April 2021 Whale Sightings

Click here for Map of April 2021 whale sightings.

April 30
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Fri, Apr 30 - Central Puget Sound (T123s, T124A2s) - 20:52 - Heading north past Browns Point. Sighted at least 3. -Jaime Hawk
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20:39 - Heading north out of the bay, look to be by Browns Point Lighthouse off shore. Sighted at least two females. -Ryan Richter
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19:54 - [orcas] I'm at the Chinese Reconciliation Park and there are three just hanging out by the barge that is anchored. -Craig Craker
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19:48 - 3 in front of Chinese Reconciliation Project in Tacoma.
19:32 - [orcas] Northeast side Commencement Bay by the Port of Tacoma. -Sarah Kopaciewicz
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19:30-20:30 - My kids and I enjoyed watching these T's from the Tacoma waterfront. -Amber Stanfill
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19:03 - No pix, but orcas spotted east of Vashon Island, heading south. -David Pillo
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20:26 - They are now napping closer to Marine View Drive, off the Marina to the west. Stanley is just logging. It's adorable.
20:16 - On the move again, drifting deeper into Commencement & towards Browns Point, mid channelish, off Silver Cloud.
20:06 - Still milling right off the back of the barge at Silver Cloud Inn.
19:50 - Off Silver Cloud Inn milling off a barge. Trending eastbound.
19:32 - From Ruston Way Less Davis Pier area, still eastbound about mid channel, approaching Dukes.
19:18 - At least 5 w/T123A entering Commencement Bay, mid channel, eastbound.
19:12 - Everyone is east of channel marker heading towards Browns Point & Commencement Bay.
19:07 - Have at least 3, w/T123A south & west of southern channel marker, drifting towards Dune, surfacing eastbound towards Commencement. -Melissa Bird
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18:55 - [orcas] Spotted from Dune Peninsula headed west. Mid channel to the north of the yellow buoy. (approximately 3 of them.) -Michael Marthe
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~08:05-18:30 - I saw a group of at least 3, likely more orca traveling south near Gold Beach on Vashon. I saw them from Federal Way, just north of Dash Point/Dumas Bay. Saw through binoculars. One was a male - giant dorsal. I think the other two were females. There could have been more than 3 but I saw 3 up at once. This happened at about 6:05 pm. -today, April 30. Last saw them just south of Gold Beach headed south at about 6:30 pm, Friday 4/30. Barbara Nuss
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17:30 - [orcas] Last seen passing on mainland side heading south past Point Robinson houses. -Kelly Burns Keenan
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17:30 - [orcas] About to Gold Beach area, Maury Island, now. -Mitzi Gligorea
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18:02 - Moving south again, grouped up with short dives on the Vashon side.
17:47 - Seem to have stalled. Can see the blows from Redondo without binoculars. Seem to be milling.
17:19 - 5:19 passing Point Robinson heading south, west side of the channel, at least 2.
16:59 - [orcas] North of Point Robinson, feeding mid channel (no direction). -Steve Brown
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14:55 - Several orcas southside of Colman Pool, very close to Lincoln Park shore and heading south. -Trileigh Tucker
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14:42 - Viewing from Lowman Beach, 1442, still on the kill and HUGE jumps.
14:35 - Just off Lincoln Park on a kill. Big jumps close to the east side of channel. No clear direction. -Mitchell Nevi
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14:31 - [orcas] Spotted off of the Fauntleroy ferry terminal, viewing from Fauntlee Hills, milling and splashing. -Mike Yov
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14:20 - [orcas] East of channel, passing Brace Point...they were trending nb but looks like they are making a kill -- no clear direction. -Elizabeth Claydon
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13:36 - One male and two females spotted nearing the north end of Vashon. Somewhat spread out and heading southbound. Looks like they'll be on the east side of Vashon. -Tim Peters
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13:25 - [orcas] Currently passing Blake Island. Closer to Blake Island side. SB, 1:25pm. Looks like group of 3-4. East side of Blake. I am viewing from West Seattle. -Paul Steyn Benade
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13:35 - Quickly sb now at Vashon ferry dock, seen from Constellation Park in West Seattle.
13:31 - Southbound, east of mid channel, north tip Vashon.
13:27 - More tightly grouped, heading to Southworth dock.
13:23 - Possible 2 female, one male, trailing sb, Tillicum Village.
13:14 - In front of [anchored] cargo ship, Manchester. View from Constellation Park in West Seattle. Saw one male, southbound. -Mary Hartmann
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12:35 - [orcas] Just spotted one, just outside of Blakely Harbor, mid channel. (only saw one surface once) [thinks southbound]. -Jeff Marshall
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12:15 - [orcas] Pointed towards Alki Point. [out from Discovery Park area, east side of channel]. -Christopher Lewman, Puget Sound Express
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11:52 - [orcas] Eyes on whales from Alki Ave. SW and 64th SW. East of mid-channel, southbound travel, haven't reached Bainbridge ferry lanes yet. -Brittany Philbin
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11:41 - [orcas] Saw them pass the West Point Lighthouse moving quickly SB. -Matty Leaman
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11:40 - T124A2 & T123[s], Shilshole, southbound. -Azuriel Mayo
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11:10 - [orcas] Now southbound near West Point. -Trevor Tillman
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11:17 - The T124A2s are with the T123s here.
10:30 - T123s off Shilshole, eating a meal. No direction.
----We kicked off our 4 1/2 hour trips from Edmonds today with a great double-header. First, we found two pods of transient killer whales eating a meal about 10 miles south of Edmonds this morning, and then we headed north to view 3 gray whales in the afternoon. The killer whales were the T123 pod and the T124A2 pod. They were very active during our visit, including a couple of breaches and 5-6 spyhops! The gulls circled overhead as the pods ate their meal for a long time, and then they decided to move on. In travel mode they sent water spray flying as they had to crash through the oncoming waves with each surfacing. Enjoy some pictures from today's action. -Photographer/Naturalist, Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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Fri, Apr 30 - South Puget Sound to Port Orchard Bay - 20:36 - Headed south slowly out of Port Orchard Bay, mid passage, just south of Illahee State Park dock.
20:21 - 3 orcas (at least 5 individuals) in Port Orchard Bay just past Illahee State Park, closer to Bainbridge, heading north. -Michaela Kratofil
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19:48 - We just saw five orca, Port Orchard Narrows by Illahee State Park, northbound. -Diane Crooks
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19:40 - 4 at 7:40 in Rich Passage headed toward Bremerton. -Anon.
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19:37 - At 19:55 Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed report: Whales, 1937 SEALTH Master reports 3 orca in Rich Passage headed south towards Bremerton.
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18:35 - [orcas] There is a group on the east side of Blake Island north end - viewing from Beach Drive so all I can see is the blows. -Brennan Taylor
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17:10 - Two heading NB north of Dilworth (Vashon). Viewing from Burien, not sure if these were from same group in the Tacoma Narrows this morning. -Cindy Eckes Waddington
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16:04 - [orcas] We saw them in Des Moines until about 4:04; we think we saw 4 orcas total; they were here for quite a while. I think I saw a backflip because it jumped out of the water and I saw a lot of white (guessing belly). They went down for a while and headed north. -Bridget Gallagher
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13:47 - [orcas] ...blows immediately north of Dash Point. -Eileen Mccaffery-Lent
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13:33 - [orcas] Seeing 3 or 4 blows from Woodmont Beach looking south. Hard to tell direction. -Dan Hyde
[Dan's map indicates location mid-channel between Dash Point and S. tip of Maury Island. -gs]
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13:07 - [orcas] Watching three close to the Browns Point side headed towards the Dash Point Pier. -Meghan Davis
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10:59 - [orcas] Just spotted from Vashon Ferry landing Tacoma side and headed south. (moving across ferry lane towards PT Ruston. Saw 3 fins surface.) -Tom Zulauf
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10:23 - [orcas] Just saw them north of the [Tacoma Narrows] bridge and possibly headed toward Salmon Beach. (they seemed to go underwater for a bit after the Narrows so I'm not sure which way they went.) -Heather Maher
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10:10 - [orcas] They are just north of the bridge, milling closer to the Tacoma side. I'm watching from Day Island. Possibly SB. -Karen Caldwell
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09:45 - Around 10 whales by Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Heading south. (follow-up by Zoe: I recounted, there's probably closer to 6!) -Zoe Martin
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GRAY WHALES - Fri, Apr 30 - Saratoga Passage - 16:30-17:15 - Observed two grays from Mabana Beach. They spent about 15-20 mins. diving appx. mid channel where I was viewing from south end of the beach, then proceeded north at a steady clip. -Krista Paulino
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16:54 - [gray] Slowly heading north across from Langley. Really close go the other side of the water. (First gray whale encounter, that was super cool! Even though she was on the very other end of that channel it was still so cool to see.) ["That was CRC 531 looked like she was heading up into Saratoga Passage." -Tyson Parker Reed, IAWW] -Shelly Short
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Fri, Apr 30 - Port Susan - 12:25 - CRC 21 in middle of Port Susan northbound. 2261 and 723 heading down Camano Island side then turned to the middle. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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Fri, Apr 30 - Possession Sound - 15:25 - 531 traveling north along the east side of Hat/Gedney Island, 1525, headed toward Saratoga Pass as we departed.
14:40 - Gray whale CRC 185 still in the Snohomish River Delta feeding at 1440.
11:45 - CRC 531 spyhopping and hanging out off the south side of Hat/Gedney Island.
10:45 - Gray whale CRC185 feeding in the Snohomish River Delta. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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MINKE WHALES - Fri, Apr 30 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - … A gathering of minke whales were actively feeding at Eastern Bank, showing off their speed as they flitted from bait ball to bait ball. We spent a lot of time with these beautiful beings, enough for them to get very comfortable with our presence and come in for some closer passes. Nothing nicer than just drifting with whales. …Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)

April 29
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Thu, Apr 29 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca (T36 with T36Bs, T123s, T124A2s, T124Ds) - (Four Matrilines: T036s, T123s, T124A2s &T124Ds = 15 orcas). -April Ryan
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1930 - Viewing from about 1 mi. S of Bush Pt., seeing them off N end of Mutiny Bay, traveling south. Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network
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19:10 - [orcas] Viewing from Bush Point, about out from Shore Meadows, southbound. Whidbey side. Sunset whales. -Marilyn Armbruster
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18:20 - Southbound, passed Lagoon Point close to shore, grouped. Beautiful looks. (At 1750, I thought I saw a male midchannel between me and Ft. Casey. Then I noticed porpoises racing east. Apparently, the orcas headed east then followed the shore south. Anxious porpoise still ahead of the group when I left at 1820, all southbound.) -Rachel Haight
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18:09 - [orcas] Just past Smugglers Cove, heading south - nice long dives between sightings - 6:09. (Greenbank just north of south Whidbey State Park). -Deb Barge
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This was 2 females and little one in front... from Keystone, very far out. photo - T124A2A ID confirmed by SHS, photo - T123A "Stanley" ID: Sarah McCullagh. -Kelly McCulloch
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16:10 - [orcas] See at least three pretty far out from Libbey Beach. They are milling around that area. Haven't committed to any direction. -Felica Merkson
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17:15 - Relayed report: at 17:15 at least some of them were southbound off the Coupeville ferry landing.
14:45 - Monika Wieland Shields relayed a report, and as of 15:20 group appears on same course: ..."decent size group of Ts is south of Smith Island heading SE for Whidbey, including at least the T123s, T124A2s, and T36Bs".
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GRAY WHALES - Thu, Apr 29 - Northern Saratoga Passage - I'm passing along a few photos of the beach looking south toward the Happy Meal Mudflats [north Whidbey, near Mariner's Cove] that I took two days ago (4/29) when we had the particularly low tide. It's a little hard to see in photos, but from my vantage point, it appears that there is a band of quite fresh pits furthest out toward the water, and then the older faded ones closer to the beach. The pits seem to fill in pretty quickly if there's no activity, so perhaps the newer ones are from some stealth midnight snacking. Just passing it along in case it's useful to know that maybe they're sneaking up here when nobody's looking. -Marianne Parry
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Thu, Apr 29 - Saratoga Passage - 17:15 - Gray or humpback (likely gray) off of Langley at 17:15. About 300m off shore heading south. (No dorsal fin) and a heart shaped spout, I'm just not great at id as this was my first gray here! -MC Spencer
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10:31 - Hello! Two grey whales, NB, Saratoga Pass. Mid channel. About 1.5 miles from Langley. It's the two, who, the research team was tracking. Spray, flukes. Their activity is busy, frisky. Research vessel stayed way back, and the whales came over to check them out. -Kathleen Barker
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Thu, Apr 29 - Possession Sound - 17:37 - At 17:47 John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed report: 1737hrs TOKITAE Whale Report: Vessel reports via 800MHz vessel a single gray whale NB, mid-channel between Mukilteo and Clinton.
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Thu, Apr 29 - Port Susan - 10.25 - Two gray whales southbound, Port Susan, just south of Kayak Point.
----With not a ripple to be seen and calm conditions offering a slightly surreal effect, we watched in wonder as five gray whales socialized and performed an exquisite ballet of fins and flukes feeding in the shallow waters of Port Susan. The milky light offered an opportunity to enjoy the beauty of backlit blows, accompanied by the powerful sound of 'bellowing' exhalations carrying across the quiet sea. The cry of a loon and occasional flapping of scoters in flight, quick to take advantage of any scraps from the smorgasbord stirred up by the whales' party, were the only other interruptions to the almost eerie silence. This was a unique encounter with a mesmerizing spy-hop by one whale rising slowly...oh-so-slowly...to take a cautious look around before sinking...oh-so-slowly...down into the murky depths (too hypnotized to get a picture -Sandra Pollard

April 28
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Wed, Apr 28 - San Juan Islands - 12:05-12:22 - [orca] First sighting whale was heading east toward along shore towards Cattle Pass @ 12:05 PST. Last sighting at 12:22 PST heading north direction into Cattle Pass. (Saw one individual from about 8 km from Salmon Bank with binos.) -Jessica Thompson
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08:52-09:09 - Val reports hearing faint KW calls at Orcasound Lab from 8:52-9:09 a.m. today (Wed 4/28/21). They were masked intermittently by ship and boat noise. To date, no other human or machine detections of this event, so no direction can be inferred. Listening to recording, he and I agree these ~2kHz down-sweeps were Bigg's calls. -Scott Veirs, Orcasound
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GRAY WHALES - Wed, Apr 28 - Saratoga Passage - 16:28 - [gray] My first sighting! I got to ring the whale bell. [video] -Dena Marie https://www.facebook.com/dena.marie.444/videos/10221954743355151/
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17:19 - Looks like s/he is feeding at the dropped pin shown on map below. South of Summerland Beach Community.
16:35 - About a mile north up Saratoga Passage, closer to Camano. Northbound.
16:15 - Gray heading north past Sandy Point. Can't tell if it's heading towards Saratoga Passage or towards Camano Head/Port Susan? -Marilyn Armbruster
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10:40 - Two or more gray whales traveling mid-channel in Saratoga Passage southeast towards Camano Head and Possession Sound. -Luanne Seymour
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Wed, Apr 28 - Possession Sound - …Northwest of Hat Island, we met up with two beautiful gray whales. Sounder #531 was joined by another individual who seemed to be paying her a lot of attention. We got to spend ample time drifting with these two as they circled the waters north of Hat Island. During several instances, #531 turned directly towards our idle boat only to be intercepted by her companion each time. …Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Everett)
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Wed, Apr 28 - Port Susan - 17:40 - One just passed by Kayak Point headed north at 5:40pm, at shore feeding. Will have some photos later for ID.
14:34 - They're more on Camano side now. Although one just popped up 20ish feet from me, just north of Kayak Point on its quick trip NW.
14:04 - This group of 4 is still hanging close together having a little party. Slowlllly heading NW, and there's another one coming up behind us from the south.
13:49 - 4 whales having a party mid channel, headed mostly northbound north of Kayak Point. Have seen a couple flukes and one come quite far out of the water.
12:50 - There are currently three headed slowly north off of Kayak Point. Have been ambling slowly north closer to mainland for the past hour or 2. -Matty Leaman
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UNIDENTIFIED SPECKIES - Wed, Apr 28 - San Juan Islands - 17:55 - Saw unknown whale, likely orca, off Hastie Lake County Park. Breaching (back and fin only) once every 5 minutes or so for the last half hr. It's in a different place every time it surfaces. Started from the south close to me, then saw it further west, then came north toward Lopez. Seems like zagging within the vicinity between surfacing. Fairly sure saw a dorsal fin. -Cory Prusha

April 27
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Tue, Apr 27 - Strait of Georgia - ~13:30 - Saw a pod of eight orcas at Davis Bay, Sunshine Coast, BC, today at about 13:30. One small baby, a cluster of others, and one BIG adult. Traveling eastward. Gorgeous sight. Feeling blessed. -Ruth Ritchey
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GRAY WHALES - Tue, Apr 27 - San Juan Islands - 14:29 - There's at least one whale (humpback or gray) if not two in Rosario, south of Lopez heading east/northeast towards James Island. Escorted by one whale watching boat. I'm on shore and can't identify, too far out for my camera. -Morgan Chasson
["The whale-watch vessel has reported this as a gray whale." -Monika Wieland Shields, OBI]
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Tue, Apr 27 - Saratoga Passage - Gray Whale scoops, Whidbey Shores - probably from the one I saw couple days ago (I called you then). Looking down from my 200' cliff. I'm. Walking to Baby Island tomorrow, will look for more. -Christi Schaeffer
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Tue, Apr 27 - Possession Sound - 14:07 - Viewing from Clinton Ferry Terminal, gray is in ferry lanes on Muk side, northbound.
13:41 - Don't know if this is the same whale, but just saw a gray across from Glendale heading north.
13:21 - Correction, heading southeast. I'd say he or she is east of mid channel out from Possession Beach Park, Mukilteo side.
13:10 - Single gray whale south of Glendale Beach/Whidbey, appears to be heading north. I'd guess Whidbey side of mid channel. Viewing from Glendale Beach. -Marilyn Armbruster
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Tue, Apr 27 - Port Susan - ~12:00-12:30 - There were 4 gray whales in Port Susan just south of Kayak Point. CRC56 and CRC723 were slowly circling together much closer to the Camano shore, and CRC21 and CRC44 were just a few hundred yards from the mainland side. The two groups were parallel to each other but on opposite sides of the channel. -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express

April 26
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Mon, Apr 26 - Strait of Georgia/Gulf Islands (T49As minus T49A2 and T49A3, T123s) - 14:24-14:50 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #24: " … At 1424 he spotted a bull dorsal near Gossip Shoals amongst a large group of Bonaparte gulls at the east entrance to Active Pass. He slowed down as he approached the area where he had seen it and, within a minute or two, spotted a pair of bull killer whales slightly north of him, which turned out to be T049A1 along with T123A. They were tight together and coming up in unison on every surfacing. When they dove, Mark scanned around for others as the original report was five animals seen from shore with only one bull. He soon spotted a group of what looked like 5 or 6 females and juveniles a half-mile to the northwest, working their way northwest. He confirmed the rest of the T049A's less T049A2 and T049A3 and the rest of the T123's were in the group of 6. T049A2 and T049A3 often disperse from the T049As. …" [See CWR Encounter #24 for full summary and photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-24
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Mon, Apr 26 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca (T46Bs +) - 18:54 - [orcas] Just saw multiple blows still west of North Beach by McCurdy Point but seem to be headed east- unsure. -Erin Merklein
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18:00 - Headed east slowly toward McCurdy Point. 46Bs (no B1s) plus others. -Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
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16:28 - [orcas] Still here SE of Protection, 1627. Dragging around a kill while birds follow. No ID yet. -Matt Stolmeier, Outer Island Excursions
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15:50 - Orcas still here at 15:50.
15:13 - [orcas] Still here, just southeast of Protection Island, heading east. -Mary Bond
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13:00-17:30 - Watched from 1:00 with spotting scope from Cape George. Very Active! Lots of breeches by all members - at least 5 - tail lobbing, spy hopping. Large male captured what appeared to be sea lion (it was dark brown) half way between Cannon Point and Cape George. Dove with it clamped securely in jaws. Down for about 10 seconds and tossed in the air. 4 other orcas in immediate vicinity may have assisted in capture. Lots of "play" close contact, spy hopping, tail lobbing, breeches throughout day. About 5:30 they moved out of Discovery Bay toward North Beach and Port Townsend. -Eileen Loerch
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12:30-16:30 - My wife and I observed and photographed the Biggs orcas spotted off Diamond Point today from about 12:50 pm until now -- 4:30. There appeared to be 6 individuals including a baby. Lots of enthusiasm. More than 2 dozen complete breeches (recorded about 20 of them), many pec and tail slaps over 2 hours when activity became more leisurely. They were in about 300 feet of water and appear to have been lingering over a kill, which drew numerous seabirds. [Viewing/photos from] our home at the mouth of Discovery Bay at Cape George. Extreme telephotos from almost 1.5 miles away. I'm a Wildlife and Fish Biologist, but without specific marine mammal expertise, and my wife is a member of WA's Fish and Wildlife Commission, so a wonderful event for us! -Darrell Smith
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~12:30 - Linda Meola Marshett had an awesome encounter from shore watching Bigg's killer whales hunting off Diamond Point (Discovery Bay Area). She last saw them heading northbound. [video: https://www.facebook.com/OrcaNetwork/posts/10165456378325601]
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Mon, Apr 26 - Haro Strait - 02:30 - Transient orcas were very vocal in the middle of the night on the Lime Kiln hydrophones. It was 02:30 lasting about 30 minutes. -Jeanne Hyde
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GRAY WHALES - Mon, Apr 26 - Port Susan - 12:00 - We had 5 grays in southern Port Susan including 531, 21, 44, and 732. 44 and another broke off from the group and were last seen at Camano Head at 12:10 pm.
---- 4/26/2021 on MV Saratoga was another great day to venture into Port Susan. This has been a gray whale hotspot for the last few weeks and today we found a group of 5 individuals socializing as they awaited the high tide for feeding. The group included CRC21, CRC44, CRC531, CRC723, and newbie CRC2356. -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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Mon, Apr 26 - Possession Sound - 11:30 - Gray whale 383 was circling SE of Hat Island. -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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Mon, Apr 26 - Saratoga Passage - 06:42-07:30 - [gray] …first heard and then saw it at 6:42am and then last saw it at 7:30ish. It was heading around the bend towards Langley around 7:30.
----We saw this off of our cabin deck at Whidbey Shores this morning. So beautiful and breathtaking. I saw what I think was 1-2 gray whales off Whidbey Shores this morning and it was amazing. Wanted your input on identifying and to let you know that it was there. follow-up: We first heard and then saw it at 6:42am and then last saw it at 7:30ish. It was heading around the bend towards Langley around 7:30. Our cabin is down on Whidbey Shores. This was my first time and it was so amazing and beautiful. So graceful for something so large and listening to it as well was wonderful. Thank you for helping with the identification. -Pamela Sheehan
[ID'd as 723 "Lucyfer" by Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network, via fluke tip]
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PORPOISES - Apr 26 - Central Puget Sound - 11:58 - There are swarms of harbor porpoises off of Fay Bainbridge State Park. Scanning from Shilshole to Jefferson Head, there's not a bit of water without harbor porpoises. Very calm great viewing. Follow-up: I find them impossible to count! When there are small pods they can be elusive, popping up here and there. I could see well to the other shore and from Shilshole to Jeff Head; there were constant visible fins. Maybe 4-8 at any given time in my binoculars, which is unusual in my limited experience. There were also quite a few in the harbor in front of Port Gamble yesterday, but not like this. -Jim Pasola

