what from the distance.
Jennie Potter Brooks
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Victoria Clipper III encountered gray whale #22 today about 10:15, just north of the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry lanes, midchannel. We slowed down for the ferries to cross in front of us, and as soon as they had passed, we saw #22 blow. Followed him north toward Gedney (Hat) Island, then he crossed our bow and we left him heading SE toward the Everett waterfront. One passenger reported seeing a few porpoises in the area where we first spotted #22, as well.
Stephanie Raymond, Naturalist, Victoria Clipper III
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Gray whale off kayak point 11:30 am.
Michelle Guenzler Burns
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This morning at 0930 I spotted a lone Gray off the NW corner of Hope Is. (north end of Saratoga Passage) feeding slowly NE towards the fish farm.
Capt. Neil Harmsworth
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9:32 - We have a Gray Whale 1 mile south of Oak Harbor this morning!!! It looks like he's going to go into Oak Harbor!
Deception Pass Tours
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4:47 pm - Just heard from Traci Walter and confirmed from Ivan Reiff that a gray whale was spotted at False Bay (San Juan Island) heading east!!! Rumor - it's around Salmon Bank/American Camp area now...cool!
John Boyd
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7:00pm - We are watching the orca still north of the Clinton ferry making their way south. See blows, dorsal of male and couple of breaches. General movement southbound. Also 6-10 harbor porpoise off Mukilteo mid channel.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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6:55 pm - Just observed a pod of orcas swimming south from Camano Head past the west side of Hat Island down to the Mukilteo/Columbia Beach ferry crossing. They are still frolicking just north of the ferry crossing. There was one, maybe two full size adults and at least 3, maybe 4 very small juveniles! SO SPECTACULAR!!!!!
Melanie J. Sceva Hill
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6:53 pm - Saw three breaches north of Clinton a few minutes ago from the ferry.
Greg Heiss
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Got in from mowing at about the time of your last post. So I went down and sat at the end of the dock at Baby island and could see the 2 orcas way way across from Fox Spit on the Camano side. I then took a drive down to Bells Beach and saw them again (5:40 pm), got a photo but it's not very good. then I lost them? Don't know which way they went. There were 2 boats out there, one big and the other smaller, they stayed way back from them :) I just got back and wanted to post right away but blessed to have seen them :) finally!
Marilyn Armbruster
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5:39 pm - 2-3 orcas in front of our cabin in Whidbey Shores (east of Greenbank, Whidbey Island).
Sara Young
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5:30 pm - can just barely make out the Transients in south Saratoga Passage now - they are nearing Pebble Beach on the south end of Camano Island. What a wonderful day for watching whales in the Salish Sea - many thanks to all who reported their sightings today!
4:50 ish, spotted more of the Transient pod in Saratoga Passage, just south of Elger Bay, SW Camano Island, still heading south at a pretty good pace.
4:40 - I just saw two of the Transients in Saratoga Passage, just south of Cama Beach, closer to the Camano side. Looks like they are still hunting, but still heading south - now they're behind trees, but should be able to see them again soon. Love it - I think this is a first for me getting to see both Orcas and Gray whales from our home/office window in one day!!
Susan Berta
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Orcas in Saratoga Passage heading south - 3:45 pm - probably off Cama Beach by now (4:07 pm). Looked like 5 of them, one male, a sprouter, 2 females and a young one. Too far away for any ID shots.
Jill Hein
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Bonnie Gretz called at 3:15 pm to report 5 - 6 orcas off Snakelum Pt (south side of Penn Cove), in two groups hunting. There are 2 males and a young one, 2 are heading south, some appear to be heading toward NW Camano Island.
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Pod of 6-7 orcas moving north through Saratoga Passage just out from Camano Inn at 10:30 am...saw first dorsal around 10:30 and just lost sight of them about 10:50....heading towards Greenbank but they were on both the west and east sides of the passage. Super exciting!
Carrie DiTullio, Camano Island

