May 2008 Whale Sightings

Click here for Map of May 2008 whale sightings.

May 2008
We saw orcas in Yaquina Bay this past May. In case you are interested there are some photos. They aren't great, but you can see the baby in one of them.
Bruce Dugger, OR State University

May 31, 2008

Calvin Hunter called to report an orca sighting off the Columbia River. He saw ~ 5 orcas, including 1 adult male, 10 miles straight off the north jetty of the Columbia River, in 432' deep water, heading south. Lat/Long: 46 17N, 124 20.9W.
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Beam Reach's GPS system reported J pod off South Beach, SW San Juan Island (Latitude:48.4444 Longitude:-122.9998) at 1401 Saturday. At 1450 Scott Veirs was hearing J pod calls and clicks from the Lime Kiln hydrophone. Beam Reach boat is with whales just S of Pile Point. By 1515 the GPS reading was Latitude:48.4569, Longitude:-123.0573, between South Beach and False Bay, SW San Juan Island.
Scott Veirs, Beam Reach
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Members of J pod entered the study area (Limekiln, W. San Juan Island) at 1453 heading north. 6 powerboats and 16 kayaks accompanied these whales through the study area. No boats were seen outside the study area. The last whale left the study area at 1513. Time from the first whale to the last whale over our line was 5 minutes, what we call our spread-out time. The rest of J pod entered our study area at 1538 heading north, though we only saw 14 pass over our line. 4 powerboats and 6 kayaks accompanied these whales through the study area. 17 powerboats were seen accompanying these whales outside the study area. The last whale left the study area at 1602. Time from the first whale to the last whale over our line was 19 minutes. Dividing this by 14 gives us what we call our spread-out time, in this case 1.36. this translates to mean that these whales were, on average, 1.4 minutes apart.
Bob Otis, Lime Kiln Lighthouse
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Humpback Sighting - Pender Island. This evening at 7:35 pm, we observed a large animal 50 metres south of Thieves Bay Marina and 100 metres offshore. Seconds later we heard a loud breath followed by the appearance of an arching back and then black flukes. This apparent humpback then showed us the underside of its flukes (7:38pm), which were almost solid white. It looked to be headed in a southerly direction in Swanson Channel. We scanned the horizon for the next 20 minutes but did not see it again. Our first thoughts were that this was a young adult whale. In five years, this the first time we have seen a humpback (if it was a humpback?) in Swanson Channel.
Richard Philpot, Pender Island

May 30, 2008

Today's trip took us back again to Point Roberts (see Tuesdays report) to spend time with J-Pod. We had an interested group, calm seas, and sunshine to make the day even better. We spent about an hour with J-Pod watching them forage as they headed south towards Rosario. They were all spread out and we began our encounter with J-8, Speiden, and then moved on to view J-1, Ruffles, and J-2, Granny. Granny is the matriarch of J-Pod and estimated to be nearly 100 years old!!!
Megan, Naturalist, San Juan Safaris
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From the Beam Reach GPS tracker, we have received whale reports of J pod beginning at 1320 just south of Pt. Roberts, heading south (Latitude:48.9297, Longitude:-123.0429 ) and ending at 1908 in Rosario Strait, between Lummi and Orcas Islands (Latitude:48.6856, Longitude:-122.7384 ).

May 29, 2008

Lisa Schlender and I headed out of Westport for one of our monthly outer coast marine mammal surveys. We found a gray whale with a very small calf right off the north jetty of Grays Harbor, lots of harbor porpoises within about 5 miles of shore, several small groups of Dall's porpoise offshore, and four humpbacks, including one calf, about 10 miles off Westport.
Erin Andrea Falcone, Cascadia Research Collective