April 25
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sun, Apr 25 - Haro Strait (T101s, T100B and T100B1) - 18:10 update: milling east of Discovery. - At 16:30 a group of five Ts (with two adult males) were heading east at a good clip from Trial Island near Victoria. [T101's and T100B & B1. -Paul Pudwell, Sooke Coastal Explorations] -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Sun, Apr 25 - Strait of Juan de Fuca (T101s, T100B and T100B1) - 11:18-12:34 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #23: "… At 1118 they came across a group of five killer whales approaching Secretary Island traveling close to shore on a path between Possession Point and Secretary Island (48 20.2/123 43.0). There were two bulls and three cows, and Mark was quickly able to determine that it was the three members of the T101's, although this was his first encounter seeing them since the disappearance of T101's eldest son, T102, who was last seen on September 17, 2020, and was presumed dead. With Joe Zelwietro's help, Mark confirmed the other two traveling with them were the T100B's, T100B, and her 11-year-old offspring T100B1. …" [See CWR Encounter #23 for full summary and photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-23
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Reports from our sightings page helped us find 5 Transient/Biggs Killer Whales (T101's and T100B & B1) a few minutes from our docks....WOW! -Paul Pudwell, Sooke Coastal Explorations
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Sun, Apr 25 - Central Puget Sound (T125A and T128) - 18:20 - At 18:29 Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed report: Whales 4/25, 1820, KENNEWICK Master reports two orca in PT Townsend Bay - no direction of travel, just hanging out.
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At Fort Casey enjoying watching 2 orcas traverse the Sound from Marrowstone Island to Pt. Townsend. Heading into the ferry channel soon. -Michelle Smellow
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~18:00 - Taken from Port Townsend ferry terminal around 6 pm - a very distant look at them [orcas], as they slowly traveled northbound. By the time we were on the ferry (6:45 pm), they were well out of sight to the north. -Jill Hein
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18:15 - They just passed us on the ferry! Headed north still 6:15pm
17:13 - Passed Fort Flagler, still heading along Marrowstone, north.
17:01 - [orcas] See them from Fort Casey, very small but can see with binoculars 17:01. -Erin Merklein
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17:00 - 2 orcas passing Ft. Flagler, northbound. [est. Lat/Long: 48.108764, -122.679071 (alb)]----5:02pm, T125 and T128 passing Marrowstone Point Light at Fort Flagler today. Heavily cropped...these boys had been travelling solo for quite a while, and finally grouped up for a few minutes in this photo. -Sue Larkin
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17:14 - Well past Flagler. Rose after an extremely long downtime, heading for Fort Worden.
16:35 - Almost to Fort Flagler, headed north!
16:34 - They are a ways apart; they're not together, and they do appear to be now heading this way.
16:25 - I finally located them from Fort Flagler, 4:25, from the lighthouse looking directly at Lagoon Point, far off. Can't tell distance or direction. Basically, the same place I saw them an hour ago from the bridge over to Marrowstone. -Jim Pasola
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18:21 - Port Townsend Ferry has been stopped last 5 min. or so. Orcas to east side of ferry and out from downtown PT. Stilling milling in general area but closer to Port Townsend.
18:03 - Midpoint between Ft. Flagler and downtown Port Townsend. Still milling around, very slowly trending west northwest.
17:50 - They are milling a bit and possibly on a kill.
17:30 - Ran into Michelle and Jay at Fort Casey, and at that time they spotted them a few miles northwest from Ft. Flagler heading towards Port Townsend and east of parked Navy Ship? Should be nearing or in ferry lanes (17:47) NW bound.
16:00 - 1/4 mile north of Bush Point/Marrowstone, yellow channel buoy marker, nb, west side of channel.
15:42 - Nearing south end of Marrowstone Island, northbound. Viewing from Bush Point. -Marilyn Armbruster
photo - 16:50 - "Taken from mid high bank Lagoon Pt. over towards Ft. Flagler, nb."
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14:30 - Two male orcas south of Marrowstone Island moving north on the hunt. We were heading south and after they passed us, we saw some splashing around where we saw some harbor porpoise. Could not tell if it was successful or not. -Greg Pyke
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14:07 - Admiralty Inlet. Heading north. Viewing from Oak Bay Road, north of Port Ludlow. [phone video shows two distant males. -gs] -Kassin Hopkins
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14:50 - Off of Olele Point, northbound, 3knots, picking off porpoises. [est. Lat/Long: 47.979106, -122.674297 (alb)]
14:12 - They are now headed out of the bay northbound.
14:00 - Just took a seal, now pointed into Mats Mats Bay. -April Ryan, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
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13:38 - Viewing from Port Gamble, single male visible just north of Hood Head, Shine Tidelands State Park. -Jim Pasola
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13:15 - Just entering Hood Canal. Southbound.
12:50 - [orcas] Just north of Foulweather Bluff. Southbound, pointed to Hood Canal. -Christopher Lewman, Puget Sound Express
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12:30 - They seem to have flipped, still north of Mats Mats Bay, but now headed south, and heading closer to the Whidbey side.
11:45-12:00 - Howard and Susan at Orca Network watched the two continue north, north of Mats Mats Bay and likely now off Oak Bay, but visibility is waning and they are out of our view. -Susan Berta and Howard Garrett, Orca Network
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11:30 T128 and T125A are very spread out, slowly northbound. See map for location of T125A. [est. Lat/Long: 47.968393, -122.657386 (alb)] -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sun, Apr 25 - Admiralty Inlet (T125A and T128) - 11:35 - [orcas] Currently close in, due E of Mats Mats, moving very slow north.
10:48 - [orcas] Two fins seen off Hansville. Whale watching boat stationary. Moving slowly north. -James Petts
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12:00 - Still Nb and Jefferson County side of mid channel. Barely seeing fins because of distance but spotty rain moving in.
10:50 - Viewing from Shore Meadows (Whidbey), seeing 2 at this time, Kitsap side of mid channel about a 1/2 mile south of Foulweather Bluff. NB. -Marilyn Armbruster
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10:25 - Email from Azuriel Mayo at 10:44: Orcas near Skunk Bay. Two male orcas, T125[A] & T128 northbound 10:25 am. Puget Sound Express.
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10:12 - (orcas) Seeing them right now between Hansville and Double Bluff. Two males moving north mid channel. -Thomas Buell Jr.
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08:47 - 2 males tight to shore just north of Appletree Point going slowly north still. 08:38 - Orcas still at Appletree Point, look to be slowly heading up the shoreline. -Trevor Tillman
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08:00 - 3 or 4 orcas heading north, mid channel, just south of Appletree Cove at 8 am. (one male) [est. Lat/Long: 47.780914, -122.467684 (alb)] -Lucy Falla
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~06:00 - About 0600, near east side of Bainbridge Island, near Pt. Monroe. 3 orca moving north, saw 2 and 1 at a time. The pair had 2 different fin sizes; the single was about same size as the larger one. Estimate 200' from shore, could clearly hear & see their breath vapor. Turned to NE and passed in front of a tugboat moving NW. Appeared to circle for a couple breaches further out. [est. Lat/Long: 47.709013, -122.508363 (alb)] -Don T.
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UNIDENTIFIED ORCAS - Sun, Apr 25 - W. Strait of Juan de Fuca - 12:30 - Orca sighting, Bullman Beach. Three orcas spotted off of "Rat Rock" (just east of Seal and Sail Rock) from Bullman Beach in Sekiu, WA. Traveling west. [Lat/Long: 48.353444, -124.531958 (alb)] -Bullman Beach Inn
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GRAY WHALES - Sun, Apr 25 - San Juan Islands - 13:56 - [gray] Was near Bird Rocks earlier today. Pretty sure [was CRC1364]. Been hanging out in Southern Rosario all week. -Matt Stolmeier, Outer Island Excursions
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At 13:27 Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: MV Kaleetan reports 1 gray whale heading North in the San Juans.
[Kaleteen was at Anacortes dock when checked at 13:30, so presume sighting in Rosario Strait area - alb]
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The rain and wind that greeted us on the dock vanished as we rounded the corner into Guemes Channel, and the rest of the day was spent in really lovely conditions. We weren't on the water for half an hour before Captain Shane found us our first whale of the day! Gray whale CRC-1364 was hugging the shoreline of Bird Rocks before cutting out into Rosario Strait. It showed us its beautiful flukes several times and impressed us with a close pass off the bow. As it continued on towards Burrow's Lighthouse, we continued south with hopes of catching up to some early morning reports of whales in Puget Sound. Along the way we found a slinky minke near Smith Island that was feeding amongst harbor porpoise in glass-calm waters. We got several looks at this rorqual before continuing south… -Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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Sun, Apr 25 - Port Susan - 16:00 - At least 3 grays feeding in the north end of Port Susan. Confirmed 21 Shackleton not close enough to identify others. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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Sun, Apr 25 - Possession Sound - 12:07 - Watching from Harborview park. Can see several different puffs. Assuming 2 grays are there. -R Michael Stout
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11:10 - Gray whale 531 doing big circles between southern Hat and the Snoho Delta. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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Sun, Apr 25 - Saratoga Passage - 07:06 - Christi called back, the gray whale has left and is now heading north in Saratoga Passage toward Baby Island.
07:00 - Christi Schaeffer, Whidbey Shores, called to report: for the past 20 minutes a gray whale circling around out in Saratoga Passage then coming in close to shore to feed below her place. Whale would lift their head (barnacles visible) out of water at times which she had not seen before in all her years viewing grays from their place.
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MINKE WHALES - Apr 25 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - 12:30 - Partridge Banks. Minke whale. As we were passing Partridge Banks, what I believe to be a Minke surfaced numerous times. Each surface was very fast and no blow. Could not get a photo. -Greg Pyke
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… As it continued on towards Burrow's Lighthouse, we continued south with hopes of catching up to some early morning reports of whales in Puget Sound. Along the way we found a slinky minke near Smith Island that was feeding amongst harbor porpoise in glass-calm waters. We got several looks at this rorqual before continuing south…-Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)

April 24
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 24 - Haro Strait (T49Bs) - 14:27-15:01 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #22: "… They started the encounter at 1427 at 48° 24.6 N / 123° 16.8 W, and shortly confirmed the T049Bs. All four members were present and swimming in a single tight group as they moved offshore toward Staines Point at the south end of Trial Island. …" [See CWR Encounter #22 for full summary and photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-22
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05:45 - Three orcas, between Sunset Point and County Park on inside of Low Island at 5:45 this morning. (traveling SE across bay) -Dave Czaja
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Sat, Apr 24 - Central Puget Sound (T125A and T128) - 21:11 - [orcas] They came back out from the inlet past the Bremerton Marina about 15 minutes ago. Too dark to tell which direction they headed, but I could definitely hear two blows each time they surfaced. -Miriam Lau
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20:30 - They went under the Manette Bridge heading in Dyes Inlet, losing light, excellent above water looks with no light.
20:28 - Right in front of Bremerton Marina, two large males, the mouth of Dyes Inlet.
20:23 - [orcas] At least one is still in Bremerton Harbor right in front of the marina, last seen 15 minutes ago. (There are hordes of sea lions around the Marina, the shipyard, and all through Port Orchard Passage.)
---- These two are HUGE! A real shame it was dark when I finally caught up with them, but exhilarating being so close and hearing them breathe! -Jim Pasola
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~20:15 - [orcas] I was looking from Port Orchard side! Lost sight of them around 8:15! -Terri Sue Samuels
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19:43 - 2 large orcas by Waterman Pier in front of ferry heading to Bremerton. -Lara Hansen
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19:04 - Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed at 19:10: 1904, Chimacum Master reports two orca Westbound in Rich Passage.
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~18:40 - We were on the 6:40 PM sailing from Bremerton to Seattle this evening aboard the M/V Chimacum and spotted this one in Rich Passage. -Tami and Derek
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~18:30 - [orcas] Caught one of them, the other was too far ahead by the time I grabbed my camera. Rich Passage, heading north. ["T125A! Thanks for posting a photo. He'll likely be traveling with his presumed brother T128." -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute] -Jan Fuller
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~18:12 - Orcas in front of Manchester at about 6:12 pm today. All I had was my phone. [2 male orcas, west side of anchored container ship, northbound -gs] -Mike Altree (Manchester community group) via Kathe Bradley
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15:20 - 2 male orcas, NB, 4.24.21, 1520 hrs, west shore Colvos Passage nearing Southworth ferry. -Tim Ferris
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~13:40 - Have been watching for them from NE tip of Blake for an hour. Did not see them pass. Figured they'd passed us by. But a boat just came in to dock and said they saw an orca north of the island heading toward the west side about 1:40. (Asked for more info: sounds like the boat saw both and they said they split. One went west and one continued south.) -Rachel Messerschmidt
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13:05 - Two orcas off southeast side of Bainbridge. (The two males. Still southbound. Lost track of them as they are down for long periods at a time.) -Heather De Pree
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12:36 - Heading south, Eagle Harbor, Bainbridge Island. 2 Orcas. -Michael Vaughn
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12:24 - Jane Rein reports 2 orca heading south off Wing Point, Bainbridge Island.
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11:59 - Just saw orcas heading south off Rolling Bay, Bainbridge Isl. Sorry no photo. -Kenneth Mills
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11:40-12:00 - Two Orcas, 11:40am to noon, Saturday, April 24, east of Rolling Bay, Bainbridge Island. Heading south, but occasionally swimming in circles (feeding?). One was large with a posterior notch midway up their dorsal fin. The second was smaller - juvenile? Not a baby. -Sean Osborn
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10:17 - Single male orca in Port Madison, heading south. -Cherese Navidad [PSWS]
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09:40 - 2 male orcas headed south off Jeff Head [Jefferson Head, South Kingston] -Kristin Pederson
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UNIDENTIFIED ORCAS - Sat, Apr 24 - San Juan Islands - 19:10 - Message from mom on the ferry, orcas passing the Lopez Island ferry terminal. (eastbound) -Fred Horn
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GRAY WHALES - Sat, Apr 24 - San Juan Islands - …It wasn't long after that some vigilant passengers found us a whale! The heart-shaped spout of a gray whale had caught their eye as we passed Swirl Rocks, and sure enough it was none other than CRC- 1364. This mature gray wowed us all when it surprised us with a close pass off the port side, sounding and showing off its stunning flukes. We cruised with it past Colville Island and off into Rosario before we parted ways… -Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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Sat, Apr 24 - Possession Sound - 10:42 - CRC531 feeding in the [Snohomish] delta. -Tyson Parker Reed

April 23
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Fri, Apr 23 - San Juan Islands - 19:05 - At 19:12 Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed: 1905, KALEETAN Master reports a pod of orca (5) playing off of Upright Head.
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GRAY WHALES - Fri, Apr 23 - Northern Saratoga Passage - 19:00 - Two Sounders off Polnell Point at 6:00 last night [4/23]. Hung around for about an hour! [video] -Debbie Iddins video - https://www.facebook.com/debbie.iddins.75/videos/1913250178829341/
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We had a beautiful pair of visitors to our neighborhood cove at @ 4:30 pm! They fed for quite a while in our area and then headed toward Mariner's Cove in Oak Harbor. Thanks for all you do! -Greg & Terra Parham, Polnell Point, Oak Harbor, WA
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Fri, Apr 23 - Saratoga Passage - ~16:00 My husband saw what he thinks was a gray whale in Saratoga Passage about 4pm today, moving southbound. -Lucy at SF EG
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Fri, Apr 23 - Possession Sound - 16:37 - Grey whale, straight line of sight from the new Mukilteo ferry dock. (northbound towards the Snohomish River). -Danielle Pennington
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12:45 - Unidentified whale feeding in Snohomish Delta.
12:19 - CRC356 between Hat and Camano Head.
10:33 - CRC 531 feeding off south end of Hat/Gedney Island. -Tyson Parker Reed.
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Fri, Apr 23 - Port Susan - 16:28 - Today at McKees Beach in Port Susan. I was quite behind this whale when I decided to beach my kayak and run down the beach to see this. -Matty Leaman video - https://www.facebook.com/matty.leaman/videos/10125319665060144/
["I think you had this lovely close connected encounter on that beach with 21 Shackleton." -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]

April 22
GRAY WHALES - Thu, Apr 22 - San Juan Islands/Bellingham Channel - ~17:00 - We had two sightings yesterday afternoon. We were located right outside Secret Harbor, Cypress Island. (Where the fish pen broke a few years ago...) We first saw a Minke (I think?) and powered off the boat. The Minke continued on and the next thing we know there is a gray whale approaching from the south and came up for breath right in front of our bow. -Crystal Mervyn
[That is gray whale 1364 who showed up this year after only ever having been documented in 2011 off the coast near La Push, WA. -alb]
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Thu, Apr 22 - Port Susan - Today's adventure: At McKee's beach. I was on the beach watching this!!!! -Matty Leaman
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12:16 - 3 Big Beautiful Gray whales less than 30 feet off shore just rolling and spouting between beach 1 and 2, slowing playing their way to beach 2... and spouts about 100 feet off beach 3. -Andrea Sass
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Thu, Apr 22 - Possession Sound - 19:00 - Seen from my home @ 7 PM, Mukilteo, two greys located just south of Edgewater Beach near ferry terminal, heading towards Everett. I saw 2 but neighbor reported seeing 3, one grey trailing behind the other two. Photos aren't great, but got them both spouting! At one point they both spouted at the same time, but missed that with the camera. -Mary Ann Macomber
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~19:00 - 7PMish. Single grey? Traveling towards Everett, past Port of Everett South Terminal. -Barbie Jaffe Rousso
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19:00 - 7pm. Past ferry lane headed towards Everett. Just beautiful.
18:30 - 2 grey whales northbound past Lighthouse Park [Mukilteo]. In the ferry lane 6 30. -Lynn Baker
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18:48 - 6:48 appear to be headed to the east side of Hat Island. Still trending north.
18:30 - 3 slowly north east side of channel 6:30.
18:24 - Close to shore, 1-2 grays, from what I can see from the ferry.
18:21 - [grays] Two puffs seen roughly here from the ferry 6:21. -Emily Peterson
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18:19 - Just saw what appears to be 2 gray whales heading north towards Mukilteo ferry. -Alexa Lamey
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17:07 - I got a visual, all three have traveled north into Possession Sound and passing Chennault Beach in Mukilteo right now.
15:45 - There are 2 grays south of Possession Point, milling. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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14:37 - Whale south of Whidbey. Looked like a small humpback. Solitary. 5-6 blows and then went down Just surfaced again! (updated: I actually think now it was a gray. Got a pretty good look at its back on the last surface and it was pretty mottled.) -Kristin Pederson
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13:47 - [grays] We just saw them from South Whidbey off Possession State Park beach. -Krista MacDonald
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09:00 - Single gray traveling northbound, passing Hat Island Marina. -Lori Christopher
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07:40 - Anthony Admans reported two southbound gray whales passing by the Clinton ferry terminal, one whale was closer to the beach while the 2nd was a half mile out.
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MINKE WHALES - Thu, Apr 22 - San Juan Islands/Bellingham Channel - ~17:00 - We had two sightings yesterday afternoon. We were located right outside Secret Harbor, Cypress Island. (Where the fish pen broke a few years ago...) We first saw a Minke (I think?) and powered off the boat. The Minke continued on and the next thing we know there is a gray whale [CRC1364] approaching from the south and came up for breath right in front of our bow. -Crystal Mervyn
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…as we neared East Bank Captain Carl found us a couple of minke whales. It took some time to dial them in, but once we did we realized that we had found a minor whale jackpot. We spent some time down on the shallow banks south of Smith Island and found 3 different minke whales out feeding on this gorgeous afternoon! … -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)

April 21
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Wed, Apr 21 - Haro Strait (T90s and T49A3) - A memorable sail with the T90's and T49A3. Trip recap: The orcas moved offshore from Lime Kiln and began a zig zag pattern as if hunting for harbor porpoise which took us close to the border. At the shoals north of Middle Bank a hunt began of a Steller sea lion who was close to a Canadian zodiac. As we watched and photographed the event we were taken by surprise when the sea lion poked his head up at our stern. He circled us and glommed onto the hull. He was very large and our passengers reported that he had bad teeth. We set sails to head for home via Cattle Pt and the sea lion remained under us while the orcas followed behind for the next five miles over an hour and a half of sailing at 3.5 knots.
A little over a mile from Eagle Cove the sea lion left the refuge of our boat and headed for shore. The orcas became aware he was awry about ten minutes later. The orcas traveled at speed and caught up with the sea lion resuming their hunt. The approximately 4-yr-old calf, T90D, was first up charging the sea lion while the other orcas remained on the fringe blocking the escape including to our boat. Little by little others started joining in. The charges were powerful, producing 10-foot waves of spray as the orcas were leaping all around, knocking the 2,000 lb sea lion into the air. Thirty minutes later the action diminished and they appeared to be eating. A somber moment as we resumed our sail to Cattle Point. -Captains Barbara and David Howitt, All Aboard Sailing
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18:20 - [T49A3 and T90s] Milling on a sea lion hunt offshore of American Camp. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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15:09-15:35 - A large male, T090B (2006), followed by 4, possibly 5 orcas 1/2 mile offshore southbound at Edwards Point. At 15:14 the group turned west, then turned southwest as they moved far from shore. At 15:30 they were moving south again. The photo was taken from shore with Vancouver Island CA in the background. -Michelline Halliday, SJI
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15:00 - 4-5 orcas off Lime Kiln/Westside [San Juan Island]. 3:00pm 4/21/21. -Aena Burrell
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A few photos of T49A3 and the T90s as they passed San Juan County Park this afternoon. T90B Piglet and T90C Tigger circled Low Island, but it appeared the seals had already vacated so they continued on their way! -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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13:35 - Jill Blakeway called: "I just saw some orcas!" 3 orcas including one male. Just sitting on her deck and heard that distinct sound and thought maybe whales and there they were. South end Henry Island, beginning of Mosquito Pass. Orcas were traveling southbound toward Snug Harbor. Probably Ts. [Lat/Long 48.581630, -123.177351]
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13:10 - [orcas] Something to see between Spieden and Davidson Head? [T90s and T49A3, headed SW. -Jeff Friedman] -Fred Horn - C - WSSJI
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Wed, Apr 21 - Admiralty Inlet (T36 with T36Bs) - So happy! Orcas up close at Ft. Casey this afternoon! Thanks to Rachel Haight as she came running down the hill pointing in the right direction! T36 gang...zoomed past us very close to the beach, then headed northwest....in the distance saw them start some big activity. It's been too long since I've had such a wonderful encounter, and it was lovely, late afternoon sparkly light. -Bonnie Gretz
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15:54 - Orcas just spotted at Coupeville ferry terminal. At least 3 spouts. Headed north mid channel. -Felicia Merson
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15:50 - [orcas] They're approaching Ft. Casey from the SE.----The stars aligned and I made it to Fort Casey just in the nick of time to see T36 & T36Bs pass by close to shore, a rarity there. -Rachel Haight
[T36 and T36Bs ID'd by Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network, from Rachel's back-of-camera images]
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15:34 - Orcas just spotted at Coupeville ferry terminal. At least 3 spouts. Headed north mid channel. -Felicia Merkson
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14:28 - Rob Marrowstone just called to report orcas in Admiralty Inlet off Lagoon Point. He is seeing at least 3 (incl. male & couple smaller ones), pod kind of spread out. They are no more than 1/4 of the way off on the Whidbey side, heading northbound.
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14:14 - Jan Bell reports orcas northbound off Bush Point.
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Wed, Apr 21 - Possession Sound (T100 +?, T101A and T101B +?) - Last night I contacted Orca Network Facebook page to inform that the two bulls in the sound on Wednesday were T101A and T101B. (I only saw the 2 males.) Attached are some photos for these two orcas, and these were the critical ones I used to ID them. -Yifan Ling
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18:17 - Anna SinghDeo and Pip Gordon called to report 9 orcas (including two bulls) all grouped together, just past Bush Point Light, traveling north and have entered into the area to the north of public boat launch. Offshore, but definitely on Whidbey side of mid channel.
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19:30 - 2 are really close in while others out a bit, nb. Near lighthouse.
19:20 - Near Fort Casey, middish channel, somewhat Whidbey side. In line with southern entrance to Port Townsend Bay. Nb.
18:40 - Have passed northend Lagoon Pt., somewhat angling NW and towards Ft Casey. Group of at least 6+. Pretty sure I saw 2 males and for sure a youngster.
18:30 - Out in front of Lagoon Pt., Whidbey side of channel, nb fast.
18:15 - Have passed Bush Point 1/4 channel out from Whidbey, still booking fast
17:30 - [orcas] I just arrived at Shore Meadows; they are in sightline with Foulweather Bluff, maybe Whidbey side of channel, booking. Northbound. -Marilyn Armbruster
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17:15 - Eyes on the 2 male orcas since Point No Point.......heading NB towards Foulweather Bluff mid/west side, travel mode. -Katherine Crossett Montalvo
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16:37 - Just heard two individuals northbound, incl. male hugging shore of Skunk Bay, north of Norwegian Pt. -Donna Green VanRenselaar
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~16:00 - Here's some images of the two males that traveled from North Bainbridge past Kingston, Eglon Beach, and Point No Point. These images are from Point No Point area taken about 4pm. -Mike Maddox
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16:15 - Trending northwest past Point No Point now, two big boys.
15:53 - [orcas] Seeing them at Point No Point @3:53. (100 yards out from shore). -Kathe Bradley
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15:20 - From all the way in Mukilteo, saw 2 blows along Kitsap coast through telescope, one of which was large male approaching Eglon northbound. 1520. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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15:15. Group of 4-6 still NB midchannel. Line of sight from Edmonds Marina Beach to halfway between Apple Tree Cove and Eglon.
15:00 - Ariel Yseth called. She is seeing a more southern group of at least 4 or more orcas, south of Apple Tree Point heading northbound, mid channel or just west of.
[Earlier group may have split or we have multiple groups in same general area. -alb]
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15:08 - 4 approaching Edmonds Kingston ferry. Mid channel. Steady NB.
14:40 - Surfaced at the marker/light just north of the ferry then disappeared. Hugging Kitsap side. -Sara Frey
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14:25 - Passed Kingston ferry. Still northbound. Leisure pace. Still on west side of mid channel.
13:56 - Saw one big male just approaching Kingston ferry. Northbound. West side of channel.
(When looking back thru the pics from the 21st (at Kingston Ferry dock area)... I can actually see what looks like 2+ dorsal fins turned back south about 75 yards behind the male that was visible (right before the Kingston ferry area)... while the males continued to go north by me. I would guess that is why that group ended up so far behind the two male brothers. I didn't notice them at all as my focus was on the male at that point & it was so bright out looking out at the water.) -Tisa Annette
[Sara Hysong-Shimazu ID'd him as T101A in your images. The other male then presumably would have been his brother T101B. -alb]
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13:55 - [orcas] Just south of Kingston, heading north steadily. 1/4 mile from shore. (Looks like 8 when I replay my video.) -Joey LaMarche
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13:15 - Two orcas were right off Point Jefferson, Kingston, just meandering back and forth for quite a while....one large, possibility two males. They are now steadily heading north. -Chris Beamer Otterson
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12:43 - 2 large males northbound slowly right now at Jefferson Head. -Trevor Tillman
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11:33 - They are in the shipping channel a little east of our blue dot. [map indicates location off Point Jefferson. -gs]
11:20 - [orcas] Just spotted one. In the shipping channel just south of the Tote tanker that's coming in. -Julia Atalla
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10:43 - 10 or so sighted north end of Bainbridge Island heading north slowly. 10:43, 4/21/21. -Kyle Ripley
photo - T100 ID'd by MP
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11:01 - Out of sight now - headed north on the east side of the channel.
10:54 - Still at Fay, heading north further east.
10:18 - [orcas] Off Fay Bainbridge, spotted a group. Close enough to see clearly without binoculars. -Jennifer Borba Von Stauffenberg
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09:20 - Michelle Goll reports the orcas were still last southbound off Marina Beach, and she last laid eyes on them around 09:00, but then went stealth. She did not see them again and left.
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09:00 - [orcas] Small group off Edmonds Marina Beach. Look almost in the ferry lane. (southbound) -Kiersten Rodriguez
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08:58 - Right in the ferry lane. And yes Still very foggy, but not quite as bad.
08:51 - [orcas] At Marina Beach by the dog park and see one headed south. -Matty Leaman
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08:26 - Sunset Ave. in Edmonds, just spotted an orca slowly southbound. -Michelle Goll
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07:00-07:30 - Sara Bowen is seeing a pod of orcas, 7-8 (incl. male) off Haines Wharf (N Edmonds). Group had been southbound, but have stalled out. Possibly on a hunt. (Edit: "they were definitely hunting. The seals were under my feet. The pier is a great place for hiding under.")
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GRAY WHALES - Wed, Apr 21 - Port Susan/Possession Sound - … Gray whale #2259 was slow cruising the edge of the [Snohomish] delta, showing enough fluke for an ID before snorkeling into the shallows. Our journey took us to Port Susan, where we found four more gray whales. Sounders #383 and #531 were closely socializing, culminating in BACK TO BACK BREACHES by #383!!! It was spectacular, to say the least. Following this excitement, they led us down to the stunning treelined southern coastline of Camano where we met up with #44 and #21. These two males were sticking close to shore, their spouts brilliantly illuminated in the morning sun. The setting could not have been more breathtaking. …Island Adventures Whale Watching
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10:25 - Grays are now north of Kayak Point and closer to Camano.
10:08 - Two Gray whales mid-channel at Kayak Point. Headed north. -Marty Jones