April 14, 2012

I spotted three gray whales from Crescent Harbor at about 6:30 p.m. They were a long way off. One stayed quite a ways out between us and Camano Island. Two others traveled near the NEX parking lot on the Seaplane Base. We watched them for about an hour.
Valerie Roseberry
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We saw a pod of Orcas making their way SE towards the Kingston ferry dock. Too far out to count accurately, it looked that there were more than four/five.
Peg Boley, South Camano
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We sailed past a pod of Orcas on Saturday evening about 6 p.m. about a quarter of the way from a line between Marrowstone Island lighthouse and Fort Casey. Approximate Latitude, Longitude 48.117571,-122.684927. Counted between 9-12 including large males and several smaller ones in two separate groups. They appeared to be diving for 2-5 minutes at a time. Watched them for 10-15 minutes in heavy current.
Bob Frank
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Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research reviewed photos taken by John Haynes near Pt. Townsend, and identified the whales as: The T100s, T101s, and T65As are there and maybe the T49As and T49Bs in the background too. The adult male is T102 and and there are several pics of T100C.
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Matthew Clausen (sp?) called at 7:46 to say he had just seen 5 transients next to the Keystone ferry, which was about the time we were watching at least three other smaller groups, 5 or 6 miles to the south, off Lagoon Point. So it appears the 2 tight groups of 6 - 10 in each group that we saw from Ft. Casey before 7 pm broke up into smaller groups, spread out over many miles.
Susan and Howard
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We saw a pod of about seven Orcas (including juveniles) about 250 feet from shore heading South across Admiralty Bay (SW of the Keystone ferry landing). We are located about 1/4 mile down the beach from the Coupeville ferry terminal. Sighting was about 7:15pm today!
Stacy Hauser Weigel
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We found the orcas from Ft. Casey, heading toward Lagoon Point from Port Townsend in two groups, between 6:30 and 7 pm. It looked like about 15-18 in total. We headed to Lagoon Point, where we watched what look like Transients from Lagoon Pt. from 7:45 - 8 pm, as they continued south in several small pods. Too dark and distant for photos or IDs - hope they show up again tomorrow!
Susan and Howard
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At 4:04 pm Cindy called from the Coupeville-Port Townsend ferry with a report of 3 or 4 orcas she was watching as she called. She says they are circling off the tip of Port Townsend. That sounds a lot like what the transient orcas were doing off Bush Point yesterday afternoon for at least 3 hours.
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3:30 -4:30 pm - 10 Orcas just south of entry into Puget Sound off Whidbey Island southwest of Fort Casey. Generally southbound but kept circling around, pack swimming and at some times looking like they were playing with each other. At least one male. This was our first whale watching excursion.
John Haynes
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Not sure when they began, but transient orcas were traveling south in Haro Strait, passing the Orca Sound hydrophones at 5:00a.m. They continued vocalizing as they traveled down Haro, fading off and then being picked up on Lime Kiln hydrophones. I last saw them at 6:50 a.m., appeared to be 6 animals, they were south of Sea Bird Pt. by a mile or two.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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6 am - Guests at the Inn At Langley saw two grey whales feeding off their balcony Saturday morning.
Fred Lundahl
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9:33 - They've headed out to deep water now... :(
8:31 - The whales are now about a mile north of Langley feeding on the beach!!!
7:59 - oops, they are now headed north of Langley!
7:53 -Two Gray Whales spotted in the middle of Saratoga Passage off Langley headed south towards Everett!!
Teri Ferren

April 13, 2012

Noon - Gray whale feeding and roiling in the shallows barely 30 feet off our deck, Whidbey Shores, Saratoga Passage.
Penny Thackeray
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After a morning without seeing Orcas, I got the call from my wife. She was on the ferry and they just announced that Orcas were next to the ferry...But she didn't know where she was because she had been sleeping. In a few minutes we did find out where they were and raced over to Harney Channel (north of Friday Harbor) to see them. Later on this evening my wife and I went to see them near Speiden Channel. I love looking at Orcas. Great light today.
Capt. Jim Maya
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4:30 pm on Maya's Charters we met up with the whales that had been spotted from the ferry a short time before. The whales were in Harney Channel heading west. They made at least two kills before reaching Pole Pass. After exiting Pole Pass they headed toward Deer Harbor. These whales are the T49As and T49Bs.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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Dave Lahaie reports 3 killer whale fins seen at 16:30 from the WA State ferry off Grindstone Harbor (S central Orcas Island). Heading west with whale watch boats in attendance. Probably transients.
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At 1530 Chris Kennedy of Wash State Ferries called to relay a report of 7 orcas in Upright Channel, adjacent to Canoe Island (NW side of Lopez Island), headed west.
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One of our observers reported seeing 6 killer whales west of Neah Bay near Warmhouse Beach today around 11:30 am. He described a few smaller animals but did not mention any obviously large dorsal fins. Unfortunately Jon and I were unable to get on the water but I did call Scott Veirs to see if he picked anything up on the hydrophone.
Adrianne Akmajian, Marine Mammal Technician, Makah Fisheries Management
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We found the Transient orcas off Bush Pt, watched 8 - 10 of them including 2 males as they hunted back and forth off Bush Pt from 7 pm - 7:45 pm. The dorsal fins looked like transients, but they were getting too far south & too far away to get ID shots. They seemed to be trending back south and further from the Whidbey side. Others at Bush Pt said they had been watching the orcas since 4:30 pm.
Susan & Howie
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We saw at least six Orca off our bluff (Bush Point area) 7:30 PM.
Craig & Joy Johnson
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1800 - Bush Point. Orca pod seen between Bush Point and the south end of Marrowstone Island about mid channel. Estimate between 7-10 orcas, two being big males. They were heading to the south, not in a hurry, viewed them for over an hour. Assume they were feeding. Two Males, one has a thinner fin.
Guy Calkins
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5:53 - Elsa Leavitt called to say she's watching 6 - 10 orcas a little north of Bush Point, Whidbey Island, with no clear direction, just splashing around.
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Whale whale whale! Perhaps they circled around Vashon again? Pod of likely transients possible same group from Monday with 6 to 7 animals just passed by heading north in Colvos passage at 1030 now south end of Blake Island at 1040.
Tim Ferris
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10:03 am - Two Orca sighted heading northbound in Colvos Passage (N 47.23.6, W 122.31.94). Appeared to be a mother and calf.
Gary
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10:03 am - Orcas just seen heading north in Colvos Passage, just north of Olalla. Closer to the Vashon side in two separate groups about 200 yards apart from each other. One group had about 3, with one big fin, and the other group was about 4 or so smaller fins. Quite windy today so difficult to see them without the scope.
Sandy Alferness Jeter
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9:50 - Jeff Hogan saw a couple of blows just north of the Bainbridge ferry lane, still heading north.
9:32 - Jeff Hogan called with a sighting of some blows south of Bainbridge Island, heading north.
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Just had a report of an unknown number of orcas headed northbound in Puget Sound - somewhere between Blake Island and Alki along the Vashon to Seattle Passenger only ferry route at 8:15 this morning.
Amy Carey
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Well, after watching the water from the foc'sle of the Tahlequah/Pt. Defiance ferry just about every weekday morning and evening for the past 14 years, I'm pleased to finally be able to report having seen orcas--TWO of them! (I've seen porpoises on several occasions--including several Dahl's porpoises this past Wednesday--but these are the first orcas I've seen off the south end of Vashon.) While they were too far away for me to have noted any specific markings, those amazingly tall dorsal fins were a clear giveaway that they were, indeed, orcas. I spotted the two swimming together just off the southwestern corner of Vashon (which I think is called Dalco Point, but I can't spare the time right now to check on this) at 8:10 AM this morning. Given my understanding that that is a rather biologically productive location, I'm guessing that they were feeding--especially since they appeared to be lingering around Dalco Point for awhile. A few minutes before then, though, I had seen them just off shore from the Tacoma Yacht Club. So, it seems as if they may have made a beeline for Dalco Point, then settled in there for a meal.
Dr. Jack Barbash