May 28, 2008

J-Pod was spread out over a few miles, milling, not much tidal exchange, on the south end of San Juan Island. From 1:22pm to 2:24pm we were treated to a variety of behaviours- spy hops, breaches, cartwheels, headstands, pectoral & fluke slaps. J-32 Rhapsody did a slow rollover pass by. We were also able to ID J-22, Oreo & the kids J-34 Doublestuf, J-38 Cookie, J-2 Granny (relieved to see her return each year), and the 'boys', teenagers J-26 Mike & J-27 Blackberry. We also enjoyed continuous vocalizations! Saw kelp draping over rostrums- is it this year's game? From my perspective, it looked like all the boats were following the regulations. SoundWatch was out in their new boat - I hope they agree. Beam Reach was also out doing their research. And the 'pooper scoopers' were following J-26, it was kinda funny, because at one point he turned so they immediately turned away from him, then he was following them! J-26 is getting bigger than their boat!
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Just got in off the FREEMAN last night on a FE salmon feed study cruise. Saw fair numbers of large whales - Grey, fin & Humpback + the highlight was a dusk passing of a big male KW, at least two females and a calf when we were about 50 miles west of Willapa bay (46 40'N 124 47'W) . Time was approximately 19:20. Animals appeared to be moving in a Northerly direction.
Rick Brown, Captain NOAA CORPS (Ret.), Resource Management Specialist, NOAA/NMFS/NWFSC Newport Research Station
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J pod - Pender Island 2025 . We just had three whales off our property on Mouat Point, North Pender Island. The male has a definite Port side bend to the dorsal fin, the other two appeared to be smaller, with smaller dorsal fins; females or juveniles? They were feeding and there was one huge leap before they continued Northwestward up Swanson Channel. Oops, just caught the sounds and brief sight of 3 or 4 more, following the first group. no id of any.
Marti Tilley
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J pod - Pender Island, between 7:30pm and 8:45pm, we observed members of J-Pod pass Thieves Bay on Pender Island. We were on shore and counted 19-20 orcas in total. They were well spread out, heading north and with J26 leading the way. A female and calf followed quite close behind him (J16 and J42?). A little ways behind these three were another female and, what appeared to be, another calf. The first whales were travelling quite quickly, but as more swam by their behaviours varied: some obvious foraging, several pec and tail slaps, a couple of breaches and one spy hop. Most of the pod were a fair distance offshore so identification was difficult. J1 was seen 1000 metres offshore close to the back of the group. J34 was the only other male that we were able to specifically ID, but at least one other was present. There wasn't a single power or sailboat in sight, well there was one whale watching boat near Oaks Bluff, but it left before J-Pod reached Thieves Bay.
Richard Philpot, Pender Island
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Beam Reach was with orcas (likely J pod) today, beginning west of Iceberg Pt, S. Lopez Island (Latitude:48.5302 Longitude:-123.1706) at 1515, moving W/NW. Their last report was north of Lime Kiln, west San Juan Island at 1642 (Latitude 48.5302 Longitude:-123.1706 ).
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J pod, Lime Kiln, 22 members of J pod milling entered the study area heading north at 1516, leaving the study area at 1605. These whales were accompanied by two boats in the study area, one a CG cutter, 755 yds. out at 1601. There were 10 boats accompanying them just outside the study area. 9 tailslaps and 6 cartwheels recorded. Considerable vocalization.
Bob Otis
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We heard J pod on orcasound at Lime Kiln at 9:43 AM.
Susan and Howard, Orca Network
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The (humpback) whale is still at Pt. Defiance and I got a great look at the underside of his tail. I didn't have my camera but may be able to identify or at least narrow it down through photos. If this worked then I attached a pretty bad drawing of what it looked like, the edges of white were broken towards the end of the tail on the inside. I watched him for about 45 minutes where he came up at least 30 times. Also, I saw him feeding on something at the surface. Before I left he was going in a pretty straight line and surface 7 or 8 times in about a minute then made a tight turn then dived. Just after there was a large disturbance on the surface and then I started seeing him/her reapetly surface in about a 50ft by 50ft area. Got some good views of his pectoral fins as he was turning and breaking the surface in a tight circle. Several birds including an Eagle were right above and a couple Harbor Seals were nearby.
Bryan Owens
Tacoma, Wa
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The humpback is still hanging around Point Defiance and the southwest side of Vashon Island. I watched him/her on and off between 10:50 AM and 1:15 PM spending most of its time about half-way between Vashon and Point Defiance.
Owen Atkins
Tacoma, WA