April 20
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Tue, Apr 20 - San Juan Islands (T49A3 and T90s) - It was a beautiful, peaceful sail and we were reaching a favorite wildlife hot spot when we received a report of orcas hunting in Deer Harbor. It was a tricky call to change from our peaceful sail and motor sail against the ebb with a sliver of a chance we could catch up with the orcas. But we went for it and succeeded in meeting them in Spieden Channel. We heard that they were involved in a scuffle with four sea lions near Limestone Point. We had a good view as they wrapped around Sentinel Island and hugged the Spieden coastline and wrapped around to New Channel, our favorite place. The backlit blows and reflections in the fast moving still waters were magical. We left for a while to cut through the Cactus Islands seeing a river otter, a couple bald eagles and more seals. We could see the blows over the rocky reefs. Drifting on the ebb we passed the Steller sea lions at Green Point as did the orcas. They targeted a lone sea lion who received a number of powerful hits, but they left him to check out others near Limestone Point. We set course for home as they returned to Green Point once again. They were at Green Point the following day around noon. -Captains Barbara and David Howitt, All Aboard Sailing
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17:00 - Eastbound in New Channel (north side of Spieden).
15:25 - Appear to be aiming for Spieden Channel after harassing some sea lions.
14:50 - T49A3 and T90s northbound in Spring Passage (between Jones and Orcas Islands). -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Tue, Apr 20 - North Puget Sound/Possession Sound - 18:00 - Saw about 6 orcas (outside Everett Marina), at least one juvenile at 6pm tonight. Watched for about an hour and they stayed in the same area. Slowly moved west. We stayed pretty far away so you will probably have to zoom in a lot. -Tony Seaward
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17:06 - At 18:28 John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed older report from 1706hrs: C/M reports 3 orca, 1/2 NM west of MUK [Mukilteo], moving NB [northbound].
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16:50 - 3 spouts (orcas?) mid channel between Lighthouse Park Beach [Mukilteo] and Whidbey. I can't tell direction. our best guess was 3 orcas spotted at 4:50pm. -Lynn Baker
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Tue, Apr 20 - Central Puget Sound - 20:12 - At 20:22 John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed: CHIMACUM Whale Report. 2012hrs: Vessel reports via 800MHz four (4) orca, 1/2 NM east of Restoration Point, moving SB.
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~18:15/18:30 - We spotted orcas just north of the Murden Cove area (Bainbridge) yesterday [4/20] early evening around 6:15/6:30pm. I would guess there were at least 6-8 but it was hard to tell from far away. Definitely a few with smaller dorsal fins and at least one with a visibly much taller dorsal fin. We saw a few swimming close together and a few others farther from that group. I'm attaching a map of the area where we saw them and a couple videos-please excuse my excited gasping/cursing :) Truly incredible to see! -Kara Styles
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17:08 - 2 orcas out from Shilshole - mid channel - heading south. -Torrey Hall Volk
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16:50 - When I was at Fay Bainbridge, I saw 4 maybe 5 orcas southbound in a line. Time was 4:50. (update: Now that I'm home & looking at the pics, there appears to be 6. 1 leading, 3 or 4 in the middle, and a large male trailing. They were mid to east of the channel. I spotted them slightly north of the far north end of Fay Bainbridge. I was able to follow them with my camera until they were slightly south of me & then lost them. They were all facing south when I saw them last. Leisure pace.) -Tisa Annette
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16:39 - Two guys have resumed southbound travel for now.
16:30 - Joined Ariel at Richmond Beach, she guided my eye to the two orcas mid channel, out from Carkeek/Fay Bainbridge. Seeing blows, and noises, making directional changes. Look to be hunting while trending/drifting now northbound. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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16:17 - [orcas] I saw them surface around mid-channel off of Carkeek Park and then dive again. Still southbound. -Kevin Green
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15:47 - Two males southbound midchannel. Line of sight is Edmonds to Fay Bainbridge. -Ariel Yseth
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13:30 - Lone male transient killer whale southbound mid channel from Point No Point. Possibly T77A but only got a quick look. -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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Tue, Apr 20 - Admiralty Inlet (pos. T65As) - ~12:00 - Heather Hoins called to report orcas in Admiralty Inlet. They live on south end of Marrowstone Island and saw a group of orcas (incl. male, 2-3 females, baby, and youth) heading northbound quickly on the Marrowstone side. They watched as the pod was heading up island then lost sight as they got towards the point.----These [photos] were taken from the Sound View Cemetery - they passed our house much closer (between Kinney Pt. and Liplip [Point]) - grabbed the camera and drove up to the cemetery hoping for a closer look - but as they swam up island, they went farther out towards the shipping lanes. Hope you can identify - the male had an interesting knob-like top to his dorsal.
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GRAY WHALES - Tue, Apr 20 - San Juan Islands - Laura L. Baker, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: KALEETAN: Unknown Species in Rosario, 4/20 C/M, ANAC/SJI H, reports spotting a whale of unknown species, milling about 1 mile south of Reef Pt. [SW Cypress Island] [alb informed was CRC1364]
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...Just as we were leaving the minkes [around Eastern Bank], the crew spotted a prominent spout close by. It turned out to be a gray whale! … -Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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Tue, Apr 20 - Northern Saratoga Passage - 19:00 - 7pm tonight, there was a really quick fly-by, so the gray gang must have sent a scout up to see if the goodies were ready. This was a single gray, and it came by southbound fairly close to the beach but progressed further toward mid-channel as it moved south. It waved a fin briefly and did very few spouts, so I only got a tiny bit of photo evidence...Marianne Parry
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Tue, Apr 20 - Possession Sound and south/mid Saratoga Passage - 19:00 - Slowed down a bit, long dive down-times, heading north into Saratoga Passage.
18:50 - Heading somewhat quickly north now, north of navigational buoy.
18:40 - Gray whale between Baby Island and navigational buoy, heading south towards Baby Island. -Martha Sinclair
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12:50 - CRC 21 and 56 feeding at edge of Snohomish delta. -Tyson Parker Reed
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12:13 - They [531 and 383] are moving at a leisurely pace. Not even with Langley Marina quite yet but heading that direction. Still mid-channel. -Luanne Seymour
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12:01 - Cruising north a little closer to mid channel now. Should be near downtown Langley in 10-15 minutes at this pace...unless there is a direction change or snack break! -Christy Grant
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11:37 - 531 and 383 have rounded Camano Head and are heading up Saratoga Passage. Currently in line with Langley but closer to Camano. -Justine Buckmaster
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11:06 - CRC 531 and 383 heading from Camano toward Hat Island. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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Tue, Apr 20 - Port Susan - 11:37 - #44 Dubknuck continuing steadily north along east side of Camano.---- #44 (Dubknuck) rolling north along the east shore of Camano Island, probably heading for his favorite feeding grounds in Port Susan, on a calm, quiet morning (photo zoomed and cropped). We thought we spotted one other whale earlier some way ahead but, as time and tide waits for no man, we had to return to Langley and weren't able to explore further. -Sandra Pollard
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11:19 - CRC 44 headed up Camano shoreline in Port Susan, just south of the southernmost beach house. -Tyson Parker Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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MINKE WHALES - Tue, Apr 20 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - We found three different minkes around Eastern Bank and tons of bird activity. At one point we were watching a bait ball when the water surrounding the boat looked to be speckled with raindrops, strange considering there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It turned out to be hundreds if not thousands of baitfish feeding at the surface! It was incredible to see first-hand the fish that had attracted all of this activity to the bank, as most days we see the predators but not the prey. Just as we were leaving the minkes, the crew spotted a prominent spout close by. It turned out to be a gray whale! -Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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UNIDENTIFIED BALEEN WHALE - Tue, April 20 - Haro Strait - ~12:00 - We observed a lone whale (not an orca) east of the Swartz Bay ferry terminal near Sidney BC on 20 April at approx. 12pm. We could not verify if it was a humpback or gray and we lost track of it as we passed around the other side of an island. It was last seen eastbound. (Didn't even see the dorsal (therefore not an orca) only about 3 good blows.) -Mari Wood

April 19
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Mon, Apr 19 - North Puget Sound - Sunset Whale Watching at Mukilteo Beach in Washington. A pod of orca cruising down the Puget Sound mid channel heading south toward Possession Point. [video - https://www.facebook.com/kory.harris.5621/posts/1085557288609625] -Kory Harris
["We never could definitely ID who was here that day, and this pretty much tells us it was at least the T65As (who we thought) and maybe some of the 77s." -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Mon, Apr 19 - San Juan Islands (T36 and T36Bs) - 17:12 - Inside Davis Bay - west of Lopez. -Julie Gralow
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16:50 - Approaching Goose Island. (T36 and T36Bs thanks to Ellie Sawyer and Daven Hafey!)
16:35 - A group of 4 and a group of 2 in Griffin Bay, the four slowly moving and the two just rounded the Cape close to the San Juan side.
15:48 - I've got Upright whales entering Griffin from the north, viewing from Jackson Beach.
14:45 - Update is of 5-6 whales still in Upright, heading SW for San Juan Channel. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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At 14:19 - Laura L Baker, WSF Marine Ops, emailed: KALEETAN: Vessel reports 2 orca whales in Upright Pass, heading in a southerly direction.
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Mon, Apr 19 - Saratoga Passage to Possession Sound (prob. T65As) - 20:27 - 4 to 5 orcas seen from Mukilteo heading slowly towards Possession Point. Definitely one large male and what looked to be a young, small one (maybe a baby?). -Alexa Lamey
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19:50 - Just passed Mukilteo in the sunset, pretty close to shore, heading southbound.
19:37 - [orcas] About 4 visible from Muk … those looking over toward the SE tip of Hat, heading west about mid-way between mainland and Hat Island. -Lauren McManus
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19:35 - Orcas are now southbound just south of the ferry lanes, closer to Mukilteo. They crossed across the setting sun and the glow in the water. Thank you to WSF for steering clear. -Durand Dace
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~19:00 - ORCA ALERT tonight near sunset 7ish, my sailboat motor quit running and a small Orca surfaced next to the boat, swam around and under the boat. Seemingly observing us. Within a 1/2 mile, a pod appeared; we were dead in the water. We got cell vid of the little one by the boat. With my camera I got several pics of 1 maybe 2males that were in the pod. Maybe 5-8 whales. Location was middle of Gardner Bay. They came from N headed S. Just edited pics, 1 big male for sure. -Kim Peterson
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19:00 - A resident reported seeing an orca from the SE corner of Hat. Southbound. No distance from shore given. -Lori Christopher
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16:50 - [orcas] They are south of Sandy Point now, continuing south. Very active! Lots of splashing, tail lobs and a breach! -Donna George
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16:17 - Maybe 7 total (2 pairs and a group of 3). One of the pairs of two seemed to have one smaller Individual. One pair of large ones seemed to be very close to each other (fins side by side within feet of each other). One was doing frequent tail slapping. Moving toward channel north of Gedney [Hat] Island toward Everett. Location coordinates: 48°03'05.5"N 122°24'07.6"W -Aaron Fricke
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16:40 - Cleared Langley area and are rounding Camano side approaching channel marker just off Camano Head area, they look to still be headed south, southeast but hard to tell at this angle.
16:23 - Pod has made it just past Pebble Beach, now more mid-channel to Camano side. Moving at a steady clip. Big male has been tail slapping in succession upon coming up to breathe; at least 4 consecutive times. Still longer down times. Approaching across the area from Langley Marina.
16:07 - Still trending southbound but more mid channel now (harbor porpoise are present out here, as well, possibly 2-4). Counted 5 orcas so far, at least one large fin. Some rolling behavior and splashing. Coming up on Langley area, viewing from the seawall near Whale Bell Park.
15:52 - Viewing from Whale Bell Park; seems they are making directional changes, likely out from Bells Beach area; one closer to Whidbey side and others mid-channel. I've seen one large dorsal and 3 smaller, so far. Possibly on a kill, very long down times. -Amanda Colbert
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15:51 - [orcas] Still midchannel. South of Fox Spit. Spread out. -Kris Holley
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17:30 - Pretty much have been active in this area most likely on a kill(s) trending slowly southbound still. Moving further easterly
16:38 - Just north of Camano Head inside Saratoga Passage . SE bound. Camano side.
15:10 - Pod is mid channel further south now - south of between Fox Spit/Elger Bay in the Camp Diana area (sightline). Long down times.
15:04 - The orcas are now passing Elger Bay still heading southbound. -Marilyn Armbruster
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~14:00 - Steve Hipskind called to report orcas he saw at about 14:00 heading southbound in Saratoga Passage south of Race Road/Shangri La area. At least 3 (including young one), neighbors thought they saw more.
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ORCAS UNIDENTIFIED - Mon, Apr 19 - San Juan Islands - 08:30-09:30 - We just saw a pod of about 6-8 whales on the northernmost tip of Orcas Island on Monday 4-19-21 for about an hour between 8:30-9:30am. We live just off of North Beach and could see them from our deck. They were heading east and were quite near the coast. They were surfacing and some were breaching. -Kim Fackrell
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HUMPBACK WHALES - Mon, Apr 19 - Possession Sound - At 14:10 - Laura L Baker, WSF Marine Ops, emailed: One humpback at M/C [Mukilteo/Clinton]. Vessel reports one humpback south of the ferry crossing, moving in a southerly direction.

April 18
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS Sun, Apr 18 - Strait of Georgia (T65Bs) - 19:00 - Photos taken at 7pm tonight off Mayne Island, Strait of Georgia, as the T065Bs hugged the shore after coming down from Galiano and avoiding Active Pass, continuing along Mayne's shore, presumably toward Saturna. -Yves Tiberghien
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Sun, Apr 18 - San Juan Islands (T90s and T49A3) - 18:01 - They're on the move again, heading north from Yellow Island.
17:26 - Milling off Low Island now.
17:14 - [orcas] They are passing Point Caution now closer to the Shaw side, after killing something mid channel. -Cindy Hansen, Orca Network
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15:04 - [orcas] Just leaving them heading N in San Juan Channel off Griffin Bay. -Mae Cannon
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15:17 - [orcas] Have them off Jackson's Beach just now over against Lopez.
14:55 - Into Griffin. nb. -Fred Horn
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18:50 - No sign of them from Reuben Tarte as of 1850.
16:04 - Approaching Friday Harbor northbound.
14:00 - T90s and T49A3 picked up at Salmon Bank aiming for San Juan.
----T90B Piglet heading north past Friday Harbor this afternoon - the lighting was perfect to see their white chins and eyepatches underwater before they surfaced! -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Sun, Apr 18 - Central Puget Sound (T65As) - This was our first-time seeing orca since moving to Washington! Magical. -Liisa Roberts
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18:04 - [orcas] Spouts north of Blake, watching from Mee-Kwa-Mooks. Slowly NB. -Mirte Postema
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19:03 - Almost to Eagle Harbor. Past Port Blakely.
18:33 - Headed east side of Bainbridge…
18:00 - [orcas] Approaching north end of Blake, can only see spouts from West Seattle side. -Sonya Chin
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17:40 - Trending east of Blake Island, 5:40.
17:17 - [orcas] Just passed Southworth dock at 5:17, trending north toward Blake Island…
----Some pics of the orcas exiting Colvos Passage today at 5pm today, at Southworth ferry dock... baby all tucked in nicely...Kathe Bradley
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17:05 - [orcas] We saw 6 (including a small calf) pass close to shore on Point Southworth! 17:05. They continued northeast. ----Here are some shots I captured from the near shore experience at Southworth around 17:00, while my husband did video, and our 3 boys screamed along with joy!! I'm so thankful for any encounter, but this was a 2nd close shore encounter that I will never forget! So happy our boys got to be there for this one! My passion for being around these beautiful creatures runs so deeply! -Jessica Richter
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17:05 - [orcas] Passed very close to shore at Southworth. Crossed the ferry lane heading northeast and lost them. [video] https://www.facebook.com/OrcaNetwork/posts/10165426884425601 -Ryan Richter
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17:33 - Now at SE tip of Blake Island.
17:20 - Blows north of Southworth dock.
17:03 - See blows south of Southworth dock, view from 52nd and Oregon, West Seattle. Kitsap side. -Mary Hartmann
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16:50 - Apx. 6 orcas close to Kitsap shore, north end Colvos, heading north at 1650, 4.18.21. -Tim Ferris
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17:14 - Northbound right now, headed up the east side of Blake Island.
17:05 - Just passed Point Southworth, very close to the Kitsap side, 5:05 pm.
16:59 - They are on the move! Approaching Point Southworth.
16:44 - [orcas] 4:44 pm - they have stalled out about 3/4 miles south of Point Southworth. Viewing them through binoculars now. -Hunter Sasser Oetinger
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16:26 - Just coming up on Driftwood Cove, northbound, 4:26.
16:03 - They are south of Driftwood Cove about 5 minutes. -Roxane Jackson Johnson
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16:00 - [orcas] Just passed Fragaria. -Renée Drellishak
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15:37 - Three adults and one small orca northbound, passing Olalla Creek. -John Adamson
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15:43 - The pod is very close to shore still heading north. 15:30 - [orcas] Passing Anderson Park on the west side of Colvos Passage heading north. -Erik Anderson
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15:30 - [orcas] Saw them at 1530 just south of Anderson Point Park in Colvos Passage. There were at least 6 including 2 big males. -Megan Thompson
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15:24 - 3 adult, 1 small orca northbound along Olalla Bay market. -John Adamson
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15:06 - [orcas] Viewing from Lisabuela Park steady northbound, 15:06, 3 visible--a large male and two others. West side of channel. -Kari Daniels
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At about 14:10 - They [T65As] passed the point at Point Defiance. I could not tell which direction they were headed, towards Gig Harbor, or down Narrows. They were pretty grouped up. All the boats went down Narrows. Was viewing from Point Defiance. -Ashley Whitman
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~13:55 - Beautiful day for Orca watching! T65As passing Owen Beach. -Cherie St.Ours
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13:46 - T65As traveling westward, about to pass the Tahlequah ferry terminal--Dalco Passage--at the southern end of Vashon Island. Viewed from the Point Defiance Marina. photos (2nd photo: T65As westbound in Dalco Passage at 13:40 13:40). -Gayle Swigart, Orca Network
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13:40 - [orcas] Passing in front of the container ship in front of Quartermaster Harbor. -Nina Brown
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13:50 - They went through the ferry lane and then shifted direction and headed straight towards Owen Beach.
13:39 - [orcas] Viewing from the Vashon ferry! …heading west. -Mollie Segall
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14:08 - Directly between Point Defiance and Gig Harbor.
13:35 - [orcas] Just off Ruston. Headed toward Narrows. 6 counted. -Austin Andrew Forbes
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14:15 - Lost track of them at tip of Pt. Defiance. Can't tell if they headed north into the Narrows or towards Gig Harbor...
13:58 - They were closer to Vashon. Heading into the Narrows now.
13:35 - [orcas] Crossing the Vashon ferry line. -Hope Cornetta
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13:13 - [orcas] They're passing by Browns Point now. Definitely on the Vashon side. -Britany Lee
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13:11 - [orcas] Just NW of Commencement buoy. Viewing from above Pt. Ruston. -Ed Rickert
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13:06 - [orcas] Near SE end of Maury from Dash Point pier. -Reid Wilkes
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12:41 - [orcas] Right in front of Dash Point, SB, 12:41. -Stacey Crofoot
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12:29 - [orcas] They are about at the Gold Beach area of Maury Island -Mitzi Gligorea
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13:24 - 1/2 way across Quartermaster Harbor inlet.
12:06 - [orcas] 1/2 way between Tacoma and Point Robinson. 4 to 5, one looks small from our distance. -Brian Hortelius
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12:00 - Hello! Orcas spotted off Point Robinson Vashon Island 12pm today! -Heather Barry Whittier
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11:47 - [orcas] I see 3 off of [from] Des Moines, close to Vashon side. -Bridget Gallagher
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The first two pics are from Dilworth, that flat glassy water was so lovely and there was this strange haze that hung over the water that looked almost like sea fog, but later determined it was a pollen fog that settled over the water and gave the everything this weird green/yellow hue. Pretty wild! The rest of the pics are from the point. Didn't get a decent pic of him, but T65A2 was trailing everyone else by himself at quite a distance behind them and was much closer to the mainland side during the pass. Amira though, is looking quite dapper lately with that sprouting dorsal of his, won't be too long before he catches up to his handsome brother. -Marla Smith
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11:31 - [orcas] Passing KVI, south, grouped, approaching Point Robinson. -Steve Brown
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11:17 - [orcas] Now off KVI Beach. -Susan Chua
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10:15 - Watching them from 98th Street end. Still SB, 4 of them. -Fei Cheng
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10:03 - [orcas] They are south of Fauntleroy and appear to be headed down the east side of Vashon. Moving very slowly. -Hunter Sasser Oetinger
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09:42 - [orcas] Spotted from Beach Drive, midway between Blake and Vashon. -Mickiala Gonzales
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09:35 - East of Blake Island. teady pace southbound closer to Kitsap side.
09:32 - [orcas] Spotted at least 3 north of Blake Island heading southbound. -Jennifer Farley
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09:43 - Just passing in front of Vashon ferry terminalas seen from Constellation.
09:30 - [orcas] Southbound, just passing south end of Blake Island, as seen from Constellation Park. -James Tilley
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08:00 - Orca sighting. East of Bainbridge near Wing Point...mid channel headed south: 2 adults and one much smaller...baby or juvenile. They were milling at first (north, south, north) then firmly going southwest. -Jane Rein
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07:21 - Single male, southbound, seen at 07:12 just off Bainbridge at these coordinates: (47.6511398, -122.4914411) [out from Murden Cove. -gs] -Raphael Fennimore
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GRAY WHALES - Mon, Apr 19 - Port Susan/Possession Sound - ~12:30 - Hello! Today I saw a bunch of grays up close while kayaking in Port Susan. They kept surprising us by popping up very nearby, when we were floating and watching from a distance. There are 3 different (probably) whales. photo - "Saw this one north of Kayak Point in Port Susan at 12:30ish." -Matty Leaman
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12:16 - We had 383 and 531 SE of Hat Island and Chilkat reports they're still there and spyhopping! -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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09:30 - Gray whale heading south from south end of Port Susan.----Taking advantage of good tidal and wind conditions, we set out from Langley early to spot gray whales. It wasn't long before we saw two blows against the backdrop of the bluff on the far side of the entrance to Port Susan. After cutting the engine and waiting patiently, #531 suddenly surfaced ahead of us, traveling in a steady trajectory toward Camano Head before turning south. Despite a slow cruise deeper into Port Susan we never came across the second whale, but that's the way it goes sometimes -Sandra Pollard
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Sun, Apr 18 - Saratoga Passage - 17:00 - Gray off of Langley Whale Bell Park right now. (5:00pm). It's low tide, but he is not far from the shore. He is heading east at the moment. -Katie Watkins, Langley Whale Center/Orca Network
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15:21 - 1 or 2 Greys heading up the west side of Camano, right across from Langley, northbound. -Lauren McManus
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Sun, Apr 18 - Possession Sound - 11:50 - Gray whale 2246 between Hat Island and Everett.
11:10 - Gray 531 & 2356 westbound between Whidbey & Hat Islands. -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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HUMPBACK WHALES - Sun, Apr 18 - S. Admiralty Inlet - 15:00 - Gray whale, I believe, spotted off of Point no Point, heading north. -Michelle LeMieux Hall
[We can confirm at least one humpback in the area further south, heading towards PNP, and someone else who is knowledgeable. reported a humpback at PNP. Not sure who you saw, but at least one whale in that area was a humpback. -alb]
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14:50 - Juvenile humpback 300 yards off Point No Point feeding in a northerly direction. About 10-minute down times. Sorry no photos! -Joey LaMarche
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~14:20 - I saw it show its entire fluke... The fluke looked like a humpback, and I know they are the more common to show their flukes. I will say... IT WAS AWESOME! Also, not sure if it helps with identification... but it was right outside the channel of PNP and Whidbey. Its underside (tale fluke) was almost completely white from what I could see. This was during low tide around 2:20ish pm. -Leann Marie
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~14:00-15:00 - We saw what looked like a rorqual just off of Point No Point yesterday (Sunday the 18th) around 2-3pm. It had a dorsal fin and a pretty good size fluke. Minke? Sei? Possibly Finback?? Humpback?? -Kirk Knighton
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13:44 - Gray or humpback between Eglon & Pilot Pt., northbound. The whale breached. -Kim Page br>[Kim sent images and we can confirm her reports was a humpback! -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]
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13:35 - Gray whale or humpback off Pilot Point heading north very close to Kitsap side of the channel. Multiple breaches. -Austin Iles
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MINKE WHALES - Sun, Apr 18 - Admiralty Inlet - 10:30 - ...I just saw a minke, southbound Admiralty - from the ferry - close to Port Townsend side. No photos though....nice surprise. -Jill Hein