April 12, 2012

6:30 pm around 6 Orca including one big male were seen heading towards Heriot Bay by the Cortez to Quadra Island ferry.
6 pm there were 4 to 6 Orca, all small dorsals seen close to South Rendezvous Island heading towards Raza Island by a broken down prawn boat.
Jack Springer, Campbell River Whale Watching
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Between 12noon and 2pm we saw about 20 Killer Whales playing. they came by our boat within 15 feet. They were Spyhoping splashing about for the first hour. Later when we went to the North side of the Island they started to Breach. We saw 6 breaches in about 30 seconds. they continued to swim about and around our boat... At one time we had Orcas on all sides of the boat. At one time we saw 8 fins out of the water at the same time. We do not know how many whales were there we only guessed by seeing whales out each side that we could count 20.
Gord Chouinard, Lund Seaside Inn ....on Sevilla Island
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Faint J calls on Neah Bay HP! 1:40 p.m.
Gayle Swigart
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At 11:00AM, a single gray whale was slowly swimming north, just off shore from Tulalip Shores, headed towards Spee-be-dah. First whale sighting for our niece, visiting here from Chicago.
Vicki Mattson, Tulalip Shores
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We spotted two gray whales today about 11:30 a.m. just slightly north and west of Hat Island.
Ed Young, Whidbey Island Kayaking Company
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12:30 pm - Jill Hein spotted, and Mary Jo Adams reported a gray whale 1/4 mile off Swantown/Joseph Whidbey State Park (west of Oak Harbor, west coast of Whidbey island).
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We saw one grey whale making its way SE between Camano Head & Langley. It was mid-channel in Saratoga Passage.
Peg Boley, South Camano
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Walked on 6PM Coupeville to Port Townsend ferry. Ferry passengers were treated to pod of 8 orcas heading into the traffic lanes from Port Townsend.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor/Whidbey Island

April 11, 2012

Friend and I spotted a gray whale, 5:40 pm, off port side of Mukilteo/Clinton ferry on our way home to Clinton. It was heading south down Possession Point. Saw two blows before it disappeared. Love my commute!
Margi Hartnett
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Mike Beck, a crabber, called Orca Network at 12:25 pm to report seeing about a dozen orcas about noon, 2.5 miles out from Grays Harbor WA, near the GH bouy. He said they were headed NNW.
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Gray whale still near bluff on west beach and fort nugent road (west side of Whidbey Island, just south of Naval Air Station Whidbey)----just watched for a while--still unsure what it is--dark with a fine--seems to be eating for last two days--heading south at time 6pm and will turn north in a bite---anyone else reported it.
Sandy Blondin
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Gray whale sighted slowly swimming northwest toward Langley off of Sandy Point, Whidbey Island about 12:30 - 1:00 PM today!
Melanie J. Sceva Hill
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5 of them (gray whales) there again this morning. And late last nite. Right off Priest Point (north of Everett)--maybe 100-200 yards off our dock. We heard them last nite around 11pm & saw all five of them at 8 am this morning.
Susan Stedman