May 27, 2008

Ken Balcomb, John Durban, and Erin Heydenreich of the Center for Whale Research observed Transient orcas in Haro Strait from 5:36-6:35 p.m.. Start Lat/Long: 48° 31.43 N, 123° 13.37 W; End Lat/Long: 48° 35.93 N, 123° 14.40 W. T102 and T20 were traveling at a medium pace nothbound through Haro Straight about 200 meters from T21,T101,T101A and T101C.
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T40 inbound from Race Rocks headed for Victoria - report and photograph from Mark Malleson, via the Center for Whale Research.
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Capt. Jim Maya called to report J pod 1 mile off the east tip of Pt. Roberts at 3:30 pm, heading south down Rosario, maybe toward Boundary Pass.
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I'm sure Alison will send you a report of our incredible day, but here's a picture (or two) that pretty well sums up how well it went: (it really is nice to have a big zoom lens so we can see up close while staying our distance!)
John Boyd (JB) Marine Naturalist, Western Prince, Friday Harbor
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We started our trip today with the news that J-pod was up at Sandy Point (near Vancouver BC) and heading north. Eventually Ivan said it looks good and off we went to Point Roberts. As we all eagerly searched for dorsal fins alas there was J1. It was almost as if he wanted to make sure we saw him. He logged on the surface for 2 minutes; you could not miss him. He did this a few times before joining up with J26 & J27 for some male bonding.
Alison Engle, Naturalist, Western Prince Cruises, Friday Harbor, WA
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Report of orcas off Village Pt., Lummi Island at 9:30 p.m. - not sure of direction - very spread out - thanks Cindy Dahlstrom.
Penny Stone Lummi Island
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We headed straight for Point Roberts in hopes of meeting J-Pod who was at the coal docks and traveling south towards the Rosario Strait. We got positive ID's on J-1, J-2, J-16, J-42, J-26, and J-11. J-26, aka Mike, also breached over five times right in front of us! They were spy hopping, pec slapping, tail lobbing, breaching, and cartwheeling about.
Megan Young, naturalist (San Juan Safaris)
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The (humpback) whale never did lift its fluke today so we had to settle for photos of the body. We left it at about 3:30pm, just out front of the ferry terminal at Point Defiance, still milling around in Dalco Passage as it has been reported recently. After pouring over numerous dorsal fin photos of the three individuals that have been identified in the south sound since 2004, we tend to think this whale is new to the area, even though it is similar in appearance to two others seen previously (which is why we prefer to identify humpbacks by their more distinctive flukes, if they are nice enough to show them!). Based on some fairly low-resolution photos, we are reasonably certain it is the same whale photographed in Mutiny Bay on 26 April, though. It is not a very young whale, although I would classify it as a smaller adult. All in all, its skin and body condition look pretty good. It does have a broad, shallow depression just behind the blowhole on the right side of the head, not sure what to make of it, but the whale seems to be doing fine so far otherwise.
Erin Andrea Falcone, Cascadia Research
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After reading the weekend posts on the Pt. Defiance Humpback I just went down to see if I could get another look this morning (before 10:30 am). After about 5 minutes at the first over look on the five mile drive it came up for 4 quick breaths. It was on the Pt. Defiance side and close to shore heading towards Gig Harbor. I was there another 20 minutes or so without anymore sightings.
Bryan Owens, Tacoma Wa.
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Derek Woodie called to relay more reports of the humpback whale - co-workers saw it at 8 am from the Vashon ferry, and Derek saw it again at 6:50 pm off the SW point of Vashon Island.