April 17
BIGG'S TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 17 - Haro Strait (T124As, T124Ds minus T124D2) - 11:50-13:27 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #21: "… Mark confirmed seven individuals in the group; The T124A's with the T124D's, less T124D2. The group continued northward against the ebb current after milling around and prey sharing for ~25 minutes before they started to travel northward against the ebb current as they slowly passed through the reefs between the Kelp Reef marker and Little Darcy Island. Several of them appeared to have a chunk of their prize in their mouth as they slowly made their way. T124A3A lagged well behind the group, but T124A leading the way, would circle back to slow up the procession to allow him to keep up. …." [See CWR Encounter #21 for full summary and photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-21
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Sat, Apr 17 - Haro Strait (T124As and T124Ds)
13:12 - Now on the southern tip of D'Arcy headed north.
13:03 - They turned and headed south again. Still at south side of D'Arcy with the rib.
12:36 - Looks to be ~6 whales. Still south of D'Arcy. Visible with telescope from SJI. Heading N. At least one "small one" with them... maybe two?!? -Mae Cannon
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11:50 - [orcas] Canadian spotter reports whales between Kelp Reef and D'Arcy Island. -Fred Horn
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14:10 - Between Henry and Sidney Islands northbound on the Canadian side - and they've been identified by one of the vessels on the water as the T124As and T124Ds.
09:56 - Got them abeam of Deadman [Bay]. (Way offshore in the light water, traveling north.)
08:55 - Group of orcas on the Canadian side of the border heading north up Haro Strait, about abeam of False Bay. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Sat, Apr 17 - Strait of Juan de Fuca to Admiralty Inlet (T65As and T77s) - 20:32 - Orcas in Admiralty Inlet about 1m south of Bush Point, heading south, mid channel but closer to the Whidbey Island side. It's a large pod, maybe 10, and they are moving fast. Maybe 3 miles south of Bush Point. It is dark now, but you can still hear them blowing. -Mike Meyer
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20:00 - Three orcas - one male - mid channel in Admiralty Inlet just south of Bush Point headed south, 8:00 pm. -Adam Rosen
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~18:00 - Hello. We (and several people) spotted 4 Orcas (looked like 2 adults and 2 babies) at 6pm off the Ft. Worden lower beach campground by beach and then round to the Point Wilson Lighthouse area on Sat, Apr 17 ~6pm. -Thanks, Amy Parman
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17:00-18:00 - [orcas] We saw these whales off of North Beach in Port Townsend between 5-6pm last night. They were there about an hour, probably on a kill. At least 2 adults plus 2-3 juveniles. -Lisa Marcus
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17:15 - Killer whales at McCurdy Point, eastbound, towards Admiralty Inlet.
16:15 - Glacier Spirit has T65A's and 77's northbound at Beckett Point in Discovery Bay. -Christopher Lewman, Puget Sound Express
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~16:00 - Hi!!! We saw four orcas this afternoon (April 17, 2021) around 4pm! We were on Diamond Point Beach when they came out of Discovery Bay! This is the first time we've ever seen orcas and it was spiritual and thrilling! One looked small like it could've been a calf or juvenile but we don't know. And now we're trying to identify whether they were Southern Residents or transients. There were many people who rushed over to look - at least twenty - and some with excellent cameras. Thanks for all you do for orcas!! -Kindly, Freya Wilding
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10:15-10:45 - Orcas seen and photo'd but not ID'd, off Dungeness Spit Lighthouse 10:15-10:45 today. EDIT w/direction: heading NW and they saw two orcas. -Reported by Elizabeth Dubreuil
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08:15-08:45 - This morning I was fortunate enough to experience my first ever orca sighting. I saw 2 -3 orcas from Port Williams in Sequim, WA, from 08:15 to approximately 08:45. They were directly in front of Mt. Baker from our angle so it really was a delight. They started heading northwest after that. I don't know how far out they were, but we could hear the spouts and breeches after about 7 seconds after seeing them. -Taylor Currier
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Sat, Apr 17 - Strait of Juan de Fuca (T90s and T49A3) - TODAY...these Transient Killer Whales (T90's and T049A3) were actively hunting off Sooke from Sheringham Lighthouse to Beacher Bay! -Paul Pudwell, Sooke Coastal Explorations
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ORCAS UNIDENTIFIED - Sat, Apr 17 - Strait of Georgia - 20:03 - This just happened. [Looking west from Bowen Island. -alb] -Andrew Mellenger
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GRAY WHALES - Sat, Apr 17 - S. of San Juan Island - 16:00 - Just saw it [gray] 3/4 mile off Cattle Pt. Lighthouse.
15:50 - [gray] Something happening off Salmon Bank. -Fred Horn
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Sat, Apr 17 - Saratoga Passage - 17:10 - [gray] One heading north from Onamac Point, fast. -Matt Henning
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15:49 - Lone gray very close to the bluff north of Sandy Point. Heading northwest towards Langley Marina, hugging the bluff on south Whidbey. -Luanne Seymour
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15:31 - Spotted a grey off Sandy Point headed towards Langley. We saw the tail but didn't get it on video/pic. -Jamie Elizabeth
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MINKE WHALES - Sat, Apr 17 - Admiralty Inlet - ~07:15 - Minke whale, 200 yds off Lagoon Point on the west side of Whidbey heading south. -Lachlan Pope

April 16
ORCAS UNIDENTIFIED - Fri, Apr 16 - Strait of Georgia - 16:14 - Orca heading north from Comox. They were a little far away. There were only two orcas. We did not see any others. -Patti and Mark Perepeluk
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GRAY WHALES - Fri, Apr 16 - Port Susan - 17:59 - 2 Gray Whales have been out feeding in Port Susan, between Camano and Warm Beach. -Cale Haug
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14.05 - Another gray whale with research boat (there are two research boats here) in Port Susan, one mile north of Camano Head on Camano side heading south.
12.07 - Two gray whales deep in Port Susan feeding.
----With lots of photos to go through still from April 16 encounter with two of the Sounders, #53 (Little Patch) and (pretty sure) #56 feeding together deep in Port Susan, here's a brief snapshot of a peaceful reconnoiter with nature offering observation of whales going about their business while humans try to fathom them out (photos Richard Snowberger and Sandra Pollard, zoomed and cropped) -Sandra Pollard
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Fri, Apr 16 - Possession Sound and Saratoga Passage - 21:00 - Two gray whales feeding for the past 20 minutes near the mouth of Saratoga Creek just NW of Langley. -Anna K. Greenwood
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14:34 - Looks like 3 grays. 2 with the research boat and 1 closer to Camano shoreline around Summerland. No particular direction for the 1, the other 2 and the boat are slowly making their way north.
14:25- 2 grays with the research boat mid channel, Saratoga Passage, heading north toward CISP. -Jennifer Feldman Spanton
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13:21 - They are being followed by a research zodiac heading northwest, mid-channel, in Saratoga Passage towards Langley.
12:50 - Two grays just off Sandy Point milling. They are gradually trending toward mid-Saratoga channel and away from Sandy Point. (Correction - there are three and they are heading toward Camano Head.) -Luanne Seymour
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13:15 - Research boat with them now. They are trending NB into the passage.
12:40 - Two grays nearing Camano Head west side, appearing to be heading towards Saratoga Passage NW.
12:25 - Southernmost gray is now east, changed directions. The 2 also changed directions northbound. Could be just be milling around out there. North of Hat Island and Whidbey side of mid.
12:10 - First southernmost gray is between Hat and Whidbey south of the 2.
12:00 - Actually there are 3, with first one being 1/2 mile of the 2. South side of Sandy Point, just north of west side of Hat and Whidbey but closer to Whidbey. SB.
11:30 - 2 gray whales at Sandy Point, Whidbey. Research boat was heading north, mid channel, towards Langley and turned around. Grays milling at the point while slowly trending south. -Marilyn Armbruster
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MINKE WHALES - Fri, Apr 16 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - … We cruised south down Haro and out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca where we found whales! Captain Carl saved the day, finding not one but three minke whales! We spent our time with the friendliest of the bunch as it meandered Hein Bank. Every once and a while we'd catch glimpses of its peers off in the distance. The sunny skies, smooth seas, and views of both mountain ranges made for truly ideal minke spotting conditions. …Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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UNIDENTIFIED BALEEN WHALE - Fri, Apr 16 - W. Whidbey/N. Admiralty Inlet - 13:43 - Just spotted a humpback off Ebey's Landing. Headed south. -Kori Tjoelker
[Unfortunately, too distant to confirm species from video. -alb]

April 15
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS Thu, Apr 15 - Strait of Georgia (T49As and T49Bs) - 09:00 and 10:00 - These photos were taken on Thursday April 15, off Mayne Island on Strait of Georgia side, early afternoon. Very impassive sight!! Updated: The Thursday T049As and Bs were taken at 10am off Mayne island. I had spotted them earlier at 9am in Campbell Bay, crossing from Bennett Bay. So, they seem to have taken an unusual route! The sea lions initially literarily flew above water to run away, and then bunched together in a big group, all raising their heads and barking loudly at the orcas. Orcas moved on but apparently took either seals or sea lions a bit further up the coast before Lighthouse Park. -Yves Tiberghien
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Thu, Apr 15 - Haro Strait (T65As) - 16:55 - T65As at Land Bank, northbound. -Ellie Sawyer
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16:47 - Passed Pile Point. All traveling together.
16:37 - I am counting about 7 orcas now in that group. They are at False Bay. Still traveling north.
16:16 - 3 orcas. north of Eagle Point. one male, one little one, one other adult. going north. Close to shore. -Chris Wilson
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Thu, Apr 15 - San Juan Channel (T49A2 and T77A) - 16:50 - [orcas] The pair passed Rocky Bay at about 4:50. Saw the smaller one from Reuben Tarte, now out by Flat Top. I have not seen 77A yet. -Cindy Hansen, Orca Network
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15:23 - [orcas] They are south of Shark Reef, northbound in San Juan channel. -Peter Ancich
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~14:09 - 3 orcas including juvenile in Cattle Pass around 2:09pm. They were still circling the area when we saw them last so don't know which direction they were heading. -Charlie Hellstern
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14:00 - T49A2 and T77A in Cattle Pass, northbound. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Thu, Apr 15 - San Juan Islands (T90s) - ~11:00 - We were on our boat this morning heading west in the Harney Channel near the mouth of Eastsound when we saw a blow in the distance around 11:00 am. We stopped and watched 4-5 orcas through binoculars. There was large Orca, 2-3 adults and one juvenile. They moved north to south for about 40 minutes before heading in the direction of Eastsound at around 11:40 am. We were too far away to get any pictures. -Gloria Eppig
["I believe the pod in that area was a family known as T90s." Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]
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15:30 - The T90s are near the Lopez ferry dock, no clear direction of travel.
12:42 - These whales have been identified as the T90s.
09:40 - [orcas] I see them in the far distance from San Juan - they appear to be aiming for Upright Channel 9:40, maybe 4 whales. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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08:33 - 2 orca headed very slowly north towards Turn [Island] near Griffin Bay. One male, one female that I could see. Diving for long periods, then hanging at surface for a bit before diving again. I could see from south side of Pear Point looking east towards Lopez. -Jenny Mac
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GRAY WHALES - Thu, Apr 15 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - 10:00 & !13:00 - Had a grey whale out front here! 10am heading north. A friend saw a grey also out front here ~1pm. All just south of Pt. Partridge about a mile+out. -Al Lunemann
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Thu, Apr 15 - Possession Sound - 12:38 - Grey whale between Sandy Point and Hat Island. -Ann Cushing
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12:10 - Gray whale right here close to shore. [Liza's map indicates location just north of Clinton. -gs] -Liza Dietrich Rohn
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12:06 - Two grays off Camano Head now. -Clinton Duckworth
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09:45 - [gray] Gray or humpback whale just south of Clinton ferry near the shoreline headed south. -Melissa Simmons
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09:38 - My neighbor just texted me that he had a likely gray whale blow pretty close in to Clinton. This would be close to the ferry lanes. -Debbie Stewart
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Thu, Apr 15 - Port Susan - 11:38 - Gray whale CRC 356 is back! He's traveling with CRC44 in Port Susan a couple miles north of Camano Head. (I don't know if 356 has been spotted by anyone yet but it's our first time this year.) -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express

April 14
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS Wed, Apr 14 - San Juan Islands (T49As and T49Bs) - … After a great safari along Spieden Island, we headed up through Johns Pass toward Patos Island to check on some reports from earlier in the day. We got some great views of the Patos Island Lighthouse with Mount Baker standing beautifully in the background. We continued from there and began to make our way south when we stumbled upon a big pod of Bigg's orca whales. It was the whales reported from earlier, and our plan had worked out perfectly! The whales turned out to be the T49A's and the T49B's, two sisters and their families. We got to hang with them for some time and even got some close passes before we branched off and checked out Matia Island. Upon rounding the small island, we rejoined the orcas and got a few more great looks before we departed the scene and headed home. …Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching (Anacortes)
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Wed, Apr 14 - Active Pass - T077A in Active Pass on the afternoon of April 14th. -Mark Malleson
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Wed, Apr 14 - Central Puget Sound - 20:30 - Came to check before I lose light and they are still there SW of Possession Point but have slightly trended north from original spot. There is also still a lot going on. 5 orcas. One large male.
19:50 - They're still hanging out in the same spot. I wonder what they took down. Hundreds of birds are now swarming above them.
19:05 - Looks like a couple blows went north out to Admiralty 15 or so mins ago. Second group of 4 or 5 still milling around SW of Possession Point. 1905. They put on a show. Lots of jumping, tail slaps.
18:40 - 100% orcas. Just made a kill and hunting southwest of Possession Point.
1815. Seeing several blows far in the distance towards Eglon from Mukilteo. Trending north out Admiralty. Not 100% sure of species but been watching them for about 15 mins and looks like orcas. 3-4 blows at a time and milling around. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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12:28 - [orcas] They now are heading WNW at the north end of Vashon. -Tim Peters
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12:00 - Still milling now north of Fauntleroy ferry that passed under towers at noon. They were south of ferry lane earlier.
11:16 - Looks like one bull and two others. Still at the location of earlier post.
11:11 - [orcas] Right in front of the Fauntleroy ferry dock very close to West Seattle. Slow milling, directional changes, possibly NB travel. -Pia VanHanen
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11:44 - Spread out south, under and north of two towers seen from Emma Schmitz north of Dilworth south of Dolphin Point.
11:00 - [orcas] Lots of blows under 3 towers seen from Emma Schmitz. South of ferry lane. -Mary Hartmann
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~10:50 - [orcas] We just saw them in front of ferry leaving Fauntleroy about 10:50am. (…they seemed to be heading west at the time.) -Lara Hansen
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10:24 - [orcas] They don't seem to be moving in any particular direction. (Towards the north end of Blake Island about mid channel.) -Nancy Lindberg
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09:57 - Still basically midchannel but a little further north than mid island. Still feeding & dodging ferry and freighter traffic.
09:40 - Orcas actively feeding midchannel towards the north end of Blake Island. Ferry out of Fauntleroy just missed the group of 5 or 6. 9:40am 4/14/2021. -Lisa Ann Huston
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At 09:11 - Laura Baker, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: Six Orca feeding between Fauntleroy and Vashon Island, 4/14 at 0855hrs. Master, F/V/SW H reports 6 Orca whales feeding in the vicinity between FAU and VASH.
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COASTAL ORCAS - Wed, Apr 14 - Oregon Coast - Orca spotted off the Oregon Coast this morning by a local Dory Fisherman. Sent to us by local naturalist Halle Renn of Lincoln City! Looks to be off shore of Cape Kiwanda in Pacific City. Time and location information was not provided. -Oregon Coast Whale Watchers
---Got to watch a pod of Orcas hunt a sea lion this morning. At least twice the sea lion tried to jump into a boat to escape. -Grant Rilette (Instagram) via Jeff Jacobsen & Gail Sammons
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GRAY WHALES - Wed, Apr 14 - S. of San Juan Island - We found the gray whale again (CRC1364) on 4/14/21 hanging out on Salmon Bank, 1:30pm. He/she was traveling in circles along the southeast tip of the bank. -Cheers, Captains Barbara and David Howitt, All Aboard Sailing
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Wed, Apr 14 - Port Susan - 18:01 - 2 gray whales on northeast side of Camano Island. -Savannah Santiago
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17:23 - Many gray whale sightings currently in Port Susan between Warm Beach and Camano. Watching them from Warm Beach side. -Don Grende
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~10:00 - 2 grays in Port Susan around 10am on 4/14. I believe one is Lucyfer [confirmed - alb], but don't know the other. -Matt Henning
(he included drone video; I could confirm 723 but not the other- alb)
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Wed, Apr 14 - Saratoga Passage - 17:45 - [gray] Rounded the corner at Sandy Point, southbound. -Marilyn Armbruster
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16:58 - Single gray whale passed Boy and Dog Park (in Langley) about 200 ft. off shore, heading south. -Jenny Gardner
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16:50 - Gray whale spouting just north of Whale Bell Park. Traveling southbound. -Durand Dace
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12:20 - CRC531 northbound at Bells Beach. Viewing from MV Saratoga, Puget Sound Express. -Bart Rulon, PSE
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11:20 - 2 possibly 3 grays, mid channel, out from Whale Bell Park in Langley, northbound. -Marilyn Armbruster
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Wed, Apr 14 - Possession Sound - 14:55 - There's a grey whale heading north at the Mukilteo Lighthouse. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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11:45 - We have 2021 newbie gray whale CRC2362 plus CRC383, and CRC2259 where my map indicates [SE end of Hat Island]. -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express

April 13
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Tue, Apr 13 - North Puget Sound - 11:15 - Glacier Spirit [Puget Sound Express] has one juvenile killer whale, west edge of Possession Bank, southbound. -Christopher Lewman, PSE
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UNIDENTIFIED BALEEN WHALES - Tue, Apr 13 - Hood Canal - Yesterday evening [April 13] at sunset, I saw a large whale (gray whale?) Feeding just off shore of Carroll Point on Hood Canal. This is about a mile north of Lilliwaup, WA, on Highway 101. I have been on Carroll Point for over 50 years and have never seen a large whale like that in Hood Canal. -Chris Dickinson
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Tue, Apr 13 - NW Port Susan - 08:25 - 5-6 Minke? whales just north of Cavalero moving north. Correction - they are south of Cavalero (across from Thunder Ridge) moving north. The dorsal fin was small and far back on the body like a Minke. I am certainly just a novice but their size and force of their blow was larger than a porpoise. It was a treat to see them this morning. I hope we get more visits. I was using a spotting scope so the vapors were only visible. They were black and around 30ft in length. There were feeding birds in the vicinity. They were [within] 1-2 body lengths [of each other] and seemed to be interacting. -Amy Noel

April 12
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Mon, Apr 12 - North Puget Sound (T65As, T137s, T77+) - 20:04 - They seem to be taking a little nippy nap right off Edward Point. Mid channel. Or they're just moving real slow in a tight tight group.
18:59 - [orcas] Still headed south from water Ave. in Edmonds. Mid channel behind a tug boat! -Jami Cantrell
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At 19:54 - Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed again: Puyallup, 1948 hrs.: Master reports confirms sea life as orca 4-5 whales. 1/2 West of Edmonds.
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We saw the orcas from the 7:40 Edmonds ferry. The captain announced them as we were leaving the dock! Beautiful orcas with the setting sun! -Sue Larkin
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19:30 - Group of orcas heading south just north of Edmonds. Perhaps 5-7. 7:30 pm. -Rufus Woods
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19:14 - One male close to Edmonds ferry terminal southbound. The rest of the group is further north and not as close to the Edmonds shore. -Michelle Goll
[per Ariel Yseth: "this was T65A2"]
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19:21 - T65A2 cut in just outside the dive park and at the end of the ferry dock southbound quickly. Everyone else still grouped up slowly Sb just nnw of the ferry. About 1/2-3/4 mile offshore.
18:55 - [orcas] The back half of the group is on a hunt and punted a harbor porpoise! Viewing from Sunset Ave., Edmonds. -Ariel Yseth
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18:25 - I see them heading south towards Kingston/Edmonds ferry. 1825. They are close to Edmonds side of channel now.