April 10, 2012

We started hearing Orca vocals early this morning. Later they were sighted pretty far off shore of the County Park (west side of San Juan Is.). We think there are 19 in the pod.
James Mead Maya
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I was hearing them on the LK hydrophone and the San Juan up until around 1030 PDT, it was amazing!!!
Darcy Peterson
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The transients were still vocalizing at around 9:30 when I had to stop listening to get some work done.
Meg McDonald
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7:15 am - Was that a breach right on top of the hydrophone?
6:27 am - Nice transient orca calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophone now.
Meg McDonald
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Woke up to transient calls at http://orcasound.net/os at 03:45.
Scott Veirs
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10:45 am a call came in that 8 to 10 Orca were very slowly headed Northward towards Powell River BC from just North of Black Point (also known as Albion Point). No large male dorsals were spotted. They were zig zagging back and forth between Texada Island and the mainland. There were some sea lions tight to the mainland shore heading South.
Bill Taylor
After a few calls to find out if they had maybe turned again, at 1:40 pm they finally showed up tight to the Texada shore across from Westview, Powell River. I watched them as they appeared to have a snack where numerous Harbour Seals have been hauled out on the rocks. They slowly turned back towards Grief Point (Powell River) and around 2:45 pm I caught up to them with the skiff. They were very spread out in smaller groups that were resting, milling about and a couple of calves were playfully splashing about all just off of Myrtle Rocks. With it being so calm and no traffic, I managed to hear some wonderfully clear communication (vocals) and echolocation amongst the group of around 10 to 16 Orca. Garry Henkel of Aboriginal Journeys joined me with his tour all the way from Campbell River. Our two boats enjoyed the show slowly Southward till we were just below Brew Bay. We watched the whales continue towards Scotch Fir Point till around 5:10 pm.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
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Grays off Everett from 1:05 pm. Many gray whales off of Everett now! Beautiful!
Shelby Snyder Keyser
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Kathy Fritts called at 11:23 am to say she saw two whales from just south of Bush Point, Whidbey Island, either gray whales or humpbacks, out in the middle of Admiralty Inlet, heading south.

April 9, 2012

We had an incredible encounter on the Western Prince. We left Friday Harbor and were with the whales within 20 min. We caught up with the T65's (I think), a Mom and her 3 kids. We watched them from about Yellow Island heading north. They were spyhopping quite a bit and then when they rounded the corner, they started porpoising. After a couple min we caught back up with them and could tell that they were indeed going after a Harbor Porpoise. There were no other boats around and it was quite a sight. The Porpoise was thrown in the air, jumped on until it expired. We saw visible blood on the water and scraps that were getting carried away by gulls. It was a remarkable encounter. Here is a photo of the whale launching the harbor porpoise.
Traci Walter
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11:40 am - Transients right outside Deer Harbor right now.
Deer Harbor Charters on Orcas Island, WA
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I love it when there are three sets of Orcas to visit. We only got to two sets, and saw 11 Orcas in total...A larger group there were a total of 7 whales, the T100s - 5 of them, which included the two kids and T11 and the big male T11A. The small group (San Juan Channel to Spieden, etc) of 4 whales were the T65As. (Thanks Jeanne Hyde, my amazing naturalist...Check out her Blog: Whale of A Purpose )
James Mead Maya
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We were watching them from Pt. No Point between about 5:30pm and 7:00pm when we had our last sighting. It didn't seem like they were in any hurry to pass thru, but were slowly continuing North at last sight, still outside of Useless Bay.
Joel Petree
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6:20 - We must be watching the first group. They have slowed just hanging around outside Useless Bay. A few spy hops and tail splashes:)
Erin O'Toole
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6:05 - 2nd group just passed in front of Kingston Ferry, still west of mid channel, making good time northward. Revise to 8-10 with at least 1 big Male.
5:44 - Just spotted what is probably the second group. Moving northward towards Kingston. West of mid channel, they just passed Pt Jefferson about 5 minutes ago. 6-8 orca.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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5:56 pm - They are headed North thru Admiralty, closer to the Whidbey side. Still visible from Pt. No Point. 5:48 pm - They are visible from Pt. No Point right now heading North... about 6-8 of them.
Erin O'Toole
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3:51pm - Just arrived home and saw the orcas headed northbound, in the Kingston-Edmonds ferry lane.
Dave Haas
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3:17 pm - called to report orcas from Jefferson Beach, heading north toward Kingston.
Carrie Winhorst
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The orcas passed Jefferson Head, heading north toward Kingston at 3:22 pm. At 3:34 pm the whales were approaching Kingston.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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Small pod of orcas northbound in Colvos passage at 1330. Coming to the southworth ferry lane now
Tim Ferris
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1:20 pm - Lori Wilson called from Ballard with a sighting of 5 or 6 orcas headed north at a good clip off West Point, just north of Seattle.
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And forwarded by Brad Hanson of NOAA Fisheries: I wanted to let you know that my step dad just called (~12:25 pm) me to tell me he saw 6 or 7 Killer whales just now up off of Sunset Beach in Gig Harbor. He said they are heading North toward Olalla.
Caitlin McIntyre
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12:14 pm - I see them just off alki point now
Ron L Smith II
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From Jeff Hogan of Killer Whale Tales at 11:45 am: Group of transient killer whales are heading north near Lincoln Park.
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Chris Kennedy relayed a report of 6 "juvenile" orcas in Dalco Passage, heading west at 11:37 am - which is likely the pod reported off Gig Harbor. The first pod that was heading north off Vashon earlier was reported below as being off Alki Pt. at 12:14 pm, still heading north - so we have TWO pods of orcas in Puget Sound.
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Believe I just (11:20) saw 3 orcas off the coast of Vashon-- just south of the ferry terminal. They were headed north. I couldn't get to my telescope in time but I viewed them from W. Seattle. I saw the dorsal fins of at least 3 whales-- one looked a bit smaller than the others so maybe a youngster.
Julie Greer
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11:20 - Chris Kennedy of WSF relayed a report of 6 orcas in Puget Sound (likely the same Transients from April 8, ID'd by Candice Emmons of NOAA as the T30s, the T90s, and T87), mid-way between Vashon Island and Fauntleroy, heading north.
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Gray whale report from Adam Hauck: Whale sighting on the Mukilteo/Clinton ferry, 4:10 pm.
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Gray Whale on our Deception Pass Tour at 3:45 right in front of Rosario Beach- Heading North
Deception Pass Tours
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3:45 pm - 1 gray whale seen from Clinton/Mukilteo ferry, off Mukilteo, trending northward.
Jeff Hogan of Killer Whale Tales
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9:39 am - Just saw a gray whale from the ferry! Fluke and all! On the Cathamet from Clinton to Mukilteo.
Dave Bieniek and Ervin Knezek