May 26, 2008

Orca Network forwarded photos from a report of a pod of orcas off Wadah Island near Neah Bay, WA to Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research, who replied: One of the the bulls, I think, is T102.
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Orca Network received a report from Sarah Miller of 30 to 40 orcas - appeared to be a very large, spread-out pod, 1/8 mile east of Snow Creek on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, approx 200 yards off beach, traveling west, approx 2 p.m. They seemed to be playing - lots of breaching, tail- lobbing, spy-hopping, at least one was a large adult male.
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It's possible that what we saw was in fact a Minke whale and not an Orca. Some others in the Edmonds, Kingston, Bainbridge area have spotted a couple of Minke whales lately. And I guess they also can exhibit the breaching or "porpoising" behavior we saw the other night.
Dave Haas, Shoreline, WA
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I sighted a pod of orcas while I was kayak fishing near Cape Mendocino CA today. There were approximately 4-5 females with a at least one very distinct male. Although I did not have a camera at the time, the dorsal fin of the male was very distinctive. It was notched almost as if there were a separate finger-like appendage protruding from the tip. I saw it multiple times and would be able to identify it if you have images of dorsals from males known to frequent northern CA. Time: Approximately 1500. Location: 40 23' 44.56" N 124 23' 44.56" W, almost on top of "Devil's Gate Rock." The animals did not seem to feeding, maybe playing. The male spy-hopped few times to take a look at us. They were slapping their flukes on the water surface often. They were heading north.
Dave
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Orca Network received a report from Gerg Barcello, reporting 15 orcas off Wadah Island, near the entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, milling and heading west to Neah Bay, from 3-4 pm.
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Jpod coming back East at 1730 off Sooke.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria B.C.
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Just letting you know that we left J pod at 1940 , and they were about 5 miles south of the entrance to Victoria Harbor, heading east. They were all within a 1/2 mile of each other, travelling slowly east. Seems as though they turned around at about 1400 and headed back east along the coast of southern Vancouver Island. Perhaps we'll see them back around San Juan in the morning. It's 0030 as I write this but I'm not hearing anything on the hydrophones.
A few minutes later: Just as I sent that previous email through I began to hear J pod calls on the Orca Sound hydrophone! It's 12:39am Tues 27th May and I can just hear them over the cargo ship going by.
Tim Hunt Orca Spirit Naturalist/former Beam Reach student
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J Pod heading back in! They made it to Sheringham Pt. before turning around. Should be near San Juan late tonight! (Later) Hearing vocals of J's at 11:30 PM!!! YIPPEEE!
John Boyd (JB) Marine Naturalist, Western Prince
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Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research relayed a report of J pod off Sheringham Pt. (So. Vancouver Island), heading west out of the Strait of Juan de Fuca at about 1:30 pm.
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Read the report this morning of a humpback in the area so went down to look around and within 2 min spotted what I believe is a Minke* whale between Pt. Defiance and Vashon Island moving back and forth. We watched for about 45 min. then went around the corner more towards the Narrows and did not see anything else.
Derek Woodie * From the photo above, this is definitely the humpback whale that's been in the area - note the shape of the fin in the photo above (I like to think of a humpback fin and back as looking like a big chocolate chip on the water!) - below is a photo of a Minke whale fin, which has more of a sickle shape.
Orca Network

May 25, 2008

We received a call from Daniel, reporting a sighting of 6 Orcas off Neah Bay. They were off Duncan Rocks, near Tatoosh, at about 6-6:30 pm, heading toward Port Angeles. There were several large, adult male fins.
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Orca Network received another report of orcas off Ft. Bragg, CA, Sunday at 5 pm, heading north near Virgin Creek, toward McKerricher State Park. They were milling and cruising outside the surf zone.
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Lime Kiln, 16:56 - J pod milling/north - 9 members of J pod passed through the study area beginning at 1656 heading north. Three powerboats accompanied them. Left the study area at 1732. 17:52 - J pod turned around north of the study area and reentered the study area heading south at 1752. At least 22 members of J pod were seen, at least 7 of whom passed by close to the kelp. 5 powerboats accompanied these whales, with one approaching within 50 yards of the whales about 1834. 1850 was the reported time the last whale left the study area heading south. At 1855, 4 more whales, including J30, passed by just outside the kelp, heading south.
Bob Otis, Lime Kiln, west San Juan Island
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The gray whale was again in front of our community. I was looking down on the beach at yesterday's feeding pits about 3:30 PM and spotted the gray whale spouting out over the drop-off (The tide was still out quite a ways). This evening about 10 PM, I stepped out on the deck, and could again hear the whale feeding close in below the bluff as the tide was now in and it could get into the ghost shrimp beds. Maybe our ghost shrimp have reached just the right state of tastiness! It's such a privilege to share with them.
Barbara Brock, Camano Island
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Orca Network received a report from Jim Dewar of at least 25 orcas 10 miles north of Ft. Bragg, CA (off Ten Mile River) at 7:35 pm, heading north 200-300 yards from shore. Some were larger and about 15 were smaller whales.
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Beam Reach was with orcas (likely J pod) today, beginning west of Iceberg Pt, S. Lopez Island (Latitude:48.4212 Longitude:-122.9184) at 1515, moving W/NW. Their last report was north of Lime Kiln, west San Juan Island at 1748 (Latitude:48.5278 Longitude:-123.178).
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Orca Network received this email report: I sighted 8-10 Orcas within a half mile of shore from MacKerricher State Park about 3 miles north of Fort Bragg, CA 7-7:30 PM, They were just swimming around for a while. Then they headed farther out and North. Several of them had a large fin on their back.
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Writing to report a spectacular sighting in Dalco Pass. I live on the water a few houses up from the Tahlequah ferry dock, facing out towards the southwest over dalco pass, point defiance park and gig harbor. Over the past 2 weeks we've had multiple sightings. First, the mist from the "blow", then the dark shape with notch. I also heard him blow quite close by on several occasions without actually seeing him. Yesterday (sat 5/24) and today (sun 5/25) we were treated to a lot of tail-flipping. This morning its tail flipped out about 7 or 8 times in succession, every 10 seconds or so. Then he waved an enormous fin, which was dark on the topside and speckled with white underneath. Had binocs for pretty good viewing, and will keep camera on hand for the next show.
Tom J Tahlequah, Vashon Island