18:00 - Heading southwest

in wide waters south of Possession Point. 7-8 orcas.
17:45 - A group of at least 5 sb, midchannel, between Chennault Beach and south Whidbey. Saw a couple blows near Whidbey side of channel as well. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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19:05 - At least one is headed back north, halfway between Possession Point and Glendale.
17:48 - [orcas] Almost to Possession Point (between Glendale and Possession), closer to Whidbey. -Jodi Krause Poissant
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18:22 - Just a bit SW of Alice's 1600 report. Pod is loosely grouped south of Possession Pt. still SWerly. Too soon to say if heading Admiralty or staying in inland Puget Sound proper, but they for sure are not hugging Whidbey at this time. Pretty lit up exhalations.
17:15 - Lead, males and trailing groups have grouped up and slowed way down. Barely surfacing now, maybe either in resting or stealth. Approaching northern end Glendale (sightline). Midway between mid-channel and Whidbey. Sparkly water and illuminated blows, gorgeous.
17:00 - Females, Juvie, calf leading with male trailing Whidbey side. And at least another male trailing more mid channel, still north of Glendale steady southbound. From Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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14:28 - Still milling here. Long down times. Then also times of hanging out on the surface.
13:15 - [orcas] Looks like 3-5 across from Boy and Dog Park in Langley. Seem to be milling closer to Camano side. -Jeanne Hamilton
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12:04 - Glimpsed large male off Sandy Point, northbound, mid channel. Some splashing closer to Camano side. -Sandra Pollard
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12:40 - Just on a kill across from Langley, closer to Camano. -Christopher Hanke, Puget Sound Express
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14:00 - Direction change! spread out but at least some rapidly southbound rounding Sandy Point now.
13:40 - Continuing to mill in same spot. Long down times and some logging at other times.
12:35 - [orcas] Group popped up off Camano Head, northbound into Saratoga Passage. -Rachel Haight
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11:53 - Now I see large male trailing same spot.
11:50 - At least two in lead group have cleared ferry lanes and northbound between Hat and Whidbey. No large males present I can see in this group. -Debbie Stewart
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11:35 - Been watching the Ts move northbound, split up. Group now near Clinton dock, and at least one male mid channel. All steady pace in choppy seas and again biting breeze. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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16:47 - Second group on a kill a little further out. Looks to be 3-4 in the second group with at least one male.
16:46 - Not sure how but 4 orcas with one male passing the Clinton ferry dock heading south. Credit to my husband. They passed by really close to the Clinton ferry dock and their dorsal fins were glistening in the sun. I had given up looking hours ago, and he is casually in the kitchen and says orcas!!!!
11:51 - In line with the Clinton ferry dock. Will pass between Whidbey and Gedney Islands.
11:36 - They are mid channel; southmost ferry is stopped.
11:31 - Seeing blows from Clinton. They have looked to have stalled out with some directional changes but mainly still traveling north. Approaching the south ferry travel line. -Danielle Pennington
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11:11 - [orcas] They are heading north towards Muk ferry. I saw 3 of them. Hard to spot when the waters are choppy. -Jodi Krause Poissant
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11:11 - [orcas] Approaching Mukilteo heading northbound. -Lauren McManus
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12:55 - They're circling on a kill still off Langley. We have the T65As, T77, and T137B together, the rest seem to have moved off closer to Camano.
11:10 - MV Saratoga is on scene with at least the T65As and T137s (!) traveling quickly north through Possession Sound south of Clinton. photo - T65A3 "Amira" surfacing next to his little sister T65A6 "Callisto" -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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11:10 - Line of sight with Mukilteo from Glendale, nb.
11:00 - 2-3 fairly close by Glendale. -Marilyn Armbruster
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11:05 - Second group just passed Chennault Beach in Muk. One large male with a few smaller. First group had at least one large male possibly two and a couple smaller. They are a few miles apart heading north. First group was moving more quickly.
10:45 - [orcas] I think I saw two groups. One close to Glendale moving fast NB. I saw another group about a mile behind just blows so not sure, will keep looking. (update: Definitely two groups.) -Alice Thuy Talbot
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10:45 - Four just passed Possession close to Whidbey - I see a couple more further across the channel.
10:40 - [orcas] Approaching Possession Shores. Mid channel. -Dori Dace
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10:25 - From Edmonds looking toward middle of Possession Point, they are in the middle of the point heading eastbound.
10:00 - 3 males plus 4-5 others. Committed to east Whidbey. Viewing from Sunset Ave. looking toward Possession State Park.
09:36 - Viewing from Sunset Ave. 4-5 orcas heading NNE. Slightly spread. Looking from Sunset Ave. to Eglon and to just south of PNP. Guessing 1.5-2 mi. offshore. photo - "Snapped this with my camera around 9:35 when I had who appeared to be 65A3 Amira and 137A Jack lined up in the telescope." -Ariel Yseth
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09:00 - Ok at least one on Kitsap side traveling fast nb (female or subadult) dorsal in view. Just S of Apple Tree Pt. 9 am.
08:55 - Blows NB S of Edmonds mid-chan viewing from Apple Tree Pt. - lots of wind and chop so can't see dorsals but 4 good blows, simultaneously, moving at good clip. -Donna Green Van Renselaar
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08:51 - [orcas] Off PT Wells, mid sound. -Christopher Hanke, Puget Sound Express
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07:31 - Hello, I have northbound orcas (5-7) close to these coordinates: (47.7248576, -122.4750870). Not even 5 minutes ago, observed from Discovery Park West Point through my scope. I have poor digiscope video that might include a saddle patch of one. At least one adult male, several sub-adults. -Raphael Fennimore
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UNIDENTIFIED ORCAS - Mon, Apr 12 - Strait of Georgia/Sunshine Coast - About 5:30 pm there were 5 Orcas and a baby went through Bargain Harbour and Bargain Bay heading north. It was amazing. -Georgina Scott
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GRAY WHALES - Tue, Apr 13 - S. of San Juan Island - It sounds like throughout today, most recently at 4 PM, the gray whale [CRC1364] has continued to be seen near the Salmon Bank marker, visible from the south end of San Juan. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Tue, Apr 13 - Saratoga Passage - At 18:58 John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: TOKITAE - Gray Whale Report 1845hrs: Vessel reports via 800MHz one (1) gray whale NB in the center of Saratoga Passage, due west of the MUK terminal.
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11:56 - Saw another spout just now. Essentially straight out from the pier.
11:30 - [gray] Viewing at Kayak Point Park. Have seen three spouts. I would say they were out from the pier and Kayak Point but closer to Camano side. -Matty Leaman
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17:26 - CRC 383, 21, 185, 2259 all spotted in the Snohomish River Delta this evening. Left 383 and one other whale headed toward Camano Head, and more blows still in the delta.
12:08 - CRC 44 feeding in north Port Susan near Camano Island. CRC 2261 also in north Port Susan, mid channel.
10:41 - CRC-185 and one other gray whale feeding in Snohomish delta. -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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09:00 - First one still around east of Baby Island.
08:50 - Heading south in Saratoga Passage. Spotted a second gray whale in the same area, closer to Camano Island.
08:40 - East of Baby Island.
08:30 - North of Baby Island near the navigational buoy.
08:15 - Same gray whale (?) south of Baby Island near mouth of Holmes Harbor, heading north.
08:00 - Gray whale west of Baby Island, about 500 feet from the Greenbank shoreline, heading north towards Greenbank Farm area. -Martha Sinclair
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Mon, Apr 12 - Central Puget Sound/Port Orchard (Strait) - 14:13 - About 30 minutes ago I saw what I believe to be a Gray Whale right in front of our house just a little south of Brownsville Marina. It came to the surface a few times and I had a clear look at it. It has the right coloration and the back looked right. It did seem on the smaller side though. Just wondering, have there been any other sightings around this area recently? I'm just trying to figure out if it is likely it was a grey whale, and if not what else it could have been. It was heading north towards Brownsville Marina and Poulsbo. (The only one that has the right color and the little ridges at the tale like what I saw is a gray whale but looking at the size range it seems it would have been on the small side.) -Megan Hudson
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12:09 - Spouts from what appears to be a Grey whale off of Illahee State Park. They were heading north. -Amanda Bale
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Mon, Apr 12 - S. of San Juan Island - Yesterday [April 11] and today [April 12] our crew and passengers were treated to two unusual sightings for us here in the San Juan Islands! First, we visited with a gray whale, known to researchers as CRC-1364, feeding near Cattle Pass. Then on our way home we stopped to check out another cool critter some of our friends had found--a sea otter! While we commonly see river otters on our tours we rarely see their larger cousins, but the past two days brought great looks at them! -Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
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17:38 - The gray whale that was hanging around Salmon Bank and Cattle Point yesterday is still visible from Cattle Point right now. About 1.5 miles offshore, just to the east of Salmon Bank. Not the best views, but if you want to see a whale's breath from long distance, here you go. -Daven Hafey
["This is gray whale #1364." -Erin Johns Gless,]
[Erin photographed this gray whale in southern Rosario Strait on March 26, 2021. From her Island Adventures trip report: "We submitted the photos to Cascadia and they were able to identify the whale as CRC-1364, a whale seen only once before on April 9, 2011 off La Push, WA."]
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Mon, Apr 12 - Haro Strait - 16:07 - Ha! It just tricked me. It is just north of Lime Kiln ~3/4 mile offshore, I'd guess.
15:51 - Surfaced in line with sailboat 1/4 mile to the north.
15:47 - ...seems to be surfacing about every 5 mins. Still just a little south of Lime Kiln.
15:42 - Resight. It is now east of midchannel, maybe ~1 mile west of Lime Kiln.
15:30 - Resighted and can confirm northbound.
15:23 - Low bushy blow observed mid Haro off Land Bank (~2 miles west). Unfortunately, I don't have binoculars and did not see the body. I would guess a Gray Whale based on blow profile. Probably headed north, but I only observed two surfacings. -Michelle Savoie
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Mon, Apr 12 - Saratoga Passage - 11:00 - I was sitting in the chair by the window… (on a SWS Zoom meeting), scanning out over Saratoga Passage toward Langley. Single Gray Whale, Whidbey side of Saratoga, blows and deep dives. Several tail flukes, but way too far away for photos. Whale gradually worked its way over directly in front of my house just south of Mabana. The whale was in quite close, but the tide was too far out for it to reach the ghost shrimp area. Whale then turned and worked its way north toward Mabana. -Barbara Brock
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09:18 - There is now a third gray in Saratoga Passage near the Whidbey side heading west toward the Langley Marina.
09:05 - 2 grays heading southeast in Saratoga Passage. Mid-channel but loser to the Camano side near Pebble Beach. -Luanne Seymour
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08:00 - Saw this huge Gray this morning at 8am, Saratoga Passage from Mabana on Camano. For about 15 minutes, then it headed towards Whidbey. -Jennifer Mellum
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Mon, Apr 12 - Possession Sound - At 16:07 Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed: 1551 hrs, TOKITAE, Grey whale, middle of Possession Sound, headed northbound, just south of our ferry crossing.
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15:40 - Sweet...happened to catch the blows and bodies of confirmed 2 gray whales. They are moving up Possession Sound, mid channel, out from S end Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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14:11 - [grays] Seeing 2-3 spouts off Howarth, currently, but at a distance. -Lauren McManus
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13:01 - 2 Greys between Howarth and Harborview Park in Everett. 250 yards offshore. Feeding and headed slowly east toward Everett. Upper Howarth Park would offer a good vantage point. -Ryley Fee
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12:57 - Just spent about 10 minutes at a parking lot above the Clinton ferry terminal watching at least two gray whales feeding. About 80-100 yards from shore? -Anastasia Nocolov
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12:00-12:45 - [grays] Seen from around 12:00 until 12:45, that is when I had left them. -Marilyn Armbruster
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12:00 - 2 Grays north of Brighton Beach [north Clinton on Whidbey] milling. -Rachel Haight
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12:20 - CRC21 Shackleton is slowly southbound on the NE side of Hat/Gedney Island.
11:58 - There is also a newbie gray whale circling SE of Hat/Gedney Island. -Justine Buckmaster, Puget Sound Express
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Mon, Apr 12 - Port Susan - 08:50 - Port Susan Whale Watchers are reporting at 8:50AM 2020 04 12. Within about 30 minutes we had reports of 2-3 Grays off Tyee Heading south, 2-3 Grays off McKees Beach heading north, 1-2 Grays off Country Club and 2-3 Grays off Warm Beach heading south. So unless we are reporting very poorly on locations we have between 7 and 11 Grays in Port Susan to start the week! -John C. Storbeck
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UNIDENTIFIED BALEEN WHALES - Mon, Apr 12 - North Puget Sound/South Whidbey - 18:45-19:30 - There was a HUGE spout that seemed to be crossing from the Hansville area to the southern tip of Whidbey, and followed around to the East side of Whidbey, up to Clinton, and then crossed over toward Hat. We lost track and never were able to ID the species (viewing from Picnic Point) but it was moving FAST. Tracked roughly from 645-730pm. -Lauren McManus

April 11
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sun, Apr 11 - North/Central Puget Sound (T65As) - 19:20 - ..milling, splashing direction changes in the same general area, midway between the peninsula side & Tacoma side.
19:15 - [orcas] From just north of the Narrows Bridge I can see them, about mid channel, between the point & Gig Harbor proper, southbound. -Melissa Bird
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19:10 - [orcas] They just rounded Pt. Defiance, closer to Tacoma side. SB. -Julia Bernard
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18:37 - Look to be headed towards the Narrows.
18:33 - [orcas] Southbound just passed through ferry lanes near Owen Beach now. About mid channel. -Jessica Luna
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18:22 - [orcas] Spotted several off southern tip of Maury for a couple mins. but they disappeared again. Seemed like they were headed towards Quartermaster Harbor viewing from Dune Peninsula with binoculars. -Sally Milligan-Smith
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17:32 - [orcas] Heading south, just passed the Maury Island Marine Park on Vashon side. -Kelly Burns Keenan
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17:15 - It's 5:15 and they are about to the Gold Beach area of Maury Island.
17:01 - [orcas] Just saw them heading south past Point Robinson. -Mitzi Gligorea
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~17:00 - Orcas off Maury Island, Vashon, about 5 PM. We were too far away to count but believe there were at least 4. Thanks! -Amy Simard
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16:58 - Just passing the lighthouse southbound. Counted seven blows, but hard to see dorsals.
16:51 - [orcas] Just west of the yellow buoy heading to Point Robinson. -Dan Hyde
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16:33 - [orcas] They are between Three Tree Point and Point Robinson, on their way to Point Robinson. -Paul Steyn Benade
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16:03 - [orcas] Leaders are just past the middle channel buoy, still heading south... should be coming up to Three Tree Point next. Still traveling on the eastern side of shipping lane and closer to mainland. -Shari Tarantino
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15:40 - Approaching Dilworth, SB one large dorsal and one smaller. Mid channel closer to Seahurst in Burien. -Cindy Eckes Waddington
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15:20 - Big dorsal fin, just south of Brace Point, headed south. Second smaller dorsal fin close by. Closer to West Seattle than Vashon. -Megan McNally
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18:33 - Passed the ferry terminal grouped up.
18:30 - They are approaching the ferry terminal on [south] Vashon.
18:26 - Passing Quartermaster [Harbor] on the Vashon side.
15:15 - Main group through the ferry lanes…
15:05 - [orcas] Viewing from Fauntleroy. Large male, mid channel, in line with SM Line cargo ship. Near Blake Island. -Steve Brown
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14:54 - [orcas] At least of dorsal (one or two, not sure bc diving long) past north tip of Vashon east side. (east side Vashon, west side of channel). -Sonya Chin
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14:43 - [orcas] Viewing from Restoration Point, in front of Blake Island, saw 1 dorsal fin heading south. -JuJu Julie
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14:41 - [orca] I saw one passing Alki Lighthouse fairly close to shore. -Lisa Claydon
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15:07 - Still southbound, guessing getting close to Vashon Fauntleroy ferry lanes, Vashon side, as seen from Constellation Park.
14:57 - Just at north tip of Vashon, southbound, appear to be staying on east side of island.
14:43 - Southbound, spread a little bit vicinity…out from [NE] Blake Island.
14:40 - Still southbound coming into Blake Island area.
14:29 - [orcas] Southbound passing Restoration Point, west side. -James Tilley
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14:03 - Several sprays closer to Bainbridge from Discovery. Heading towards direction of Vashon.
13:55 - Another fin spotted lagging the first one and a third one spotted mid- channel.
13:52 - [orcas] Just saw one fin past the lighthouse on Discovery heading south (east of mid channel). -Janet Moody
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13:45 - [orca] Just had one come up right next to our boat mid channel off of Discovery Park. Heading southbound. (didn't even have time to get my camera out. Popped up for a second, scared the lights out of us, and disappeared.) -Thaddeus Blaise Mianecki
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13:44 - Just saw them way out by the yellow buoy, mid channel, from Discovery ... headed southbound.
13:34 - [orcas] We saw a couple fins from Sunset. Headed to Discovery. Long dive times. -Ben Pontecorvo
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13:38 - Still seeing 1 headed south, appears closer to west side of channel.
13:15 - [orcas] Viewing 3-4 from Golden Gardens between the green and yellow buoys, mid channel. Heading southbound. -Aaron Berg
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13:28 - Finally lost sight of them from Carkeek. Still southbound.
13:09 - Still southbound. Fairly spread out. The sailboats are getting a show.
12:55 - Still heading steady southbound.
12:42 - [orcas] Viewing from Carkeek Park. Heading southbound. Out near (south of) that pointy yellow bouy. -Matty Leaman
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12:34 - [orcas] Have seen at least 4 from Richmond. Mid channel. SB. Boat behind them. -Melanie Holbrook
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12:32 - [orcas] I see them from Richmond beach now, mid channel heading toward the yellow buoy. -Ashley Semanskee
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12:33 - Pod is southbound, east side of the yellow mid-channel buoy off Richmond Beach. Seem committed at least for time being.
12:28 - Facing southbound slow, several gulls hovering to the north. Maybe they made quick kill of someone. Small pod may be drifting south or starting to move south again but keep stalling, making changes while drifting south.
12:24 - Many directional changes, possibly hunting.
12:20 - After last update, group either split up it was seeing another ahead. Anyhow, now all are currently northbound due west of Kayu Kayu Ac Park, mid channel. Maybe hunting or may be committed directional change. Will update when clear.
12:05 - Larger group of ~6 (w/little ones) is tightly grouped mid channel (to possibly just west of), sightline between Kayu Kayu/Kingston ferry dock (south of ferry lanes) traveling steady southbound. At least one male traveling parallel, east of mid channel and is angling toward larger group.
11:50 - from Kayu Kayu Ac Park, Richmond Beach, I have eyes on at least 3 orcas, including male, heading southbound between south end Edmonds and Point Wells, Woodway, on east side of mid channel. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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11:57 - Spotted orcas off of Edmonds heading south. -Christina Lee
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11:20 - Two groups, but we are watching 3 of the T65As in one group where the map shows [northwest-ish of Edmonds], southbound. -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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11:27 - Looking at group 2 now approaching the ferry terminal on the Edmonds side.
11:23 - Approaching ferry lane viewable from Edmonds ferry terminal, trending towards the east side.
11:12 - [orcas] Approaching Edmonds. (added: we could see them and the whale watching boats from our home in North Edmonds. Appeared they were still heading south.) -Steve Brown
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09:40 - What a great morning! At 9:40 AM Sunday, April 11th, A fast moving pod of orcas heading south. At least 3 of them. North of Clinton Ferry Terminal. Close to shore of Clinton. I've been seeing gray whales almost every other day, past week, but this is a first for us to see the Orcas. (We are new this year to Whidbey Island and Washington.) I was so surprised to see how fast they are. No time to even get camera ready. I yelled so loud to inform my family; I think I also informed all our neighbors. -John Shackman
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09:30 - Good morning! Just spotted at least 4 orcas southbound between Hat Island and Clinton (closer to west side of Hat). Saw splashes, blows and white undersides! -Tabitha Jacobs-Mangiafico
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09:15 - My boyfriend and I saw a pod of orcas traveling south between the east side of Whidbey (just north of the Mukilteo ferry) and the west side of Hat Island this morning. There were at least 6 orcas that we spotted from a bluff on Hat Island. It's very clam and there were no boats around. Please let me know if you have any questions - this is my first orca sighting and report. Thanks! -Sarah Sadid
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GRAY WHALES - Sun, Apr 11 - E. Strait of Juan de Fuca - It's not too often that we get lucky enough to see gray whales in our neck of the woods. They typically spend the spring months around Whidbey Island foraging for ghost shrimp. Gray whale sightings around San Juan Island happen about once a year. Prior to casting off from the dock we heard of a possible gray whale spotted from shore near Salmon Bank so we chose to head south. As we were sailing out of Cattle Pass we spotted the heart shaped blow and knew we found the gray whale. Unfortunately, the gray whale was very skinny and not looking too good… -David and Barbara Howitt, All Aboard Sailing
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13:35 - Gray whale is heading north through Cattle Pass. -Alissa Elderkin
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13:35 - Now 4 min dives and fluking, seems to be feeding in the area.
13:15 - Gray whale still near Salmon Bank east of marker, 3-4 breaths per dive and taking 6+ min dives. -Laura Cupicha
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08:20 - Oh! I just saw it... very cose to the Salmon Bank marker!! -Erin Corra
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8:00 - Gray whale off Salmon Bank, near the buoy. Doesn't appear to be traveling. (We didn't see a dorsal and we saw the blow from a different angle about 8:30, looked heart-shaped) Stephanie Reiss
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-Sun, Apr 11 - Port Susan - This evening's trip started under beautiful blue skies and rather good sea conditions. We headed down Jetty island and made our first stop at the naval base to view a big group of California sea lions. After that we headed out into Port Gardner and found our first whale feeding in on the Snohomish river delta. While we watched the whale feeding in the shallows another whale snuck up on us and surfaced right next to the boat! It turned out to be CRC#2247 and it was headed into the shallows to join the other whale we had started with. We decided to branch off to search for more at that time and heading into Port Susan Captain Carl found us and adult bald eagle out doing some fishing. We made the turn after that and searched the mainland shores for more feeding gray whales and were able to rejoin CRC#2246 as it was quickly heading north. This time 2246 showed off its chewed up tail flukes a couple times and was clearly taking advantage of the shallowing feeding opportunities. -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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Port Susan Whale Watchers are reporting 3 grays off Country Club Beach 1 and 2 on Camano Island and spouts for what appears to be 2 Grays passing Kayak Point heading towards Warm Beach on the Snohomish County side of Port Susan. -John C. Storbeck
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Sun, Apr 11 - Central Puget Sound - 18:48 - Friends texted me that she's seeing a lone whale near Beach Drive heading south. She's unsure what type of species it is. Said spout is huge, but long downtimes so hard to guess when it'll pop back up - maybe the gray from earlier?? -Shelly Short
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Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed with gray whale sighting: Reported by SUQUAMISH, 1745 Master reports a gray whale due west of Duwamish Head on the east side of the north traffic lanes.
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12:53 - Gray whale is now off Kayu Kayu Ac Park heading northbound close in, just south of Pt. Wells. (update: I was able to match this Shoreline gray to the whale seen in Elliott Bay in the morning by Brittany Philbin.) -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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12:45 - [gray] off Richmond Beach heading north. ["Thanks. Beautiful! Actually who you saw was a gray whale." - Alisa Lemire Brook, Orca Network] video by Maia Mai Zink video - https://www.facebook.com/OrcaNetwork/posts/10165395510415601
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12:35 - We just saw a grey! At Richmond Beach. -Oma McLaughlin
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12:35 - At least one gray whale by Richmond Beach, maybe 100 yards from shore. Moving slowly north. -Anastasia Nicolov
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08:52 - Grey whale hugging Alki Beach shoreline into Elliott Bay. About 100 yards off shore. Doesn't appear slow or lethargic. Normal travel dive pattern, 3-4 surfacings and then longer dive. -Brittany Philbin
[I just finished taking this animal through the catalog. Was not found, I just made it CRC2363. -Alie Perez, Cascadia Research Collective]
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GRAY WHALES - Sun, Apr 11 - Liberty Bay/Central Puget Sound - ~09:00 & ~13:00 - [gray] We just moved to Lemolo in Poulsbo a few months ago, and just last weekend we had the pleasure of watching this whale enjoy Liberty Bay! This was seriously a highlight for 2021. (It was 4/11, we spotted it about 9:00 a.m. Watched it for an hour or so then went about our day. Spotted it again around 1:00 p.m. Couldn't believe it was still hanging around! We watched it head out of Liberty Bay but can't see much after the turn of the bay so don't know where it was headed after that.) -Marnie Clark
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UNIDENTIFIED BALEEN WHALES - Sun, Apr 11 - Central Puget Sound/Liberty Bay - 10:26 - Liberty Bay, Poulsbo. Some type of whale (not orca) in vicinity of Lemolo. Has surfaced 4-5 times with blow hole sprays a few times. Currently swimming around. Pretty amazing! -Karl Royston, Poulsbo, WA
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UNIDENTIFIED SPECIES - Sun, Apr 11 - Central Puget Sound - 12:28 - Just saw whale spout by Richmond Beach Park. Unsure if it was an orca. Will post update if I can confirm. -Daniel Leeds