April 8, 2012

11:30 - Jeff Lamarche of Eagle Wing Tours called to say he's with J's and K's heading north in Haro Strait 1 mile SE of Gooch Island (west of Speiden Island). He had seen K25, the K13s, K21 and K40, J27, J34, J22, J38.
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Yesterday Transients Orcas, today Residents Orcas! Traveling all the way to Mouat Point off North Pender Island, Canada, we caught up with members of J and K pod. Although the Orcas kept us on the move, we paused long enough to see foraging, plenty of tail-slapping, a slow-motion spy-hop by Sekiu (K-22), and an excellent full-body breach! It was also a treat to clearly hear vocalizations on our hydrophone.
Naturalist Shelly and Lori
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7:58 - leaving them still travelling steadily southward & still mid channel est. them to be between Carkeek (north Seattle) and Fay Bainbridge park. 7:00 - Ed and I are watching from Saltwater park, Richmond Beach. They are mid channel right out from us still heading south midway down that stretch before Port Madison.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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6:35 pm - Brad Hanson said they left the Transients north of Appletree Pt, still heading south. 7 - 10 orcas, including 1 male - will update with IDs when they go through their photos.
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Brad Hanson called a bit after 5 pm to say the orcas, confirmed as Transients, had done a 180 and are now heading south, south of Pt No Point, N Kitsap Peninsula, WA
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3:17 pm - Brad Hanson of Northwest Fisheries Science Center called to say he had found the orcas a few miles north of Point No Point, still heading north, but had not made any IDs yet.
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1:55pm - leaving the orca for the day still heading north, now past Eglon heading towards Pt No Pt. Looks likely they will head up Admiralty (unless they make a hard turn of course).
1:15 - Puget Sound Transient orca update: very mid channel, moving steadily north approaching Eglon/mid Edmonds.
10:50 - Two mature males, one out front about 1/2 mile heading slowly north, others same, moving slowly northward...all still mid channel between Carkeek/Richmond Beach/Port Madison. I saw them once at 8:15. They were northerly still in southbound shipping lanes out from north Bainbridge.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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7:20 am - Chris Kennedy of Washington State Ferries Operations called to relay a sighting from the Seattle to Bainbridge ferry of 5-6 orcas headed north in the southbound traffic lane between Seattle and Bainbridge.
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7:15 am - 4-5 orcas in the Seattle -Bainbridge ferry lane. They were moving north quickly.
Rebecca Ridzon Gaulin
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8:50 am - 4 Orca including one large male Northbound towards Powell River from between Myrtle Rocks and Albion Point. Moving slowly, then picked up the pace.
Bill Taylor
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9 am - 4 to 6 Orca including 2 large males and a calf just passing Myrtle Rocks (near Powell River) heading Northward moving at a steady pace. Nina Fall
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6:30 pm - Fred Lundahl and a UK film crew found 2 gray whales feeding off the south end of Hat Island.
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8 pm - 5 grays feeding about 100 yards from shore off Priest Point (8 miles north of Everett). They've been here most of this past week--this is the closest they've been to our shore & all five close together. Three grays off Priest Point yesterday. They've been out there for the last few days.
Susan Stedman
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Just saw one porpoise off North Bluff, Greenbank, heading south in Saratoga Passage at about 2 pm - not sure of species, likely a Harbor
Susan Berta, Orca Network.
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Large pod of Dalls porpoise, feeding. Lots of birds and splashing! Pod 1 was out in the middle and other was close to shore. Then pod 2, traveled off towards Camano State Park. I'm not sure how many animals. Maybe 15? East Saratoga Passage, across from Greenbank. 6:20.
Cassandra
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8 pm - Five gray whales off Priest Point on Sunday,.
Susan Stedman