May 24, 2008

About 1:30 pm I saw several porpoises playing over by Cama Beach (west Camano Island) and also heard 2 whale blows. ( I was visiting on North Bluff about 2 miles from you)
Kathy Fritts, Freeland
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We had the pleasure of having one gray whale spend from at least 5:30 PM through past midnight(!!) in the shallow ghost shrimp beds close in in front of our community south of the Mabana Rd. (west Camano Island). Having such a large creature so close for so long was an unforgettable experience for us, and especially for our company. Usually the whales don't linger, but feed as they are passing by. There was the usual lying over on it's side with pec fin and tail fluke up, but there also seemed to be an unusual amount of sidewise tail thrashing.
Barbara Brock, Camano Island
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Caitlin and her Dad called Orca Network to report 3-4 orcas off Pt. Arena, CA at noon, heading north. There was one adult male fin observed.
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We headed out from Gig Harbor in our boat late this afternoon. Between Point Dalco and Vashon Island, we spotted the humpback reported earlier and spent an hour watching in the same area, as he/she was slowly circling and doing all the things whales do.
Gloria Hazelrigg Gig Harbor
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Extraordinary ballet of J Pod today off Salmon Bank. J-Pod reported north bound near Cyprus Island, seen off the ferry around 7:00p.m. this evening. Report called in by Mary Masters on her return home ferry trip, after winter. She works for Monterey Aquarium, is a volunteer for the MRC also works for Orcas Island Eclipse Charters as a naturalist.
Denise Wilk, Orcas Island
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We had an incredible day with J Pod today! The afternoon was spent off South Beach watching five [orcas] as they headed south and toward Salmon Bank Buoy. They did a lot of traveling south, then foraging and heading out into Haro Strait, only to turn and work back toward the beach. These were all J Pod females and youngsters. On our evening trip we found J Pod, grouped up and traveling around the south eastern tip of Lopez Island. The question was, will they go across Rosario and toward Deception Pass? Or up Rosario Strait? The whales got really active as they rounded the tip of Lopez. Then they split a little into sub groups, and yes! They headed up Rosario Strait! There were many tail slaps, a few breaches, some spy hopping, then more speedy travel. Ruffles had quite a crowd around him as he majestically came to the surface, and then slowly disappeared - going down, down, down. Another sub group with Polaris, J-28 was on the flank. On this surprisingly warm afternoon - evening it was such a pleasure to watch the whole family head north with good energy. It was easy to spot J-26, J-30, J-19, J-41, as well as J-16 and J-42. We left the J's at Bird Rocks in Rosario Strait at 6:35 p.m. and headed back to the west to Friday Harbor.
~Nan Simpson Naturalist - Western Prince Cruises
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J-Pod was foraging on the southwest side (near salmon bank) and we got an incredible show. The sun was shining, the air was warm, the sea was calm, and J-Pod was active! The Sea Lion began our encounter watching three females, but then turned closer to shore to be with the Kittiwake and a group of orcas they were observing. J-28, J-26, J-14, and J-42 were all confirmed in this group and just as we were approaching the Kittiwake an orca exploded out of the water in one of the closest breaches we've had yet! The whale conveniently jumped about 115 yards off the port side of the Kittiwake and about 150 yards in front of the Sea Lion!!! We believe it was J-26 who breached, but it happened so suddenly that we didn't get the greatest look at who it was. J-Pod has been good to us lately and we send them many thanks for such a great show!
Megan Young, Naturalist with San Juan Safaris
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Coming from Quartermaster Hbr. around 12:30 today we observed a large humpback working the current rips on the ebb. The whale would surface and breathe 3 or 4 times before sounding for 10 min. or so
Dave Stevens
MV Our Gig
Gig Harbor