April 10
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 10 - San Juan Islands (J pod) - 17:45-18:20 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #18: "… They were milling at first but then turned southeast back down San Juan Channel. The whales were in one large, loosely spread group traveling very slowly to the point of going pretty much nowhere. J57 and J58 were enjoying themselves while playing with one another. …" [See CWR Encounter #18 for full summary and more photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-18
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20:00 - …light fading and at the extreme range of my binocs. Headed N through the narrowest part of Upright Channel.
19:40 - [J pod] Past Turn Rock. Eastbound (towards Upright). -Fred Horn
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19:15 - Passing Friday Harbor southbound.
17:55 - Very slow SW from mid channel off Reuben Tarte, all grouped up 1755.
17:30 - Near Jones, milling, potentially heading west towards San Juan but not clear if north or south yet.
17:00 - Lead whales at red pin heading south. [off NW Jones Island]
16:59 - Confirmed Js.
16:57 - Heading south, the ones we see look to be aiming for Spring Passage on the east side of Jones.
16:50 - Not surprisingly they look like they're hugging the eastern shoreline as they aim for San Juan Channel.
16:40 - Large group visible from Reuben Tarte, very far away but moving pretty quickly.
16:15 - Orcas coming down Presidents Channel, likely J Pod. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 10 - San Juan Islands (T77A and T49A2) - 18:37-19:30 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #19: "After Dave and Katie left J pod (Encounter 18-1), they headed across San Juan Channel to try to re-find T77A and T49A2 who had last been seen near Low Island. It was a recent sighting but nobody was with them now as it was approaching 1830. We did a search loop around Yellow and McConnell Islands before Katie spotted the two whales off the northwest side of Yellow Island… " [See CWR Encounter #19 for full summary and photos] https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-19
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Just as we began to head toward Upright Head we spotted a dorsal fin off the west side of Decatur island, and we quickly changed course and headed that way. In no time at all we were on scene with T77A and one other Bigg's orca whales. The two adult animals we're definitely scouring the shorelines of the surrounding islands for food, spy hopping and circling many of the smaller islands until finally the hunt was on. Being very experienced these two whales made short work of what must have been a harbor porpoise but we could not confirm as it was over pretty quickly. Many sea gulls showed up after that and we even had a bald eagle come in to carry away some scraps. -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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13:15 - Nearing the Lopez ferry terminal heading north, ID'd as T77A and T49A2. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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At 10:51 Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, emailed report: CHELAN reports 2 ORCA east of Thatcher Pass heading west.
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Sat, Apr 10 - North Puget Sound/Saratoga Passage (T65As, some of T77s) - 16:15 - Heading north now. (I'm at Camano Island State Park.)
15:40 - [orcas] Milling just off Camano Island State Park. Looks like they're working on a kill. photos - T77D and T77C ID: GS ("probable" per MP) -Serena Tierra
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16:00 - Just off Camano Island State Park. They hung out in the same spot for quite a while.
15:30 - [orcas] The pod just passed Camano Island State Park. Headed north. Got a great visual from the deck with binoculars but could also see them without. -Donnell Baker
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14:53 - Only a distant, brief glimpse of the orcas from Langley on Whidbey - two whale watching boats now with them over closer Camano Island State Park. Choppy waters - tough to see much from a distance! -Katie Remine
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Undaunted by wind and waves as they headed north in Saratoga Passage on a beautiful sunny day, the T65As moved with speed and relentless purpose before slowing down to feed off Camano State Park. Great whale watching for people on the beach (photos Richard Snowberger taken from Whidbey, zoomed and cropped). -Sandra Pollard
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14:15 - They headed into Saratoga Passage, middish channel, NB. Choppy seas.
14:05 - South of Sandy Point looking like they are heading for Saratoga Passage, nb. -Marilyn Armbruster
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13:17 - Just left them northbound, just north of ferry lanes, favoring Whidbey side.
13:11 - 2 orcas here northbound. They we northwest bound. Surfacing every 45-60 seconds. [map shows location out from Columbia Beach, south Whidbey, near Clinton ferry lane -gs] -Alex Funke
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13:10 - Glacier Spirit [Puget Sound Express] is with Bigg's orcas [mammal-eating type], the T65As and some T77s off Clinton heading northbound. -Christopher Lewman, PSE
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GRAY WHALES - Sat, Apr 10 - Northern Saratoga Passage - We got to watch this gray feed for @ an hr yesterday on base at Crescent Harbor. What a delight it was! Let us know if you can tell by the pics or video which whale. I sure hope Patch shows up! -Erica Montgomery
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Sat, Apr 10 - Port Susan - 12:00 - CRC44 northbound. [out from Country Club area]
11:30 - Gray whale CRC21 milling in Port Susan. [closer to Tyee Beaches side per Bart's map] -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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Sat, Apr 10 - Possession Sound - 17:27 - [gray] Evening snack time near Sandy Point. -Christy Grant
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16:54 - Gray whale feeding off the bluff just near Sandy Point. -Luanne Seymour
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06:47 - Small grey whale feeding just north of Tulalip Bay. Was heading north then turned around now heading south. -Kim Thomas

April 9
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Fri, Apr 9 - Strait of Georgia - J pod was seen last night southbound in Lambert Channel near Hornby Island, BC. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Fri, Apr 9 - Port Angeles Harbor - 12:30 & 15:00 - Hello, I work at Downriggers in Port Angeles and we had 2 visitors today. Thought I'd share with you! They came through the first time at about 12:30 and then again at 3! It was incredible. I was showing some new diners the video of the whales from earlier and all of a sudden, they popped up again in the same spot! I never would've thought they'd get that close to the buildings! In between the Coho ferry and where we are, we only ever see wood ducks, seals and sea otters occasionally. What an experience!! -Sandra Harringon - videos - https://www.facebook.com/sandra.gearhart.16/posts/6003682449657416 - https://www.facebook.com/sandra.gearhart.16/posts/6004420396250288
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Fri, Apr 9 - San Juan Islands (T87 and T90s) - What an amazing day out on the water today. Meliss and I went out on the IE5 out of Anacortes with Tyson and Shane and got to experience an incredible hunt of a Steller [sea lion] just off Spieden Island. They seemed to be in teaching mode with the more experienced teaching the younger ones, but that's just a guess. It was exciting and a little hard to watch at times, as that seal did not want to give up. We aren't sure if it got away. If it did, as Tyson Parker Reed said, he'll have a great story to tell the other Stellers. Speaking of Stellers, a group of them went on the offense when the orcas swung by the tip of the island. It was a show of unity and force! The transient [Bigg's] orcas were T87 and some of the T90s. -David Haeckel
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13:00 - Update from other post: between Jones and Flattop Islands, visible from Orcas Island.
12:15 - 12:15 now eastbound in Spieden Channel.
09:29 - Another male, as well, further offshore now - 4 or 5 whales total.
09:20 - Milling off County Park. NB at the moment, T87 present.
----Based on my photos from County Park these whales are the T90s with T87 (5 total). T87, nicknamed Harbeson, has a distinct notch at the top of his fin and is a regional icon as the oldest living male orca that visits the Salish Sea with an estimated birth year of 1962! -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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Fri, Apr 9 - North Puget Sound (T65As, part of T77s) - 20:04 - Viewing from Redondo. They have passed Pt Robinson moving swiftly.
19:51 - Orcas approaching KVI towers. Heading southbound, Vashon side of channel. -Steve Brown
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17:19 - Just saw a lone Orca off the North East tip of Blake Island about 10 minutes ago. It didn't seem to be moving very quickly, it was facing southbound. Came up for 3 or 4 breathes in about the same spot, then didn't come up again that I saw. -Brenden Messerschmidt
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Had to crop a ton, and they were hard to see from Picnic Point, but I definitely saw some surface action and it's awesome to think they were taking down a minke! -Danielle Carter
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13:36 - [orcas] West of Richmond Beach. Just east of shipping lane. S bound, coming up on yellow buoy. -North Allen Aspelund
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~13:50 - They were steady southbound clearing north end Richmond Beach/Jefferson Head east side of channel. I moved and haven't found them again.
13:36 - Pod is loosely grouped just at yellow mid channel buoy off Richmond on east side of channel. Steady southbound in whitecap seas. Earlier some antics and directional changes by little one.
13:03 - Eyes on pod, east of mid channel out from Point Wells, Woodway, steady southbound approaching Richmond Beach, grouped tight. Beautiful. -Seas rough, wind has a bite. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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12:23 - Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report Walla Walla pod of Orca unknown count within the EDM>KING SB traffic lane [Edmonds to Kingston southbound lanes].
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12:12 - [orcas] They are south of Stamm Overlook, heading south. -Shelby Phelps
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13:27 - We think it's likely that they may have killed a minke whale today. Here is a screen shot from my computer of them punting scraps in the air over and over again. They fed there for a very long time and the oil slick on the surface was huge. Skin looks like minke whale color, and there were two spotted at Camano Head yesterday. (south of Possession Point)
12:15 - T65As, T77
11:30 - Still milling, eating a big meal. [map shows midway between Edmonds and Possession Point -gs]
----The day started out with lots of promise when Captain Trevor spotted transient killer whales circling around at Possession Point about an hour before our trip even started. Once underway we found the T65A pod, and part of the T77 pod within 5 minutes and noticed they hadn't moved at all since Trevor's first spotting. It was obvious, by all the birds circling above them they were eating a meal. They continued to eat their meal for our entire visit and towards the end a few of the orcas started punting large pieces of their prey 20-30 feet into the air! Killer whales punt stuff by turning upside down and swiping their tail flukes at their target. This is a tactic they often use to stun and injure their prey while it's still alive, but they are also known to do this as a potential form of sport. There were plenty of "swing and a miss" moments, but the black and whites also hit their target on a handful of occasions, sending the skin/blubber flying high. At that point we started to speculate what the prey might have been and the evidence pointed towards a very large animal such as a small minke whale or an elephant seal. The tremendous size of the oil slick on the surface of the water was one clue, as it was much larger than normal. The color of the skin on the prey remnants they were kicking into the air did not match harbor seal, Steller sea lion, California sea lion, or harbor porpoise (their most common prey items). The best color matches seemed to be for a minke whale or an elephant seal. Elephant seals are rare but we definitely see them in that area of Puget Sound from time to time. Minke whales are also rare in that area, but two of them were spotted nearby just the day before. Perhaps we will never know what they did kill on that day but it's always fun to speculate and lean on past experiences to try and come up with an answer. -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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10:52 - Still milling in the same area at the moment.
10:34 - [orcas] Still milling around just south of Possession Point. Not sure how many. (viewing from Stamm Overlook Park). -Chris Ritter
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10:05 - [orcas] They are currently off Possession Point. Viewing from Edmonds, Sunset Ave. (look to be feeding) -Brian Nygren
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09:51 - [orcas] Seeing blows due north of the Edmonds Marina, maybe 2 or 3 miles. -Trevor Tillman
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08:10 - A group of orcas just passed through between Whidbey and Mukilteo going south. In open waters now looking to be headed towards Edmonds. I saw 4-5 but didn't get any clear photos. -Jodi Krause Poissant
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GRAY WHALES - Fri, Apr 9 - Saratoga Passage - 11:50 - Matt Boucher just called to report 2 gray whales in Saratoga Passage making directional changes and hanging out in the area around Shangri La. [that's South of Race Lagoon]
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Fri, Apr 9 - Possession Sound - 16:21 - I can see one (maybe two) off the northwest side of Jetty Island from Legions Park. -Julius Raymond
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08:47 -Grey whale right off jetty in Everett Marina. Just milling around, right off jetty out by the piling marker. -Reenie Brooking
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Fri, Apr 9 - Rich Passage/Central Puget Sound - 07:18 - This morning, Friday April 9th. Large gray or humpback whale went by our house in Rich Passage, fairly close to shore. Heading east towards Fort Ward Park and the main shipping lanes. Edit w/added description: It was super big, no dorsal fin, and had white/barnacles on its back. Sorry... no pictures. It would blow on the surface and just barely go under, then come back up again 20 yards farther away. -Shannon Mcorr
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Fri, Apr 9 - S Admiralty/N Puget Sound - 07:30 - Saw at least 2 gray whales directly off Point No Point this morning. 7:30am looked headed southeast. Pretty far offshore. -Brendan Moore-Penaskovic
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MINKE WHALE - Fri, Apr 9 - Saratoga Passage - ~13:30 - This afternoon around 1:30 I caught these photos off of Camano Island State Park. I thought they might be harbor porpoises but they seemed too big and now I think they were Minke Whales. Any experts want to weigh in? -Pamela Troeppl Kinnaird [CWW]
["This is fantastic documentation, thank you! While minkes are seen around the Salish Sea, that's a rather unusual spot for them and I've personally never encountered one in Saratoga Passage!" -Erin Johns Gless, Marine Biologist/Naturalist]

April 8
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Thu, Apr 8 - San Juan Islands - 4, maybe 5 (prob T-s?) just came through Harney Channel (north side Shaw is) heading west. They were moving fast then stopped and did tail slaps for about 15 mins as the gulls gathered around. -Jerry Johnson
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16:58 - John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: KALEETAN Whale Report Near Frost Island (Lopez Is.) 1658hrs: Vessel reports via 800MHz that they have slowed due to 6 orca, just east of Frost Island, moving in a westerly direction.
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Thu, Apr 8 - North Puget Sound (T65As, T77 and T77E) - 16:35 - Kit Turner called at 04:35 to report seeing at least 2 orcas out from south/middle Lagoon Point heading NW bound toward Marrowstone side while still northbound. She saw them steadily for 5 minutes then they disappeared.
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13:45 - [orcas] Approaching green buoy channel marker off Double Bluff, on Kitsap side. Still NB. -Donna George
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12:38 - Seeing orcas from Point No Point. Heading north. -Gale Riordan Glenn
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12:30 - [orcas] 1.5 miles north of Point No Point, slowly traveling NW. -Christopher Hanke, Puget Sound Express
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12:09 - [orcas] At Dave Mackie and they are putting on a show for IE. mid channel between here and Hansville, appear to be going NB. -David Haeckel
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12:20 - Some of the T77s are here with the 65As. T77 and T77E.
10:56 - These are the T65As. Northbound, see map. [a little east of mid channel, north of Kingston/Edmonds Ferry lane. -gs] -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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At 10:45 Sarah Hanke, Puget Sound Express, messaged to report seeing at least 4 Bigg's Transient orcas between Kingston and Edmonds traveling northbound.
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GRAY WHALES - Thu, Apr 8 - Port Susan - 16:58 - Gray whale between Tulalip Shores and Arcadia on Port Susan. -Patty Ann Riley
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Thu, Apr 8 - Possession Sound - 10:49 - CRC 531 feeding in Snohomish River Delta. -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching
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20:00 - Two grays close to shore midway on the eastside of Hat Isl.
10:00 - Saw one spout between SE corner of Hat and the delta. No direction obvious, took a dive. -Lori Christopher
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Thu, Apr 8 - Saratoga Passage - 17:00 - [gray] Coming out of Elger Bay at 5pm. 100 yards off shore. (2 whales eating in Elger Bay 5pm, April 8. Headed west and then north out of the bay.) -Donnell Baker
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09:05 - Two, maybe three, gray whales southeast of Baby Island. -Martha Sinclair
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07:30-08:30 - Marilyn Armbruster messaged that she has been watching two grays feeding off Fox Spit for an hour (07:30-08:30). We've been able to ID 185 and 723 from back of camera images she shared. -alb
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06:45-07:20 - A single small grey fed right outside our kitchen window on S. Bell's Beach. I have many videos, this is when it headed N toward Fox Spit. We actually don't know what time it arrived in the morn. We happened to notice at 6:45am 4/8. Normally, we would hear blows and inhale, but this was a small whale and not so loud. -Kathy Carr
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Thu, Apr 8 - Columbia River - 09:00 - I had a gray whale cruise by me this morning while I was kayaking in the Columbia River off of Pt. Adams at 0900! The whale was heading west. -Don Van Doornik

April 7
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Wed, Apr 7 - Active Pass - Active Pass video of J pod by Salish Sea Orca Squad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_S-fzJoWKw
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11:00 - For those wondering where they got off to today, Js were just seen going north through Active Pass in the Canadian Gulf Islands. Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Wed, Apr 7 - South Puget Sound - 19:10 - I just saw 4 orca from my window, headed north towards Gig Harbor in Colvos Passage. They were mid- channel. Getting lots of air for about 5 minutes then looks like they dove. So Amazing!!! (follow-up: Yes, in Narrows heading to GH.) -Missy Barnett
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18:40 - Now approaching the Narrows Bridge heading north. Just watch them cross in front of Titlow from up on the hill above. -Jill Jackson
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~16:30 - A pod of orcas seen from Forest Beach swimming south in Carr Inlet toward Fox Island today (April 7 around 4:30pm). Since then, they were seen heading north across the Narrows Bridge. -Jacque Pierson
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16:20 - Per Jacque Pierson: Pod of orcas. Today, April 7, 4:20pm heading south towards Fox Island in Carr Inlet. -Brianna Schroeder
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~13:00 - ...Also, another neighbor texted me yesterday that he saw three orcas heading quickly past our houses toward Purdy at about 13:00 yesterday [April 7th]. They had already passed, so I went kayaking to try and see them but the wind and waves were too much for this old man. I never saw them. -Tim Hoffnagle
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GRAY WHALES - Wed, Apr 7 - Saratoga Passage - 17:15-17:35 - Grey feeding off bluff at 5xx 1st Street, Langley, moving south. -Andra Mallott
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16:42 - Single Gray heading north, this is Lucyfer. I'm going to have to start charging him rent, 2 miles north of Hidden Beach. -Aaron Gill
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12:20 - Yep, seeing from a distance from Hidden Beach. Is it still going north? -David Haeckel
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13:34 - She is heading towards Greenbank. Nb out from the farm right now.
13:23 - Has changed directions and heading back towards Baby Island. She went into Holmes Harbor maybe 1/4 mile.
13:03 - She has rounded Baby Island into Holmes Harbor.
12:30 - Heading towards Baby Island, Whidbey side, westbound.
12:10 - Gray, Camano side of mid channel, out between Camano State Park and north end of Elger Bay. -Marilyn Armbruster
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12:17 - CRC531 is swimming closer to Whidbey Island now.
12:05 - CRC531 is currently northbound at the edge of Elger Bay, Camano Island.
11:30 - Gray whale crc383 milling off Baby Island. [Saratoga Passage between Baby Island & Camano Island State Park] -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
photo - by Justine Buckmaster "Gray whale CRC531 demonstrating a "rainblow"!"
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Wed, Apr 7 - Port Susan - 13:01 - Had 5 gray whales in the north end of Port Susan feeding the very shallow waters. Got an ID on #53 headed into the shallows and #44 was possibly one of the 5 already feeding in the shallows. -Tyson Reed, Island Adventures Whale Watching

April 6
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Tue, Apr 6 - San Juan Islands (J pod) - 19:52 - [J pod] Off Yellow Island now. -Cindy Hansen, Orca Network
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19:18 - In front of Jones.
19:10 - [J pod] Hugging Orcas Island, about to go behind Jones. -Fred Horn
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18:00 - They are southbound in President Channel.
~17:00 - [J pod] They passed East Point around 1700 still southbound. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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~15:00 - J pod was spotted north of East Point heading south around 1500. -John Boyd
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Tue, Apr 6 - Central to South Puget Sound (T65As) - 23:30 - [orcas] I got woke up from the sounds of the blow! Amazing! Too bad it was 11:30 at night and I couldn't see them.. but wow! Laying in bed listening to them was incredible. I'm on Pitt Passage. -Jen Ruffner
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19:35 - [orcas] Almost at the southern tip of McNeil, dock past prison. -Kristy Brokman
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19:31 - Heading south past Anderson Island!!!
19:21 - [orcas] Yes they are passing the dock at McNeil. -Idah Mahmah
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19:27 - Still east end of McNeill, slowly heading east.
19:18 - [orcas] Just saw a blow east end of McNeil. -Lane Sample
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19:18 - Yup, they're heading south down the edge of McNeil, right in front of what I assume is the Corrections Center. -Louisa Holmi
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18:33 - Orcas on the south end of Fox Island right now! Coming up to McNeil!! At least 5! -Dina Ragow O'Brien
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17:40 - [orcas] Viewing from Fox Island Spit. Mid channel, SB. -Julia Bernard
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16:45 - [orcas] Mid-channel headed south just outside of Horsehead Bay in Carr Inlet. Video snip from Carr Inlet just off Raft Island this afternoon: https://www.facebook.com/randy.witter/posts/10159076040527902 -Randy Witter
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15:46 - [orcas] They are right off of Cutts and Raft Islands between that area going towards Minter Creek, in the middle. Lots of hunting going on in Henderson Bay. -Char Berger
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~15:00-16:30 - There were 7-8 orcas in Henderson Bay this afternoon. From my deck at about 15:00, I saw them attacking a harbor seal - lots of tail slapping and a poor seal trying to catch its breath. I went to my kayak and when I got out there, they were probably feeding on it - there was an oily slick on the water and lots of gulls picking up pieces. Unfortunately, my camera batteries were dead, so I don't have pictures but there was one large male and a young male, a couple of juveniles and a few females. They slowly left the bay and I stopped following them around 16:30. -Tim Hoffnagle
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15:00 - Orcas in Henderson Bay, Raft Island, this afternoon 15:00. They were very active, playful, and (successfully) hunting seals. All images from our deck on the west side of Henderson Bay, looking east to Raft Island.----It has been a while, but finally, today, Orcas back in Henderson Bay. It was very exciting, first we had many seals right by our shore. We were wondering why they were all right at our shore. My husband said there is something out there that they are hiding from. It wasn't minutes later, when the first orcas appeared. And shortly after that, the hunt began! I just kept shooting, and send you some of the hunts! Hope you can see the bloody mess! ...The afternoon started with about 20 seals huddled right by our shore, around us maybe 100 seals! My husband knew and said: there is something bigger out there that they are all hiding from. And it was only minutes later when the first big splash appeared, then a few fins, and here they came. The battle was right in our view! -Ingrid Shumway
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17:10 - At Kopachuck, pod is trending south past Horsehead, big male waaaay out front out of sight, closer to KPN.
17:01 - Big Male out front, half a mile from pod, trending mid channel... ([rest of pod at] Horsehead, closer to Lakebay... big male waaaaay out in front of pod.)
16:41 - Flipped, now treading back south, counted 6 total.
15:39 - Staying, milling in same place now for 30 minutes.
15:26 - South of Deadman's/Cutts Island...they are on a kill, seabirds overhead, lots of splashing, breaching. More closer to Key Peninsula shoreline. Trending north.
15:13 - [orcas] Straight out from Kopachuck, lots of splashing, breaching...trending on far side of channel toward Raft Island. -Kathe Bradley
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14:48 - Headed toward Cutts.
14:26 - Now heading more SW, I think.
14:18 - [orcas] They're headed N or NW ish look like they'll go past Cutts. At about the red dot west of Kopachuk State Park. -Rachel Messerschmidt
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14:45 - Viewing from Kopachuck. They're with a blue sailboat still coming NW down the channel. Can't tell if they're mid channel or on other side.
14:02 - They continued past the mouth that leads to Anderson Island and are headed towards Carr Inlet.
13:27 - They're continuing they're journey down the channel towards the Fox Island spit, McNeil side.
13:18 - …all 7 of them are right here [closer to McNeil] snacking on their lunch. 1:18, slowly heading NW.
13:09 - Way on McNeil side. Same general area, maybe a bit further down the channel. Based on birds over there, I'd say they just made a kill.
12:57 - [orcas] They're right here[mid channel between McNeil and Fox Islands] milling. Mid channel, trending towards McNeil side. -Jami Cantrell
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18:26 - Exiting Carr between McNeil & Fox.
18:20 - They are almost mid-way down Fox Island. lazily heading towards Chambers Bay, mid channel.
17:47 - Passing Penrose now, still southbound on Peninsula side.
17:39 - Group of at least 3 w/adult male off Green Point, direction changes, but trending southbound.
17:06 - From Purdy.. looks like they turned back, southbound, still more on Peninsula side.
14:18 - Passing Green Point, heading towards Kopachuck, mid channel.
14:14 - Still northbound about here [east of Penrose Point State Park].
14:02 - From Fox Island.. can see them coming down the channel, mid channelish.. heading for Carr Inlet.
12:32 - Lost them but think they went into the channel between Fox & McNeil, based on the boats who are respectfully following.
12:25 - They have turned & are Westbound towards McNeil Island. Heading for Carr.
12:16 - Lead group approaching channel marker (mid channel) in Chambers Bay. Lone male still doin his thing.
12:09 - All have passed Fox Island, southbound, male still trailing main group! I count six in the main group at least.
12:05 - Main group of at least 3 has passed Fox Island fishing pier. Looked back a few minutes later and saw a lone male, trailing them, surfacing in front of the pier. He's doing long downtimes. The others are surfacing fairly regular. Still southbound.
12:01 - [orcas] Approaching Fox Island fishing pier. -Melissa Bird
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12:01 - Still watching from UP. In between Point Fosdick and Fox Island. Fox Island side.
11:52 - [orcas] Watching from University Place. They are closer to Gig Harbor side still south. -Sharon Myers Andersen
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This is from 1145… just after the bridge. -Julie Davis
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11:40 - [orcas] Just past north of the bridge heading south to bridge. -Susan White
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Taken from Narrows during their pass. Jami Cantrel-l [Jami's back-of-camera image shows T65A2 -gs]
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11:35 - [orcas] Under Narrows Bridge, heading south. -Andrea Reubel Walker
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11:48 - Saw at least five to seven passing south of Narrows approaching Point Fosdick. Lost sight of them after, so unsure if they continued their track or turned up Hale [Passage]. They were grouped up and very close to the Gig Harbor side.
11:30 - [orcas] Still north of the bridge, just counted seven blows. Still traveling south. -Ashley Whitman
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11:17 - [orcas] Across from Salmon Beach! -Gill Chard
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10:40 - Seeing orcas at the Vashon Island viewpoint at Point Defiance. Moving towards Gig Harbor. -Amber Jacobs
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10:00 - Saw orcas from Dash Point Pier area moving south at the south end of Maury Island. -Jasmine Morton
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~08:00 - Was on my SUP this morning @ approx. 8am, saw a huge orca breach off Pt. Robinson. 100% sure it was orca, came almost totally out of the water. I think it was part of a pod heading SE. Follow-up: I 100% saw one, and I think *but not sure* I saw a pod moving SE towards Dash Point (from my vantage point near Normandy Park). - Matt Parker
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COASTAL ORCAS - Tue, Apr 6 - Oregon Coast - 15:28 - Orca Network just received a call from Jim Border who observed northbound grays and believes a pod of southbound orcas off Oceanside, Oregon (believe he said Maxwell Mtn. ?). They first were watching several grays heading northbound a few miles offshore. Then into view came no fewer than 1/2 dozen beasts moving southbound 4-5 miles offshore. These whales had vertical black fins so was confident they were seeing pod of orcas. They watched for about 40 minutes as the orcas continued southbound. (They are docents at the center down there) -HG
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GRAY WHALES - Tue, Apr 6 - Discovery Bay - While stargazing from the patio of our unit at the Worldmark resort in Discovery Bay tonight, we very clearly heard a whale blow repeatedly, no more than 100 yards from us. It was pitch dark so we couldn't see anything but I did get a video recording of the sound, which I'm attaching. The whale would come up for air and blow every 20-30 seconds for a few minutes and then dive for several minutes before coming up again. It stayed in roughly the same spot for about 20-30 minutes before gradually heading north. It seemed to be alone, as we didn't hear any other whales at all. -Adam Kidwell
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12:36 - Whale, thought to be gray almost all the way to the end Discovery Bay, just east of 101 and 20...The whale wasn't really heading in any direction. Just swimming around the same area he has been for a while. -Nancy Lindsey [PSWS]
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Tue, Apr 6 - Saratoga Passage - 16:43 - Correction. Might be three grays and they are moving slowly south
16:35 - 2 grays traveling south. West of Camano Island State Park on the Whidbey side of the passage. -Melody Wilson
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16:00 - Two greys south of Tyee Beach heading southbound towards Camano Head. -Sara Bennett
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18:30 - Neighbor had text me that one gray heading southeast bound from Baby Island area.
16:20 - 2 grays are trailing the first gray by about 1/4 mile looking now like they are also aimed towards Holmes Harbor. SB.
16:00 - One gray about 300 yds. off Hidden Beach parking lot heading south towards Holmes Harbor. 2 grays out further aimed southeast. -Marilyn Armbruster
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15:40 - Two grays west of Camano State Park and West state park. Slighly west of mid channel. -North Allen Aspelund
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15:20 - Yes heading south now…
15:08 - Solo Gray 2miles north of hidden beach feeding, heading north but may be turning back. -Aaron Gill
[photo - 723 ID: ALB]
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13:43 - 1 gray and 1 kayaker mid-channel out from Hidden Beach. -Nancy Culp Zaretzke
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15:11 - Looks like one gray heading south, currently a bit north of Bells Beach, on Whidbey side of Saratoga Passage.
15:04 - Seeing a few spouts midchannel in line with Baby Island.
12:51 - Three grays off Irenella moving west. -Serena Tierra
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12:15 - One, possibly 2 grays in the Camp Diana area/Camano appearing to be feeding. -Marilyn Armbruster
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12:06 - Two grays inshore north of Mabana. May be pulling out southbound. Milling slightly westbound toward Fox Spit.
---- April 6 found us with two 'old' Sounders, CRC44 (Dubknuck) and CRC383, industriously dredging together for ghost-shrimp close to shore at Camp Diana, Camano Island. The whales followed a steady pattern of feeding before returning to deep water and back to the shallows again as they meandered slowly north toward Elger Bay, attracting a host of birds, eager for scraps, in their wake. (Photos Sandra Pollard/Richard Snowberger, zoomed and cropped). photo - "CRC#44 (Dubknuck) and CRC#383 keeping close company with one another." -SP, photo - "Blown away!" -SP, photo - "Dredging for ghost-shrimp close to shore." -SP, photo - "CRC#383" - RS-Sandra Pollard
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10:20 - Single gray whale, mid channel, headed north about 1 mile south of Mabana. (update: Make that 2 grays!!! They seem to be stalled and not heading north. South of Fox Spit, still mid channel.) -Jennifer Feldman Spanton
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09:00 - Gray whale southeast of Baby Island. -Martha Sinclair
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Tue, Apr 6 - Possession Sound - ~14:30 - Whale feeding SE Whidbey across from Hat Island 4/6/21 taken approximately 2:30pm. -Mary McGinnis [PSWS]
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08:20 - 2 or more grays heading east to west between Everett and the southend of Hat! -Lori Christopher
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08:08 - Correction to my earlier post - there are two grays in Possession Sound just kind of hanging out at the convergence/entrance to Saratoga Passage.
07:53 - Gray heading south in Possession Sound near entrance to Saratoga Passage. -Luanne Seymour
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Tue, Apr 6 - Port Susan - Port Susan Whale Watchers reporting 2 grays mid Mountain View Beach on Camano Island. In close, not moving, probably feeding. at 11:45AM. -John C. Storbeck