April 7, 2012

At 1930 hr. Along with hundreds of people on ferries between Swartz Bay and Tsawassen I saw a pod of killer whales doing what looked like feeding, hanging out, circling round and round in one area in Active Pass between Mayne Island and Galiano Island in BC. There were at least 6, 2 seemed small-young, mostly females, not sure if a male was with them or not.
Karen Buhler
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6:56 pm - Christina Baldwin called with a report of 4-5 orcas in tight formation just south of Bush Point, Whidbey Island, for 30 minutes between the shipping bouy and Whidbey Island. One young male was among them.
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We saw a large pod of Orcas in Puget Sound off the "Seattle side" of Vashon Island...lots of young whales too...They were swimming and breaching along side our power boat on the way back to Tacoma Sat eve. Very exciting!
Valerie Wildman
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The orca were always too far to ID and there was no research boat all day. Hopefully one of the boaters who tune in to ON got some photos to share. We leave now at 4:50pm, last seeing blows just north of Vashon looking like they are heading down the east side. Beautiful day!
4:25pm - Puget Sound Orca update. Watching from Magnolia bluff, the pod appears to be about a mile north of Vashon Island, still moving south. Ed just saw a couple of breaches.
Alisa Lemire Brooks
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3:43 pm - I can see blows and at least one male dorsal from West Seattle, looks like they are off Manchester right now.
Stephanie Raymond
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2:19 pm - Orcas heading towards Elliott bay!
Kerry MacDonald
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11:34 am - John Rogstad of WA State Ferries called to relay a report from the captain of the Spokane about a "plethora" of orcas in the Edmonds to Kingston ferry lane, "frolicking and acting like silly mammals."
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9:22 am - Just saw 3-4 orcas just northwest of Edmonds on the ferry run to Kingston.
Christine Walsh Rogers
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Exciting first day on the water! Not only were we rewarded with an unseasonably gorgeous, sunny day, but we caught up with approximately 7 Transients traveling in Swanson Channel (BC Gulf Islands), just off Salt Spring Island, and with Ganges Harbor in sight. Since transients tend to travel in very small groups, 3 - 5, our sighting today was exceptional. Also exceptional was the fact that they continually surfaced, which gave us many good views.
Naturalists Lori, Shelly, and Colleen, San Juan Safaris Whale Watching & Wildlife Tours
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10:00 AM - Approx. 20 Orca near Turn Pt. going N right now. (That's where Haro Strait turns right almost 90 degrees toward Vancouver, at the west tip of Stuart Island.)
James Mead Maya
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6:30am - We just had about 7+ orcas head south very close to shore (Hannah Heights, west side of San Juan Island). Could not identify them as residents or transients- but there were two moms with youngsters and lots of tail lobs and rolls. Nice way to begin the weekend!
Sandy Buckley, west San Juan Island
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We had the T036's, T099's, and T037 off of Moresby Island in the morning. In the afternoon they were hunting seals in Ganges Harbour, Saltspring Island (BC Gulf Islands).
Mark Malleson, Prince of Whales
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2:10 pm - Fishing SE hat/gedney saw 3 grays. Headed NW.
Dave Davenport
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1 pm - Christina Baldwin saw three gray whales from the Mukilteo to Clinton ferry.
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Single Gray Whale sighted south of Skagit island and north of Ala spit (and Hope island, north end of Saratoga Passage). This morning about 11 am spouting and appeared to be ;feeding along the tide line off Skagit Island. Then again this afternoon about 5:30pm: repeatedly spouting as it circled the fish pen in Kiket Bay and rolling along the surface on the East side of the fish pen. No deep dives until it drifted off!
Stan and Barb Lorenson, shore residences
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10:17 am - 2 Garys off Muk(ilteo) ferry now.
Eric Nordstrom

April 6, 2012

Seen off Bedwell Harbour (Canadian Gulf Islands) at 1045 heading NW. There was a whole pod travelling at high speed, but too far away for us to count.
Tony Hewitt, S/V Twowowie, Sidney B.C.
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1:23 pm - Orcas are killing a sea lion off Mouat Point (Pender Island, BC Gulf Islands)!
Alison Higginson
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Spotted 2 grays from Arnies in Mukilteo around 3:45. Many spouts headed N.E. Followed by a full breach by one. Very entertaining for the customers in the lounge.
Dave Davenport
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Just want to let you know that neighbors and I witnessed what I think was ONE (possibly two) gray whales feeding leisurely off shore of the west end of First St tonight, April 6th, GOOD FRIDAY EVENING, right about sundown. Details: At about quarter to eight I'd gone out on our front deck. We live on First Street, across from the Inn at Langley. From our deck I was chatting with our neighbor Tim who was also out of doors enjoying the evening light. Suddenly I heard the telltale BLOW of a whale, and listened for more. Sure enough, there were more blows. Having lived on First St for 12 years now, I'm pretty accustomed to the sound. Tim and I quickly ran across the street to neighbor Norma Jean's place on the bluff top next to the Inn, summoning her from her kitchen. Pretty soon there was a small group of neighbors - Tim, his wife Kate, Norma Jean and her friend Joy, Simon and me - AND A FEEDING GRAY WHALE for all to see and enjoy! For a while we couldn't tell if it was one or two, but I'm pretty sure it was just ONE LARGE GRAY. What we were seeing was his pectoral fin and his tail fin as he fed. I believe he was up off of Veronica's, about 3-500 feet off shore there off of the west end of First Street. He fed there off of the west end of First Street for some 20-30 minutes, then we watched him swim eastward, toward Langley's downtown, where he stopped right in front of the INN AT LANGLEY, feeding for a few minutes more. We hollered "WHALE! WHALE!" for the Inn's guests to hear. The sun was setting and a lovely pink sky came over Saratoga Passage. The water was very still and calm. Tim captured all this on his ipad, so he will send us the video soon and I'll post to I LOVE LANGLEY. I call the whale a him, but he could have been a her... don't know. Shamefully I did not have my binoculars. But if Veronica was home, she may have seen and i.d.ed the GRAY whale. It was truly a lovely evening, and very peaceful. LOVE LIVE THE WONDERFUL WHALES WHO VISIT LANGLEY EACH SPRING!
~ Sharen Heath
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7:37 pm - Small group of porpoise working south in Saratoga @ Saratoga Shores. East channel moving pretty slowly and very active.
Will Murphy