May 23, 2008

48 deg. 42 min. N, 122 deg. 50 min. W. We saw the group of Orcas (likely J pod - sb) off Orcas Island between between Clark and Matia Islands at approximately 8:10 am while we were fishing for Spot Prawns. They were headed south east. It was a wonderful sight for us. The only other time I have spotted Orcas was 2001 off Whidbey Island between Whidbey and Mukilteo.
Trish
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Lime Kiln - 7 members of J pod passed through the study area milling, beginning at 1137 heading north. Turned around at 1210, headed south in the study area.
Bob Otis
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At 2155 PDT I've hear J pod calling on the Lime Kiln Hydrophone. At 22:00 there was some echo location. The calls, mostly S1, continues until 22.43 PDT.
Jan van Twillert Netherlands
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Early Friday evening from 5PM to 6:30PM; watched/enjoyed from theatre type setting on a sloping hill, a single gray whale. N.E. side of Polnell Point (Oak Harbor) is a half moon bay. Totally calm, as gray kept slowiy cruising along the half moon shoreline. Going one direction, then turning around and going along the half moon bay in opposite direction. Possibly, feeding on something, other, than ghost/sand shrimp. Some, but not much swooshing around as is usually observed, when feeding on shrimp. Maybe, needlefish, as I have seen grays before feeding on needlefish on Crescent Harbor side of Polnell Point.
Robert Stonefelt
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Susan Hetrick called with a sighting of about 6 orcas in Lummi Bay at 10:10 this morning. They were between Sandy Pt. and Lummi Island, swimming non-directional, just "happy to be where they are."
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Beam Reach auto email reports:
Begin With KW
Off San Juan Island near Lime Kiln Lighthouse Latitude:48.506 Longitude:-123.1557
Time:11:45:37
End With KW
Off San Juan Island 5 miles south of Cattle Pass
Latitude:48.4134 Longitude:-123.0796
Time: 14:31:54
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Mark from the Victoria Clipper called at 9:30 to report a gray whale in Admiralty Inlet, heading north, just south of Double Bluff, about 1 mile from shore.

May 22, 2008

We flew the Twin Otter survey last Thurs. Our opportunistic whale sighting effort was for about 45 min. along a saw-tooth pattern from Cape Flattery to James Island. We were restricted to within about 10-15 miles from shore and only encountered a few gray whales. No killer or humpback whales were observed. Sighting conditions were actually very good.
Ed Bowlby, Research Coordinator NOAA, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary
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Orca vocal and clicks on Lime Kiln Hydrophone. Very faint at 12:30 (local) now louder 12:40.
Stewart Macintyre
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You know its a good day when you get to take a beach stroll with a humpback whale. I went down to the South end of Vashon again around 1:30 today and sure enough saw spouts and some rolling pec fins just off Point Dalco. The water was absolutely flat, the tide was out and the whale was only about 50 feet off shore. As I hit that section of the beach there was not another person in sight. No boats either. Just me and a whale. I spent about 1/2 hour that way. The whale slowly moving along the shoreline and me walking along with him ( or her). As the tide changed, the whale moved a bit farther out and lucky me got to see some fabulous fluking. Watched until about 3:30 and at that point the whale had moved to the other side and was just off Point defiance.
Amy Carey Vashon Island
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J1, J26, J16, etc, in Boundry Pass at 5:30.
Capt. Jim Maya
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Beam Reach map links
Begin Beam Reach auto email report
With KW just south of Lime Kiln along San Juan Island
Latitude:48.5779 Longitude:-123.2008
Time: 14:42
End Beam Reach auto email report
With KW in Haro Strait just west of Speiden Channel
Latitude:48.646 Longitude:-123.2017
Time:15:42
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J Pod spent most of the day on the west side of San Juan Island. They were very spread out, fishing and traveling north slowly although they turned around several times. We got great view of Ruffles, J1 and and Slicks family, including the one year old and Mike.
Nancy Hardy, Naturalist
San Juan Safaris