April 5
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Mon, Apr 5 - Bellingham Bay (T123s) - …sailing right here on Bellingham Bay on the most beautiful day of the year, a family of 3 orca whales surfaced! -Paul Tinkerhess
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Mon, Apr 5 - North Puget Sound - 18:45 - We just saw five orcas east of Point No Point Lighthouse. They are heading south at 18:45. -Jose Lorenzo.
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19:09 - I've just been watching orcas off of Norwegian Point and Point-No-Point in Hansville (headed south). The photos aren't great because they were way out there but I got a good view through the binoculars and they provided quite a show. -Elise Erickson
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18:40 - Locals in Hansville report orcas in front of the Hansgrill store (Norwegian Point) at 6:40 pm and currently still there heading to Point No Point Lighthouse at 6:50 pm. -Donna Green Van Renselaar
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At 13:44 Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: SEALTH Reports 3-4 Orca near Elliot Bay heading in a southerly direction.
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Mon, Apr 5 - Hood Canal - 15:12 - Rachael Kauffold Vlasak: I am in Silverdale next to the base sitting on the beach. Reply by Randall Kimball: I think I saw you sitting at Kings Spit [confirmed by Rachael], they had just passed by heading north before you got there. They passed Bangor Base heading north…
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~12:30-12:45 - Saw them about 45 minutes ago (12:30-12:45 or so). Looks like there was a baby in the mix? Location was on the west side of Hood Canal along Coyle Peninsula, just a bit north of the peninsula's south end. (I'm not sure [of direction]. They were stationary for a period. By the time I got down to the beach they were gone.) -Laura Griest
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YAY!! They are still in the Hood Canal - Monday April 5th! They were spotted closer to the west side - looking over at Brinnon [the Duckabush River]. Southbound. Sighting appears to be around 11am. -Tisa Annette, secondhand from Brinnon Community Group
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GRAY WHALES - Mon, Apr 5 - ~1745-19:50 - Deception Pass Area - Received these images from one of our Whale Sighting Network volunteers who photographed this gray in Rosario just N of Deception. I defer to Alie to confirm that ID, but looks like a match to the 2nd Rosario whale, the one photographed by Amanda Colbert and Erin Gless on March 27th off Deception. The gray was swinging around the little island--Northwest Island. -Desiree Sauvé ["Yes I can confirm that is same individual." -Alie Perez, Cascadia Research Collective]
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~17:00 - Off Rosario Beach 4/5 around 5pm. -Robin Barker
["Looks like and presume it's a gray whale. There's been at least one gray whale moving back and forth in that area and into Burrows Bay." -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]
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~14:30 - Gray near Sares Head about 2:30 - headed towards Deception Island - got halfway there and then turned around and headed back towards Skyline Marina. No photos - he popped up outta nowhere. Quick roll of the back. Then he took off with just 'blows' -Dawn Koppel Glavick
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Mon, Apr 5 - Northern Saratoga - 14:31 - A single gray whale in Crescent Harbor by the Seaplane base right now. -Heather Sheppard
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Mon, Apr 5 - Saratoga Passage - 18:09 - [Saratoga Passage] 2 greys off Sunset Beach! -Chadwick Radaz [CWW]
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18:00 - Gray Southbound mid channel off of Indian Beach [Camano]. Moving at a good pace. -Jim Sheehan
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14:55 - And now either this whale flipped a U, or there is another whale heading north.
14:36 - Solo Gray feeding 2 miles north of Hidden Beach, now heading south. -Aaron Gill
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14:30 - Gray whale 2 miles N of Hidden Beach. -Heather Anson
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~12:00 - Visitor at the Langley Whale Center just now saw a gray on the northeast side of Hat Island about noon, heading towards Everett, so south southeast. -Katie Watkins, Langley Whale Center/Orca Network
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Mon, Apr 5 - Possession Sound - 12:30 - Gray whale, south east of Hat Island. Lots of fluke action in deep water.----Taking full advantage of two calm, sunny days and the magnificent Pacific Northwest scenery, we renewed our acquaintance with some of the Sounders, old and new. On April 5 we spotted a blow south-east of Hat Island, and came upon gray whale CRC2259 (thanks Alisa Lemire Brooks for ID), a 'newbie' from last year. This whale took a number of deep dives and made a number of directional changes, surprising us more than once. photo - "CRC2259 south-east of Hat Island." -SP, photo -Sandra Pollard
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10:15 - Two grays, north side of Hat Island. -Anya Vahlolo
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Mon, Apr 5 - Port Susan - 08:00 - Today, at least 5 grey whales were feeding and frolicking at 800am, just north of Tillicum Beach! -Elizabeth Kang
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06:00-12:00 - 4 or 5 Grays this morning in Port Susan spotting from 6am until noon.----Port Susan Whale Watchers have been tracking 4 grays in various locations between Tillicum Beach and Kayak Point spread out north and south. They were midchannel, 3 came into Pirates Cove for a while, but then Shackleton led the other 2 back towards mid channel. Saw spouts from 1 or 2 other whales mid channel off Tillicum at the same time. So lots of Grays in Port Susan. Lost track a couple minutes ago in the sunrise. -John C. Storbeck

April 4
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sun, Apr 4 - Strait of Georgia - T124A2, T124A2B, T099D, and T099B powering northwest on the morning of April 4th offshore Saturna Island. -Mark Malleson
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Sun, Apr 4 - Hood Canal - 15:20 - Solitary orca passing under the Hood Canal Bridge southbound at 3:20 PM. [Follow-up]: So the level of confidence of it being an orca is 100%. You could easily see the dorsal from a mile away, very long. I was thinking that it was two adult orca. The first one I saw was near the east command post of the bridge. The time it took for me to turn around and head on back I saw a dorsal on the west structure near Shine Tidelands [State Park]. I guess it could be a possibility of two adults, however observing for 10 minutes only one was seen heading south without seeing two dorsals at the same time. The intervals appeared to be a single adult. -John Adamson
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Sun, Apr 4 - Central Puget Sound (T137s) - T137's alongside Whidbey Island yesterday afternoon... I was out with mayas legacy on rough waters. -Lindsay Balmer
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17:10 - [orcas] Partridge Bank. -Jeff Friedman, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
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17:09 - [orcas] We've been viewing from Fort Ebey State Park. They passed quickly and are well past now, headed northeast. -Kyle Lindgren
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Pretty sure this is T137A, as the others don't have the tall dorsals. he was with his mama and his siblings. Port Townsend in background. -Marilyn Armbruster
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16:26 - Approaching Pt. Partridge. T137s.
15:40 - [orcas] In Port Townsend ferry lanes, mid channel, fast north. -Matt Stolmeier, Outer Island Excursions
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14:45 - Orcas have passed Bush Point continuing northbound at speed, closer to Whidbey side. -Sandra Pollard
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14:47 - [orcas] Just a few sprays and moving north of Bush Point in the middle of the channel. -Daniella Kim
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14:03 - [orcas] Just passed the south end of Mutiny Bay, continuing north towards Bush Point. -Danielle Pennington
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13:50 - NB past Double Bluff, Whidbey side.
13:25 - They were committed to Admiralty. They were trailing the tug Ocean Warlock close to the same speed, and I imagine they're not far behind them now.
12:51 - [orcas] Quickly NW bound past Scatchet Head. -Rachel Haight
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12:21 - They're straight off of Eglon but far to the other side they do appear to be coming this way a little bit.
12:15 - I saw one male dorsal from Eglon but just barely in sight. -Jim Pasola
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11:46 - So amazing!!! They have been jumping and hunting since I saw them. Milling around still but starting to slowly head north. East side of channel. My camera card is full & my heart is happy!! (watching from Kingston ferry… the little platform north of the ferry dock.)
11:16 - Directly out from Kingston ferry now, 1116, mid to east side. Northbound.
11:04 - [orcas] Found them. They are just about to Kingston ferry, mid channel. Nb. -Tisa Annette
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08:50 - Taken @ 0850 from Anchor Park, traveling northwest along Magnolia shoreline while exiting Elliott Bay, heavily cropped. -Brittany Philbin
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09:03 - [orcas] Off of Magnolia Blvd. W near viewpoint parking lot, headed north fast. Closer to the Seattle than Bainbridge side. -Sarah Morrow
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08:52 - [orcas] I saw them briefly west of grain station from Alki. -Fei Cheng
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08:43 - [orcas] At least 4 heading north out of Elliott Bay west of the grain loading facility. -Trubble Followsme
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07:54 - Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: CHIMACUM reports a pod of possibly 5 Orca within the BREM traffic lanes off of Alki. (re direction: They said towards Alki) [Note: Chimacum was on Seattle to Bremerton run at the time, and on N side of Alki at time of reporting - alb]
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~07:30-08:40 - I saw a lot of orcas this morning from about 7:30 am to 8:30 am. They were swimming and breaching in front of my house south of Discovery Point Lighthouse. They headed north and out of my view by 8:40am. -Lauren Feaux
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COASTAL ORCA REPORTS - Sun, Apr 4 - Oregon Coast - 18:30-18:45 - I live next to the Inn at Spanish Head in Lincoln City and saw orcas on Sunday April 4th between 6:30 and 6:45 pm. I know the exact time because I texted my neighbors who also saw them. I saw at least 2, but not a huge group. Maybe 3-4. They were going north. They were pretty far out, but I could see them with the naked eye and confirmed it with a high-powered scope. Since I can see the ocean from inside my house, I am always looking out and can let you know of sightings in the future. -Gail Sammons
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GRAY WHALES - Sun, Apr 4 - E Strait of Juan de Fuca/W Whidbey - 17:20 - Gray off NAS airstrip [Ault Field]. Appeared to be going steady north but then flipped so assuming circles but in about 180ft of water....low profile surfacing. -Matt Stolmeier, Outer Island Excursions
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Sun, Apr 4 - North Puget Sound/Admiralty Inlet - I saw one at Maxwelton at sunset, only briefly. I was shocked, hoping for more. Heading south very close to the shore at a very low tide. -Dena Marie
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18:48 - Confirmed! We saw this grey headed S as it passed Bush Point. -Brian Fleming
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17:26 & 18:10 - And another surprise, one gray incoming through Admiralty Inlet! Jan Bell reported seeing one gray southbound, south of Bush point at 5:26 pm. Howard and Susan have been scanning and finally saw it! At 6:10 we saw it between Double Bluff and the green channel marker, continuing south at a good pace, closer to the Whidbey side. Way too distant to get an ID, but we are hoping this is one of the Sounders we've been waiting for. -Susan Berta, Orca Network
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Sun, Apr 4 - Penn Cove - 10:34 - Gray whale in Penn Cove. North side between Riepsma dock and Shellfish dock. Saw from the road. -CeCe Cecelia Aguda
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Sun, Apr 4 - Saratoga Passage - 17:15 - I'm seeing a gray spouting way out in the channel, maybe closer to Camano. It's heading south and is approaching Maple Grove Beach. It appears to be alone, and only surfaces briefly every couple of minutes. -Marianne Parry
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16:50 - Gray northbound in Saratoga Passage, mid channel between Indian Beach and Onamac Point. -Jim Sheehan
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12:30 - At least 2 Grays east of Baby Island off Eastpoint heading toward southern tip of Camano. -Shannon Moore Kavanaugh
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12:00 - Angled over and towards Elger Bay about mid channel.
11:45 - 2 grays near shore mid Baby Island Heights. -Marilyn Armbruster
(#531 and #723 (id'd by Alisa)
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11:20 - Spotted a gray whale just northeast of Baby Island, heading north in Saratoga Passage. -Martha Sinclair
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~08:00 - Two gray whales off Fox Spit heading towards Bells Beach at appx 8am. -Michelle Sterett Bernson
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~07:15 - Victoria DeWinter reported gray whales in Elger Bay, Camano Island, heading out of the Bay northbound at ~07:15.
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Sun, Apr 4 - Possession Sound - 19:56 - Just had a lone visitor grabbing a quick snack off of Edgecliff between Langley and Sandy Point. Heading towards Tulalip now. Happy Easter whale! -Christy Grant
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15:13 - In between Hat and Jetty Island, feeding. Hope this helps. Looking towards Hat. -Jay Irwin
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12:02 - South end of Tulalip Shores.
11:48 - One grey whale feeding in front of Tulalip Shores. Heading SB. -Sara Bennett
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11:30 - Just saw a few plumes from Hibulb Lookout in Everett, assuming it's at least 1 grey whale. Very close to the jetty, slowly heading north. -Jill Ian
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Two humpbacks [grays] just off the eastern side of Hat Island this afternoon. Hung around for an hour or more. -Anthony Fuchs