April 5, 2012

John Boyd called at 11:30 am with a report of transient orcas at Beaver Point, across from Mouat Point.
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On Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we met up with transients in Swanson Channel heading toward Active Pass. Whales present were T90, T90B, T90C, T30, T30B with a new calf surfacing by her side throughout the encounter, and T30C. Two male transients - T87 and T30A - were also present but were a mile or more from the group of females and kids.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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John Rogstad of WA State Ferries called at 11:49 am to say a gray whale is southbound just off Mukilteo.
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8:32 am - A gray feeding now 2/3 mile E of Langley, working toward Sandy Pt.
Kevin Horan

April 4, 2012

Captain Brian spotted a large male in the group of T65As and the T49As & Bs about 50 yards away. The male surfaced with a large adult seal draped across its half-open mouth! The orca made a shallow dive and Brian, Jesse, & guests could see the whole seal being held delicately in its mouth. All of a sudden...WOOOSH! The male surfaced right next to the Sea Hawk with the seal still in tow. Prior to that, a juvenile swam past with a fresh kill in its mouth. It was a little gory, but Brian & Jesse could follow the blood trail streaming from the whale's prey. Shortly after, small pieces of seal meat & blubber started surfacing around the boat. Brian estimated there was a slick about 30 yards long of blood, oil, and seal meat at the surface. All this happened near Yellow Island just outside of Friday Harbor .
Captain Brian Goodremont & Naturalist Jesse Pouillon, San Juan Outfitters on San Juan Island
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3 pm - 5 miles SW of Hein Bank, T103 and T49C traveling SW. Two males traveling together.
Jeff Lemarche, Eagle Wing Tours
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On Maya's Westside Charters, we responded to a report of 2 whales south of Constance Bank, heading east. We located them by 12:45. T103 and T49C, both males, were the two whales present. We left them about 6 miles west of False Bay at 1:00, as they headed south easterly. At 4:00 we met up with 10 whales, heading north at Flat Top Island (Haro Strait), on the east side. Other boats had been on scene as these whales came north up San Juan Channel earlier. The whales present were T49A, T49A1, T49A2, T49A3, T49B, T49B2, T65A, T65A2, T65A3 and T65A4. We left them heading up Boundary Pass at 4:40 pm. More of the encounters of this day and pictures on my Blog.
Jeanne Hyde, San Juan Island
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While watching many Dall's Porpoise race around if front of Limekiln Park, we got word that two Orcas had been spotted south of Victoria. We zoomed off, but alas, couldn't find them. Then we heard about some more Orcas near Cattle Pass and started off to see if we could find them, and...Wouldn't you know it. Way off in the distance a blow. It's so exciting to see a blow in the distance. We saw two big males, T103 and T49c, and then headed for our dock at Snug Harbor Resort. Later in the afternoon, as the second group of Orcas got closer, we went out on our second trip of the day to see them. They were the 65As, and the 49As and Bs. We left them at Sandy Pt. on Waldron Island.
Capt. Jim Maya
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This afternoon at 2:30, we hear a grey whale approaching our bank from the west, across from Langley, about 100 yards from shore. It traveled steadily out of view to the southeast, and I got into my car and drove to Camano Head to see if it would come into sight, and what it would do. Once it was directly off the Head, it was only about 30 feet from shore and was going in circles, feeding..? The tide was not fully out, so it was in very shallow waters. Once it had surfaced three times, it headed around the corner northwards towards Port Susan. I walked around the Head hoping to see what it would do, and it slowly came around the corner, in no hurry. I then heard another flow coming from the direction of Hat Island, but didn't see it through the trees. The first whale slowed down but eventually continued on north, followed by the second whale. I have always been curious to know if grey whales feed off Camano Head, and maybe they do.
Peg Boley
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"Spouting News" PEDESTRIAN TORTOISE CATCHES GRAY - Glanced out window around 8:20AM at [Mariners Cove] while having a morning latte' and wala, a gray whale splashing around with its fin out of the water. After, only a 5 minute laid back feed/snack [on an out going tide] it headed towards Polnell Pt. Walking, the beach to keep pace wasn't going to happen. as gray was on the move. Kept falling further behind. Along, the way, bystanders that observed the gray; included, a blue heron on large almost submerged rock, a myriad of eagles, and kingfisher. A 30 minute walk at my turtle pace was rewarded; as, I caught up with the gray, at the finish line. Which had stopped to feed several hundred feet from the shoreline. An adult bald eagle was also at the finish without a checkered flag. Only, 30 feet away on a low 20 foot high branch/almost above my right shoulder. Highly unusual for an adult eagle to allow a person to get this close, as they always will fly away. We both watched the gray feeding and when the whale started to leave, the eagle, while facing me, turned its head to watch the gray spout away. Minutes later, the eagle flew away. About 50 spouts later, I left the gray steamboating around the secluded bay, off Polnell Pt. A good morning walk, indeed.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor/Whidbey Island