May 21, 2008

I spent 45 minutes following the humpback down the beach, from 8:50 AM-9:35 AM) from the tip of Point Defiance (where it nearly came up to the shore) to Owen's Beach and then to the Point Defiance Boathouse and then off toward the middle of Commencement Bay and out of view.
Owen Atkins
Tacoma, WA
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We got positive IDs on J-1, J-8, J-16, J-42, J-26, and J-27. It was much easier to see them today because they were traveling together and moving slow. We began our encounter at 2pm about 1/2 mile off Lime Kiln Lighthouse and traveled with them for a while heading north, up the west side of San Juan Island. Little J-42 proved to be a favorite again as she popped up frequently in the middle of the pack. A point of interest: We learned from Gato Verde, the Beam Reach boat, that the orcas were not very vocal today (an unusual occurrence). There were no calls or clicks, which proved curious to the Beam Reach group. Like I've said before... every day is a new experience and we've barely scratched the surface of all there is to learn.
Megan Young, Naturalist (San Juan Safaris
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Jim Maya had J pod as far north as Turn Point, Stuart Island, then all the way back south to Land Bank, just south of Lime Kiln Lighthouse at 8:15 pm.
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Begin Beam Reach auto email report May 21:
With KW
Latitude:48.4561 Longitude:-123.0579
Time: 12:24:17
(Just off False Bay, south end of San Juan Island)
End Beam Reach auto email report May 21:
With KW
Latitude:48.6134 Longitude:-123.2074
Time: 17:36:13
(In Haro Strait just west of Henry Island)
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Amy Carey called about 3 PM today from the south end of Vashon Island to say she had seen the "mystery" whale, (so far identified as a juvenile humpback) that was first seen there April 13, unless there's another large whale cavorting in circles between Pt. Defiance and Vashon Island. Amy said the one she saw was at the entrance to the Narrows.
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Judy Moore of Greenbank, Whidbey Island called in a report of 2 gray whales apparently feeding about 100 yards from the beach off Greenbank in Holmes Harbor at 9:30 AM. She estimated that one was about 40' long and the other was about 25' long.

May 20, 2008

More on Trinidad, CA Transient orcas: I spoke with Mark and he said there were about 6-7 orca that he saw. The other images that he sent me are also of a poor quality so they are not going to help. He did describe one of the 2 males as having a "large chuck" out of the dorsal fin that left behind some light scarring. Sorry there isn't more detail.
Kerry Ross, Mad River Biologists, Eureka, CA
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Orca Network received a call from a reporter for the Eureka (CA) Times Standard about an orca that charged up on a beach and grabbed a harbor seal. Half of the whale's body was out of the water. The whale then tossed the seal away and slid back into the water. At least 3 juvenile orcas were nearby. Was it all a hunting lesson for the young ones? He said there were some reports of a larger group of orcas further offshore. Orcas are known to beach themselves to catch sea lions in Patagonia, Argentina and in the Crozet Islands in the Indian Ocean, but this is believed to be the first report of an orca grabbing a seal off a beach in North America. This occurred in front of about a dozen people who all tell the same basic story. The beach is called Indian Beach, in Trinidad Bay, about 20 miles north of Eureka CA, near the Humbolt Bay Marine Lab. The story will appear in the above paper tomorrow. No photos were taken as far as the reporter knows.
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Two adult grays put on quite a show this evening for an hour and a half or more before sunset. They were feeding about 30-50 feet from shore. There were quite a few shows of pectoral fins and flukes.
Peter DeLuca
Camano Island
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Windwalker Taibi called in a sighting of a gray whale off East Pt., Whidbey Island, heading south at 9 pm.
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About 11:30 I was down at Pt. Defiance and caught two quick glimpses of the mystery whale. I heard a blow earlier from Owen Beach but saw it from the Dalco lookout on the five mile drive. I couldn't tell what species but it wasn't a very large one. I also saw no tail while it dived. It was mid channel between Pt. Dalco and Pt. Defiance. A man who had been fishing from the beach came up for a better look and told me it had been swimming in circles all morning.
Bryan Owens
Tacoma