April 3
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 3 - San Juan Islands (J pod) - 13:03-16:25 - Center for Whale Research Encounter #16: "… The large tactile group broke up some and we followed a small group that consisted of the J37s, J40, and J46 as they began moving quickly northwest about a quarter mile off the Stuart Island shoreline. As this group moved closer to Turn Point, the J31s rejoined them and now the J35s were paralleling the group while closer to the Stuart Island shoreline. Nearing Turn Point, the J35s joined the offshore group and all these whales turned west and toward us. We shut off the engine and then the whales began milling all around/under/beside the boat for a couple minutes while we sat there. J57 rolled around on his mom's back right off our stern before J35 did a slow turn and a slower glide right along side us with J57 in tow. J35 had had a similar relaxed attitude around the research boat when J47 was young and she had also brought him over to introduce him years ago. J38 appeared again and he and J47 were socializing together off Turn Point. The whales began moving off to the west-northwest in the direction of Moresby Island. …" [See CWR Encounter #16 for full summary and more photos. https://www.whaleresearch.com/2021-16 ]
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13:10 - [J pod] Still in resting line moving slowly north about 200m from shore. Viewing from Reuben Tarte (barely visible). -Michelle Savoie
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13:42 - Still very slowly making their way toward Reuben Tarte.
12:36 - North of Point Caution, pushing out from shore now. Still moving slowly.
12:18 - [J pod] Just passed Point Caution, in a resting line.
----SO grateful to my friends who spotted them outside of Friday Harbor. I was able to run down the trail and make it to Point Caution just in time to see them close to shore in a beautiful resting line. Added bonus - a few curious Steller sea lions who were also whale watching. Then on to Reuben Tarte for another close pass, right after they woke up from their nap. -Cindy Hansen, Orca Network
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15:15 - Sounds like they've veered north towards Stuart.
14:39 - A friend says westbound in Spieden Channel now.
11:52 - Just getting to the [UW] labs shoreline, very slow north - we are leaving scene. (Looked like all of Js, so 24.)
11:35 - J Pod slow north in possible resting group, all together.
11:30 - Large group of Southern Residents northbound right outside of Friday Harbor. ----We already had plans to head out on the water and were incredibly lucky to stumble upon J-Pod right outside of Friday Harbor as we left the dock. They were all together in a resting line, an uncommon sight. It's hard to capture in a photo but I tried with this shot! -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Sat, Apr 3 - Rosario Strait (T99s & T124A2s) - 13:30 - T99s and T124A2s rounding Point Lawrence on Orcas Island heading north. -Monika Wieland Shields, Orca Behavior Institute
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11:09 - Hi guys! Just saw several orcas from the ferry just off James/Decatur Island. Any ideas which ones they would be? They were heading west, same as ferry, and then changed direction and went behind the ferry. So I guess that would have been north? -Lucy DeGrace, Skagit Fisheries Enhancement Group.
[I believe it turned out to be the T99s and T124A2s group of Bigg's Transients. -alb]
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10:45 - Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, email to report: CHELAN Vessel reports 5 Orca in Thatcher pass.
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Sat, Apr 3 - San Juans (T46Bs, T86As, T123s) - I've been so blessed to witness so many Bigg's orcas as their population grows and grows. Two-and-a-half-year-old Tl'uk was pretty spunky as he played with his sister, T123 cousins and T086A youngsters. Great to see him so energetic! -April Ryan, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching
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18:00 - [orcas] I lost them just before they went behind Iceberg Pt. about 6 PM. (heading ENE). -Fred Horn
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17:15 - Good sized group of Bigg's killer whales about 2 miles south of Cattle Point. It doesn't look like they're going to go through Cattle Pass, but ya never know. (They were the T123s, the T086As, and the T046B1s) -Daven Hafey
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Sat, Apr 3 - Central Puget Sound (T65As and T137s) - 20:07 - Just saw them all the way in by lighthouse on Tanglewood. Headed back out of Hale Passage. photo - "From Fox Island Bridge about 7:30" [lighthouse] -Stacey Crofoot
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19:06 - [orcas] Heading up Hale Passage. Watching from Steamers [Titlow]. (They took a hard west up through Hale Passage between Fox Island and Wollochet.) -Katie Crepeau
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Just south of the Narrows Bridge. Shot from Narrows Park in Gig Harbor. -Aaron Berg
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18:48-19:10 - A pod of orcas came past 1 Point Fosdick heading first out into the mid channel in Hale Passage and then towards the Fox Island Bridge- first spotted at 1848 and observed until about 1910 when they moved out of sight to the west towards the bridge. The bull was first seen very close to the beach-the whole group worked out into the mid channel and went back and forth for a while. A slick area suggested that they had made a kill, but no bird activity feeding in the area so maybe just hunting. This is almost exactly 1 year from when orcas came by here before (April 8, 2020). I think there were about 8 individuals- but they stayed spread out except for the one group of a female and juveniles? that stayed closer together. I assume these are Bigg's, but don't know which group. Thanks for what you do, -David Estroff
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18:27 - [orcas] Passing under the Narrows, southbound. -Jonathan Middleton
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18:20 - [orcas] All 6 headed under bridge now. What a thrill!! -Missy Barnett
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18:14 - [orcas] Just out of view from Harborview Drive in Gig Harbor. Slow clip, headed south. Should be getting close to Tacoma Narrows Bridge, here shortly. Mid channel, but favoring the peninsula side. -Shannan Van Houten
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18:17 - Going under the Narrows bridge mid channel now.
18:04 - [orcas] In front of Salmon Beach in the Narrows now. -Jack Sasser
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17:51 - Second group trailing, rounding the point now towards Narrows bridge. Long down times.
17:49 - Orcas slowly southbound in the Narrows. One male, one female, one juvenile.
---- …more from today when the first group rounded Pt. Defiance from Dalco to the Narrows. It was sometime between 17:35-17:45. It looked like these 3 were going to join the main group by Colvos, but they snuck by me and rounded the point. When I spotted them, one did a spy hop. These three also would swim one direction, then turn around and swim the opposite direction for one or two breaths, but then filp again and carry on. I thought they were going to start milling several times, but they did not. -Ashley Whitman
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At 17:19 - Maija Holston, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: Whales PT DEF. 1710, Salish, Whales Master reports 2 orca off PT DEF about 1 mile. [Point Defiance/Tahlequah run]
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18:35 - Passing Titlow Beach!! Southbound still. (They were in the opposite side of the channel AND they were very close to the shore near Fox Island it was difficult to see them with the naked eye! Binoculars work wonders tho!)
17:13 - Lone orca passing Tahlequah now!!! Heading towards Vashon near the ferry now!! -Idah Mahmah
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17:13 - [orcas] I'm down at Dune Peninsula Park, and they're going by here heading towards the Pt. Defiance ferry dock. -Jim Burns
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17:12 - [orcas] Saw 2 close to beach at Neill Pt. 5 min ago. Headed west. -Michael Graeb
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17:06 - [orcas] Near Neill Point heading west. Headed toward Tahlequah ferry dock. -John Troup
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20:29 - 7+ individuals, they are around the pin [mid Fox Island, south shore]. can barely see them across the channel w/binoculars but can hear them breathe easily. Also, really fun listening to the dogs & geese on Fox Island bark at them as they pass, helping me locate!! Lol! Still drifting lazily back towards the Narrows. Goodnight!
20:08 - They are about mid-way down Hale Passage to the Fox Island Bridge, Fox Island side, heading back towards the Narrows.
19:21 - Have at least one in Hale Passage heading for Fox Island Bridge.
18:59 - Still milling at the entrance to Hale, close to Fox Island. Barely can see them.
18:56 - Long sneaky downtimes, they popped up at entrance to Hale Passage & continued south (I think) close to Fox Island. (watching from Titlow area)
18:26 - They were doing some direction changes, breaching just north of the bridge, still southbound.
18:14 - Group of at least 5 about mid channel, approaching the bend before the Narrows Bridge, southbound.
18:00 - 2 groups, one mid channel, one closer to Gig Harbor side, southbound in the Narrows, off Salmon Beach area.
17:22 - Group of at least 5 off west tip of Vashon/Colvos Passage.. heading towards the Narrows.
17:18 - Group of 3? Adult males mid channel, trending towards Gig Harbor/Narrows.
17:15 - Lead group including adult male has passed Vashon Ferry Terminal, lone male still being a loner mid channel, all westbound.
17:06 - Lone adult male more mid channel has also crossed Quartermaster.
17:04 - Group of at least 5 has just reached Vashon after crossing Quartermaster Harbor entrance, close to Vashon shore, heading for ferry terminal.
17:02 - Group of at least 3 with adult male beginning to cross Quartermaster westbound towards Pt. Defiance.
16:59 - From N Stevens St. Have at least 3, including adult male, approaching Quartermaster Harbor, heading towards Pt. Defiance, one male closer to mid channel on his own. -Melissa Bird
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17:22 - Mid mouth of Colvos Passage, headed for Gig Harbor at a good rate.
16:57 - [orcas] Current location, at least 7 in two groups headed south still, but at a relaxed pace. [near entrance to Quartermaster Harbor, per Floyd's map. -gs] -Floyd Rinehold, Jr.
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16:55 - Orcas off south end of Maury Island, 7 total, heading west. -John Troup
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16:59 - Heading towards Quartermaster Harbor, westbound, nearer Vashon/Maury side.
16:46 - [orcas] From the Dune, just saw 2 to the right (east) side of yellow channel marker, appeared to be heading southwesterly. -Jill Clogston
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16:39 - In front of Browns Point. Closer to Vashon side, still trending south.
16:25 - Passing Dash Point now. At least 3-4. Continuing southbound. Closer to Vashon side. -Mollie Segall
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16:22 - [orcas] Off Gold Beach neighborhood on Maury Island. Lone male. Trending south. -Burt Miller
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16:20 - Orca off of Gold Beach Vashon 4:20 today. -Monalisamagal
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16:11 - [orcas] Got them in front of Dash Point, SB. -Stacey Crofoot
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16:00 - Dunes Peninsula 4/3/21 4:00pm. -Cherie St.Ours
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15:45 - All have passed Point Robinson, male lead, staggered small groups, mid channel with T137A trailing about 10 minutes behind everyone closer to Vashon shores, all headed southbound.
----Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend! Was glad to see the sun and get in a little visit with the T137's and T65A's. Didn't get too many good pics as they were very spread out and far from shore except Jack, who surprised us all by popping up 10 minutes after the others passed. Found myself way down shore watching the others disappear and turn my head and suddenly there's Jack, riding the shelf drop off, lol, then pulled a disappearing trick. Managed to grab a perspective pic but nothing more, sneaky, sneaky, love that dude! -Marla Smith
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Yesterday I had the beach all to myself when T137A-Jack and his two siblings, T137B-Tempest, T137D-Wright surfaced right in front of me as if I could reach out and touch them! They were 15 feet from the beach in hot pursuit of a seal. Oh how quick, stealthy, and effortlessly they cut through the water to sneak up on the seal! At first they were barely surfacing, only to breathe. It was an amazing scene to watch as they snuck up on the seal swimming casually in front of them. Eventually the seal caught on and scrambled quickly to get away from the group of siblings into the shallows. Unfortunately, I had my long lens on my camera and could not get a shot of the three of them surfacing at the same time as seal. They were just too close for my lens. -Kelly Burns Keenan
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15:50 - One big male north of group of 3 or 4 females. Heading south. [map indicates male at Point Robinson]
15:37 - [orcas] Look to be just north of Point Robinson heading south. -Dan Hyde
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15:00 - Vashon Island --- can report seeing up to 8 transient orca heading south at a good clip, west side of the shipping lanes, a mile beyond the TA buoy off the mainland's Three Tree Point. One male, one young, the others all female. -Jeanette Block
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14:41 - Just switched directions, now northbound.
14:37 - Larger group heading south again, mid channel, while the bull is still along the shore. Three private boats following them.
14:33 - Large bull and one female up against the shore of Vashon, heading north. I've lost the larger group of three to five (females and baby) that switched south.
14:18 - [orcas] They are southbound, east side of Vashon, roughly a quarter way past the northern tip of Vashon. -Shari Tarantino
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14:11 - [orca] Just saw one whale southbound, spotted from Three Tree Point. -Sarah Kane
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13:40 - [orcas] Watching from Emma Schmitz- they are between Blake and Vashon. -Gergana Mouteva
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14:07 - The only whale, the big male, that I've seen recently went on the east side of the Vashon.
14:01 - Big male right off the north Vashon ferry terminal.
13:55 - From Southworth ferry terminal, I've only seen one male very near the Vashon Fauntleroy ferry Lane.
13:36 - [orcas] Viewing from Olympia Drive: just off the south tip of Blake Island but out mid channel, at least one. They're moving south quickly, three or four, looks like mid-channel but they're a long way from this side. -Jim Pasola
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13:35 - [orcas] Passing the north tip of Vashon Island. -Melissa G. Tuckabee
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13:35 -[orcas] Just south and west of Blake Island. Heading towards Vashon ferry lane. -Leslie Goodman
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13:04 - [orcas] Here's one off Restoration Point at 1:04 pm today from Constellation Park in West Seattle. -Robin Sinner
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At 13:01 - Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, email to report: Orcas Bainbridge/Sea run PUYALLUP on the BI run just reported the pod. They see 5 and they are heading south.
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12:54 - SB Blakely Rocks.
12:48 - [orcas] SB off Eagle Harbor, mid channel. -James Tilley
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12:43 - 3 orcas south of Eagle Harbor.
12:39 - View from Cactus, Alki, 2 orcas mid channel, sb, north of Eagle Harbor. -Mary Hartmann
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12:39 - They crossed back toward the Bainbridge side. Approaching Eagle Harbor at 12:39.
12:31 - [orcas] Viewing from the Bainbridge ferry. Closer to the Seattle side. South of Discovery Park. -Heather Paar
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12:15 - One group mid channel, out from West Point heading south. -Torrey Hall Volk
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12:09 - [orcas] We can still see them from Sunset. They are off discovery point... 2 small groups. -Ben Pontecorvo
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12:58 - Approaching Blake Island, southbound.
12:28 - Heading south close to Bainbridge coast.
12:08 - [orcas] Passing Manitou Beach. Moving quickly south. -Liza Dietrich Rohn
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11:45 - …southbound...they are out from Golden Gardens toward Shilshoe (east of mid channel). -Sue Larkin
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11:42 - [orcas] Mid channel? Southbound from north Golden Gardens. -Emily Peterson
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11:32 - [orcas] I can see them directly out from Fay Bainbridge ... east side of channel. Still southbound. -Tisa Annette
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11:00 - T65As and T137s. Killing and milling. -Bart Rulon, Puget Sound Express
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10:58 - Seeing orcas from Richmond Beach across channel at Point Jefferson. -Cameron McNeil
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13:15 - Can see the pods grouped well to the south, mid channel, out from Alki area continuing southbound. Appear to be keeping to main (east) channel between Vashon and West Seattle.
12:51 - Update: they are spread in 3 groups, w/most members loosely spread in two groups southbound, now just south of Sea/Bainbridge ferry lanes, still look to be chasing someone, and at least one other individual is east and bit north of them still making directional changes.
12:48 - Viewing from high bluff Magnolia Blvd. orcas are grouped in middle of ferry lanes mid Sound and appear to be hunting, chasing someone. Many directional changes, lunges, etc., while trending SE. WSF and commercial shipping have been alerted.
12:23 - Orcas are now south of West Point, Discovery Park, mid channel, still southbound, spread out, heading towards Bainbridge/Seattle ferry lanes.
11:52 - Based on earlier IDs by Bart and male dorsals: from a distance looks like lead group includes line more mid/east of. In summary, they are spread across and N/S. All powering southbound out from Shilshole.
11:45 - The pods are split up with leaders out from Shilshole Marina grouped tight heading southbound quick pace. Trailers 1-4-1/2 mile behind. All east of mid channel.
11:08 - Appear to be in travel mode, now southbound bit, spread out.
11:05 - Bigg's orcas are still making directional changes while drifting south with their meal. Some leading ahead, trending south, spy hopping and tail lobbing, etc.
10:40 - Correction pod is on a meal same location as 10:32.
10:32 - To add to Theresa's. I have eyes on the pod who are grouped up just west of mid channel slowly southbound between yellow mid channel buoy and Jefferson Head directly out from Richmond Beach Saltwater Park. -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network
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10:26 - [orcas] Watching from my Richmond Beach home with binoculars. They were milling about for quite a while. Seem to be slowly headed south now. I saw 4 -5. They are NE of the barge going by Jefferson Point. -Theresa Holman Williams
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09:58 - At Sunset Hill Park. Just saw one up near the Kingston ferry jump totally out of the water! -Matty Leaman
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At 09:06 - Donna Sanders, WSF Marine Ops, email to report: WALLA WALLA vessel en route to KING, reports 5 Orca milling in the area. [this is Edmonds/Kingston run]
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COASTAL ORCAS - Saturday at about 1330, from the Gualala Point Regional Park in Sea Ranch, California at the very northern end of Sonoma County, while watching for migrating grays and seabirds, a lone southbound orca abruptly surfaced. We got three looks at it as it surfaced more than a mile offshore, passing a northbound gray. Although rare, we have had past sightings of lone orcas, including a sighting of a lone male. -Scott Mercer, Mendonoma Whale and Seal Study, Gualala, California 95445
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UNIDENTIFIED ORCAS - Sat, Apr 3 - Haro Strait - 15:32 - Fred Felleman messaged: [orcas] northbound mid Haro.
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GRAY WHALES - Sat, Apr 3 - Saratoga Passage - 18:36 - 2 gray whales in the mouth of Holmes Harbor about 1/2 way between Greenbank and Baby Island. -Gary Shuster
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Sat, Apr 3 - Port Susan - ~09:00 - We had 2 Grays heading north of McKees Beach on Port Susan about 9AM. Haven't been spotted since. -John C. Storbeck
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Sat, Apr 3 - Possession Sound - gray whale CRC531 stole the show anyway with a big spyhop near Hat Island! It happened in a spot where we have seen gray whales spyhop more frequently than in any other place. It's a bit of a mystery why that seems to be "The Spyhop Spot" but some of us speculate that there might be some structure on the bottom that they are rubbing up against and the spyhop results from that. A gray whale often sends up a big bubble blast from under water before it spyhops. It certainly helps you get your camera ready for something good. We also spotted a brand new gray whale for 2021 feeding at the edge of the delta. I sent photos of the whale to Cascadia Research Collective and they did not find the whale in their ID catalog so it will likely be getting a brand-new ID number. -Photographer/Naturalist Bart Rulon
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15:30-14:00 - 1 gray: quarter mile off SE Gedney Island working the bank. 1530-1400. -KA, with Washington Dept. Fish & Wildlife. -Kwasi Addae
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11:00 - Michelle Lightfoot reports seeing a gray whale off Jetty Island. White tipped pectoral fin. [Everett]

April 2
BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Fri, Apr 2 - Port Susan (T137s) - 18:37 - [orcas] Still looks to be by Harrington Lagoon. Mid channel. Playing. I can see at least 2 from Crescent Harbor. -Anya Sika
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15:39 - Couple of orcas by Onamac Point. -Aaron Gill
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15:35 - Update: 2 orca. Just approaching Onamac Point. Still mid channel. Heading north.
15:30 - Grays heading south close to Whidbey. Just past Onamac. At least 1 orca heading north mid channel. -Marie Heil
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16:31 - Watching 3 from Harrington Lagoon, closer to Camano...still northbound.
15:36 - Seeing male from Shangri La...mid channel, northbound.
15:06 - From Hidden Beach... Camano side... northbound, long down times. Just saw the male [T137A].
---- Finally, after a very long time not seeing any black fins, I caught up with the threesome of T137s, first distant at Hidden Beach, then pretty close from Shangri La, and then mid-channel from Harrington Lagoon (all Whidbey Island)!!! Beautiful day, and I'm so happy! photo - "T137A, "Jack", born 2002." -Bonnie Gretz
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14:42 - Viewing 3 orcas from Hidden Beach, NB, Camano side. -Donna George
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13:11 - Still viewing from Whale Bell - at least T137A has made it north around Mabana/Camp Diana area, more mid-channel now. Have not resighted any of the others. Still moving north quickly, long down times.
12:49pm-12:59 - Orcas committed to northbound in Saratoga and are moving quickly. Viewing from Whale Bell Park, but orcas are closer to Camano side approaching Mabana. 4 orcas seen, one large male. Long down times and being very sneaky. -Amanda Colbert, Orca Network
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12:53 - [orcas] Small pod heading north...should be near Langley in a few minutes. -Christy Grant
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14:09 - Approaching southside Elger Bay, middish channel, NB moving quickly.
12:33 - Northbound into Saratoga Passage.
12:25 - Orcas changed directions nb, appearing to be milling around out from Camano Head Channel marker.
12:08 - Orcas approaching Camano Head from Port Susan sb. -Marilyn Armbruster
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11:52 - T137 and T137A are in the lead, spread out still. Still southbound.
11:47 - They are very spread out. We have 2 of them so far.
11:36 - [orcas] They are currently southbound. Watching from MV Saratoga, Puget Sound Express. -Bart Rulon, PSE Naturalist [Map appears to show location off of Tyee Beach, Camano Island, in Port Susan. -gs]
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11:00 - At least 3 orcas in Port Susan Bay. Out in the middle, just south of Port Susan Terrace. Edit w/direction: pod was southbound. -Marie Meyer (CWW).
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GRAY WHALES - Fri, Apr 2 - Burrows Bay/Fidalgo Island - 15:03 - [gray] We just saw a whale in Burrows Bay from our place in Skyline in Anacortes. Husband thinks it was a humpback, but we only saw it from a distance. (from husband, Scott: It has been here for at least an hour.) -Jill Teerink
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12:00-16:00 - We saw one gray whale in Burroughs Bay yesterday 4/2/2021 going from mainland to Burroughs Island from noon to 4 PM while we were there watching with binos. -Judy Malmgren
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Fri, Apr 2 - S. Whidbey Island - 16:45 - One grey whale slowly heading north into possession sound going pass the south tip of Whidbey and Chennault beach in Mukilteo. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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Fri, Apr 2 - Saratoga Passage - 16:34 - Couple of grays just north of Cama heading south. -Aaron Gill
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13:05 - One Gray whale NB directly out from Seawall Park on Camano side. -Donna George
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13:02 - Gray heading north towards Pebble Beach close to Camano side of Saratoga Passage. Orcas also preceded the gray heading northwest up Saratoga Passage. -Luanne Seymour
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13:00-14:30 - I'm pretty sure the lone gray I had seen earlier and posted at 11:45, I had watched from about 1:00 until 2:30 pm cruising back and forth from Baby Island to Bells Beach during low tide.
11:45 - Lone gray near mid channel, south of Bells Beach area, southbound
9:40 - They have slightly moved north, still on Camano side.
9:31 - 2 grays, looks like they are feeding. Same spot.
9:10 - Saw gray blow in the Camp Diana area. Misty rain over towards Camano makes it hard to see from Whidbey. -Marilyn Armbruster
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07:49 - Grays feeding off Summerland Beach, moving north toward Mabana. [between Pebble Beach & Mabana, Camano] -Steven Thomas (CWW)
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Thu and Fri, April 1 and 2 - Northern Saratoga Passage - 23:15-00:15 - I arrived back in Oak Harbor around 11:15 last night, and while I was unloading the car I heard the familiar sounds of grays feeding right off the beach! We ran down toward the beach and listened in the dark for as long as we could bear the cold. There were at least two grays based on where the puffs were coming from, and some spouts and splashes we could just barely see in the light from the stars. I wish I could bottle that feeling somehow - so special! It's like a big hug from Mother Nature! They were at the Happy Meal Mudflats, but very close to shore and moving slowly north, but they stayed in front of our place here for at least an hour. I finally went to bed, but could still hear them right outside at 12:15am. It's low tide now (2:45pm) and I can see all the scoops they made on the beach (photo attached) - this is prob all from last night unless they snuck in for a snack the previous night or two, because I've been paying attention and the beach has been smooth up until now. There are scoops all up and down the beach here in front of Mariners Cove. Woohoo! -Marianne Parry

April 1
SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS - Thu, Apr 1 - Northern California (L pod) - We arrived in Eureka this evening. Had a great passage, lots of wildlife. Over a dozen baleen whales; Grey whale, fin whale, and humpbacks, as well as Dall's porpoise that played with us for a long time, and the amazing thing is we found L pod down south of Eureka!!! -Alan Niles
[L87 was identified by Sara Hysong-Shimazu among approx. 14 orcas from Alan's video. -hg]
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BIGG'S/TRANSIENT ORCAS - Thu, Apr 1 - Strait of Georgia (T10s, T49As, T63 & T65, T65As) - Our guests on today's whale and wildlife tour got to witness the first "T" Party of our season. A "T" party is a large gathering of Transient Killer Whales a.k.a. Bigg's Killer Whales for different matrilines or families. Over 15 whales sighted including T63 "Chainsaw". The families currently identified are T63 & T65, T65A's, T49A's and the T10's. (The whales we were with today were close to Galiano Island.) photos - "T065A, T065A6, T077 and T049A. A mash of matriarchs." -Ocean EcoVentures Whale Watching - Cowichan Bay
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Thu, Apr 1 - Admiralty Inlet to Saratoga Passage (T137s) - 19:15 - Northbound, Camano side, Camano Island State Park area. Super stealthy and spread out. T137A trailing the rest. -Rachel Haight
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18:04 - [orcas] We are at Langley and can see them closer to the Camano side; they are moving NB fairly quickly. -Ryan Horner
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Hi Alisa, Saw your video from 3/5/2020 of Bigg's orcas at Mukilteo Lighthouse after spotting them again yesterday just north of your video location. Pod was sighted heading north and then came in toward the fishing pier area at Ivar's chasing and eventually killing a seal. I've got a couple video clips from my phone…Cheers, -Tom Barger, Mukilteo
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~16:15 - [orcas] Saw one large move from the new ferry terminal straight across to Clinton, all the way. About 4:15 we saw three smaller just to the right of the new ferry terminal. -Tammy Jo
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17:41 - Picked them up from Sandy Point as the push into Saratoga, closer to Camano side.
16:17 - Now in the ferry lanes -- M/V Tokitae is repositioning. Passengers should be getting a great view right now.
16:10 - [orcas] Approaching Mukilteo terminal now with a pretty good spyhop in there. People waiting to jump on the ferry got to see them. [reply: "thank you! It was spectacular" -Tammy Jo] -Durand Dace
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16:00 - 5 outside the remains of the old Mukilteo ferry terminal! Splashed around a bit and chowed down on a seal before moving north/northwest towards Clinton. -Derek Hanson
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15:55 - [orcas] 4-5, Elliott Point. -Alex Funke
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From shore at Mukilteo. photos - [breach shot: "They were right off Ivar's at Mukilteo about 4p and were hunting a harbor seal."] -Tyler Graham
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At 15:53, email received from John Miller, WSF Marine Ops, emailed to report: TOKITAE Orca Report 1549hrs: Vessel reports via 800MHz three (3) orca, 1/4 mile West of the MUK dock, traveling NE.
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15:38 - [orcas] Mid channel, Mukilteo, in ferry lane. -Gary Shuster
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15:48 - Cannot see with camera but only binocs. They are just south of new Muk ferry terminal. Incoming ferry looks like has slowed down quite a bit.
15-40 - Line of sight from Clinton, 3 passed condos that are north of lighthouse, Muk side of mid channel. Moving swiftly nb.
15:34 - I'm just on the north side of Clinton Ferry Terminal. I see none so far near this side of dock. I do see a male over on Muk side in line with boat launch.
15:27 - Marilyn Armbruster reports the T137s are near or close to Muk/Clinto ferry lanes, closer to the Mukilteo side. She saw one male so far. Both ferries are in port. -Marilyn Armbruster
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16:25 - Heading north pretty quickly now. In between Clinton + Hat Island. What a fun show here in Mukilteo!
15:30 - They got to Clinton and are now milling around at the end of the ferry dock. -Sara Montour Lewis
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16:07 - Appeared to be on hunt near the old ferry dock. Heading northwest.
15:50 - North of lighthouse, slowly moving north.
15:09 - [orcas] Passing Mukilteo going north. One male. -Linda Aitkins photos - from Mukilteo Beach [ID's: GS]
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14:58 - Nancy Steeple Boyle called to report seeing two orcas (female and younger) feeding activity off Glendale Beach bottom of Glendale and Humphrey Roads, very close to shore, maybe 100 feet off high tide line. Heading northbound.
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14:45 - Heading towards Clinton. Last seen from Chennault Beach, close to Glendale, 1445. Saw one huge male and a few other smaller ones. NB on Whidbey side.
14:19 - Orcas heading into possession sound. Coming north, 1419.
13:22 - Orcas are just south of Whidbey in wide waters. Milling but looks like they're trending south and maybe east. Close by is a grey whale just a little north of them! 1322. -Alice Thuy Talbot
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13:22 - The T137s are south of Scatchet Head now pointing to Possession Sound, slowly. -Trevor Tillman
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Found T137s as they passed Cultus Bay. Taken aboard Saratoga. -Ariel Yseth
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12:09 - I'm viewing from Eglon now. They are north of me heading towards Whidbey.
11:11 - [orcas] They are off Point No Point right now. Slowly heading south. -Brian Nygren [From Brian's photos: Awesome, T137s are here! Pictured is matriarch T137 and son T137A -Alisa Lemire Brooks, Orca Network]
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10:10 - Secondhand report: Someone reported a group of orcas southbound off Point No Point at 10:10am. -Tisa Annette
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08:18 - Jan Bell messaged to report seeing 5 orca spread out, mid channel, southbound at Bush Point. By 08:22 she had lost sight of them at Windmill (N end Mutiny Bay).
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08:03 - The Scotts at Bush Point just called to report seeing the orcas: smaller female close in shore (think he said 100 yards) off Bush Point, definite male further off moving inshore, and third one popped up behind them while on the phone. They are just rounding the point at Bush Point, still heading southbound.
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07:20 - April 1st, two orcas heading south from Lagoon Point at 7:20 am. [any males seen? - alb]: My husband, Jim, thinks at least one of them had a 5-foot dorsal. Surfaced only two times before went out of sight. We had just opened our drapes. -Lenore Minstrell
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GRAY WHALES - Thu, Apr 1 - North Puget Sound/Kitsap and S. Whidbey - 14:25 - Just saw a blow off the south tip of Whidbey. Looked more like a gray than an orca. Viewing from Mukilteo. -Sara Montour Lewis
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12:46 - There's a grey whale right near there. Saw it surface 3 times, 1246. [comment on: "T137s were NE of Eglon/SE of Point No Point heading towards Whidbey."] -Alice Thuy Talbot
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Thu, Apr 1 - Saratoga Passage - 19:36 - Gray heading south at speed, 200 yards off of Indian Beach. -Jim Sheehan
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15:44 - Slowly moving north now in Saratoga Passage. Still mid channel heading to Onamac Point.
15:16 - Mid channel, 2 gray whales south of Onamac. No real direction. Just hanging out. -Marie Heil
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12:35 - The 2 (or 3?) grays are moving northbound slowly. [Carrie's map indicates location SW of Camano SP. -gs] -Carrie Hanford Paquette
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19:00 - 2 grays over in the Elger Bay area. I'm viewing from quite aways, mid Baby Island Heights high bank. I barely saw blows and surfacing but did see 2 at one time. Looks like they may be feeding. Same area where Jill Hein had them a few days back.
~11:30 - They were slowly heading towards mid Baby Island/Hidden Beach/Camano St. Park triangle.
10:57 - [grays] About mid channel out from Camano State Park northwest bound. 2 for sure, possibly a 3rd one. -Marilyn Armbruster
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10:04 - ... I am still seeing blows near Camano and now also there are two grays at the west end of Bells Beach on the Whidbey Island side now heading towards Fox Spit/Holmes Harbor.
08:04 - Oh it's another happy whale day. About the same time as yesterday and the same spot in the Saratoga passage across from Bells Beach very close to Camano Island under a large cliff band just sitting below the backdrop of Mount Baker. If I was closer I'd send pictures. Could be the same two whales as yesterday or maybe they told their friends about this fabulous spot - looks like they have been actively feeding. Feeling very blessed to witness them three days in a row. -Kristin Carlson
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Thu, Apr 1 - Possession Sound - Found CRC531 just north of Mukilteo today. -Ariel Yseth