April 3, 2012

We're spotting two gray whales feeding about 70 ft. offshore of beach at Port Susan Terrace on the East side of Camano Island. We first noticed them at 2:25PM and they have hung around for nearly an hour.
Bob & Mary Pelland
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Bells Beach 6:15 pm - Two grays that everyone in the hood saw but me! Every time one cam up, I was looking elsewhere! Heard them though! Love that sound!
Margaret (Peggy) Sullivan
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Just put my eye to my scope to look at a passing boat and up pops a gray whale with it's tail in the air! About a quarter mile off Whidbey, west of Naketa beach, Mukilteo. Headed north at 1:55. Lucky moment!
Dave Davenport
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Cascadia received a report of a dolphin sighted off the pier near the Farmer's Market in Olympia which upon further investigation proved to be a minke whale. The whale was initially seen at 16:00, then resighted and photographed from a distance at 17:23. The whale surfaced 2 times, was taking longish dives and had no visible blow.
Annie Douglas, Cascadia Research

April 2, 2012

5:45 PM. Two gray whale blows together off the drop-off in front of our house south of Mabana (Camano Island). Watched for a while and didn't see them again.
Barbara Brock, Camano Island, WA

April 1, 2012

Encounter # 7 * April 1 * T65A's Moresby Island
Observers: Dave Ellifrit and Jim Maya on Peregrine
After receiving reports of transients near Gooch Island, we left Snug Harbor with Capt. Jim Maya aboard Peregrine around 1:50 p.m. We arrived on scene at 2:20 p.m. to find the T65As (four animals) milling just south of Moresby Island. The whales began traveling north into Swanson Channel where they soon fanned out in hunting mode. T65A2 was the westernmost whale while T65A and T65A4 were the closest to the bluffs along South Pender Island, B.C. T65A3 was somewhat in the middle. We left the whales still heading north in this formation at 3:10 p.m. in lower Swanson Channel.
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4:28 pm - Jeff Lamarche call with a report of T65A, T652, T65A3, and T65A4, northbound 2.5 miles south of Active Pass.
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Two phone calls about 1:15, one from my naturalist, Jeanne Hyde and the other from Vancouver Whale Watch. John from VWW had found some Transient Orcas near Gooch Island, BC, about 30 minutes from our dock at Snug Resort and Marina on San Juan Island. In the boat with Jeanne, David Ellifrit, from the Center for Whale Research, and Lorie Gogic by 2:00. After some sun, rain, and then sun again, we found them, the T65As, 30 minutes later. We just missed a kill on the south end of Moresby Island. First Orcas in five days. We left them in Swanson Channel headed N toward Active Pass.
Capt. Jim Maya
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Grey whales and orcas seen 10min from Tofino Harbour, BC!
Keith Roderick Phillips
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One Grey feeding and moving toward Langley @ 1030 am and @ about 3pm saw another one blow and then dive just off shore and then nothing after that.
Margaret (Peggy) Sullivan
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2:30 pm - Gray Whale hanging out around Greenbank.
Streamers of Coupeville
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A gray whale at 1342 off north bluff rd., Greenbank.
Cathy Bacon
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We saw a gray whale making its way about 10:00, a whale watching boat following, about 200 yards from shore. As it worked its way toward Camano Head and Hat Island, another whale watching boat (Victoria Clipper, a hydrofoil) arrived from the south, stopping outside the boat boundary for whales. I drove down to Camano Head (1/4 mile) and waited to see the whale come around the corner; but it never continued on its regular route towards Everett between Camano and Hat Islands. I wonder about the engines on this boat? The whale never resurfaced, my husband continuing to watch from our own bank, looking over at Langley, and myself at the Head. Sometimes the greys just seem to disappear!
Peg Boley
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At 5:20 pm, we say one grey working its way south east between Langley and our location just around the western corner of Camano Head, about 200 yards from shore.
Peg Boley
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2:55 pm - Janine saw a gray whale off Fox Spit/East Point, Whidbey Island,
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1:23 pm - Nancy Zaretzke saw one gray whale off North Bluff Rd., Whidbey Island.
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5:30 pm 2 Grey Whales from around 5pm. The two were between Texada Island and Westview, Powell River heading Northward. I last saw their blows heading NW towards Vancouver Island around 6:45 pm. Unusual to see them on this side of the strait.
Susan MacKay, Whales and Dolphins BC
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On the 12pm sailing from Powell River to Comox midway through the crossing, the crew announced sighting a pod of orcas in front of the ferry. We observed 6 orcas in one group and one large male orca behind the ferry. We observed the male orca surface numerous times as it passed beside us. It came within about 100 metres of the ferry. It had a very tall, straight dorsal fin. The group of orcas in front of us turned towards the male orca and came towards us. We observed two medium sized orcas with a small orca swimming with each of them, a second large orca whose dorsal was bent over at the top and one other medium sized orca. After passing by the ferry's stern, the orcas turned north. I took a few photos from a distance. Enlarging them I could see the one large male orca's distinctive bent dorsal fin and some of the marking on one medium sized orcas.
Jeff Brett
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Orcas Northbound by Campbell River at 6 pm. Apparently some at Menzies Bay, near Seymour Narrows now. Not sure how many. Not sure if we had 2 groups here or just one - seems pretty quick for them to get to the Narrows in 1 hour. Later info: Sounds like the number of Orcas Northbound past Campbell River at 6pm was 4 to 6. Sounds like there were between 10 to 15 Orca in Menzies Bay. Just milling about. Lots of seals in there - unusual.
Garry Henkel, Aboriginal Journeys