May 19, 2008

Scott Veirs called in a report of observing one gray whale in the kelp out side the entrance to Neah Bay the morning . They also observed at least 100 feeding pits in the sandy beach in front of Hobuck Resort, half way down Makah Bay.
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Asa Spade called in a sighting of two orcas from Mendocino Head CA. He saw 1 adult and one calf, milling in the same spot just outside the surf for 20 minutes, while several seals acted agitated. Location was N39.16.436 by W123.47.987.
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We saw just part of J pod off Iceberg Point, Lopez Island yesterday at about noon - I know we saw J26, J27, J30 (whose fin has really sprouted!), J16 with calf J42. Not sure who else was with this group, we did not see J1. A wonderful quiet day with them as they were moving slowly, spent a lot of time at the surface and were making their way south/southwest when we left them.
Darcie Larson
Naturalist on Clipper III
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We had a report of a small group of orcas (appx. 6-7) near Iceberg (Lopez Island). It was part of J-Pod! We had J14, J26, J27, J30, J40 and 2 others just rolling around on top of one another, pushing each other around, rolling in kelp, logging on the surface, sticking their noses out of the water, tail lobbing, and a couple of large surface percussives. Our afternoon trip we had J16, J26, and J42 about 8 miles south of the morning location (the rest of J-Pod was spread out over a 5-7 mile radius) and again it was so neat to see a family grouping just milling about somewhat aimlessly in the glassy waters. J42 gave us quite the treat as he breached 6 times!
John Boyd (JB)
Marine Naturalist, Western Prince
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Begin Beam Reach auto email report:
With KW
Latitude:48.3638
Longitude:-122.9474
Time:14:22:54
End Beam Reach auto email report:
With KW
Latitude:48.3307
Longitude:-122.9431
Time:18:34:49
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I believe the transients in Sansum Narrows on Monday were T20 and T21. I left them Sunday night off Coal Island(Swartz Bay) at 6:30pm and then picked them up again in Sidney Channel between James Island and Sidney Island at 8:30pm.
Simon @ Ocean Ecoventures
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Two Transients went south in Sansum Narrows between Salt Spring Island and Vancouver Island, BC between noon and 1 PM. One had a big dorsal fin. The other was small. They swam right by Burial Island, which was littered with many nice seal sausages hauled out on the rocks. The Transients paid no attention to these tasty morsels - obviously not hungry!
Tamar Griggs
Bold Bluff Retreat
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Susan Berta called at 7:30 AM from the Clinton- Mukilteo ferry reporting 2 gray whales heading west near the Clinton side, between the two ferry lanes.
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1100 - J pod was heading east off Iceberg.
Peter Hamilton
Lifewatch Boater Awareness Program
Life Whale and Dolphin Hotline

May 18, 2008

The "mystery" whale (that's yesterday's minke-like mystery whale, not the humpback off Pt. Defiance), IS exactly what I saw on Sunday morning, May 18, 10:41AM near the ferry line, between the Duwamish Head, Alki Point & Smith Cove Marina. (Although, there were 3!, one considerably larger than the other 2.) My guess is that they were Minkes? We maintained sight of them for about 15 minutes and got several good looks @ each via kayak.
crow
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Attached is a photo taken last weekend off of Seattle, just north of the Winslow/Seattle Ferry lane about in the middle of the Sound. This whale was swimming toward my boat and I saw it from about 250 yards away. I stopped / engine off and waited. The animal surfaced next to me heading 180 degrees to my course, about fifty feet to starboard. I was struck by the long body (maybe 35 - 40 feet) the flat back between the blow hole (sorry I know little whale terminology) and the mid back. It glided for about 1.5 - 2.5 seconds and then dove slowly. In diving it displayed it's small dorsal fin, but the tail didn't break the surface. Interesting fact was that the exhaled breath stank like a room full of herring (we were down wind of the whale). Standing at water level I could not see the underwater parts as the sun was to one side and therefore couldn't confirm diagonal strips on the side fins. My guess is that it was a Minke whale. Does the back and fin look compatible with that? I've boated for forty years in Puget Sound and the SJ's, this whale definitely seemed very different from female Orca and Dahl's porpoises. I once saw a similar whale in the middle of the Straits of Juan de Fuca but that was from a long way away. I appreciate any response.
Craig Rone
This does look like a minke, but minkes only get to about 26-28' long, so does that seem possible? It could be a juvenile fin whale if it's 35-40 feet, but they are pretty rare around here. Anyone have a diagnosis? -hg
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While sailing between Point Defiance Park and Vashon Island (Area 11 of Puget Sound) during the mid-afternoon I observed a large whale. The whale appeared to be dark blue or black in color, blew water high into the air several times, and circled the area for the hour I observed it. I believe the whale was a Humpback, but I am not an expert at whale identification. In any event, I was able to take a few photos of the whale's dorsal fin. I'm sure anyone aboard the Vashon Ferry the afternoon of May 18th also saw this whale.
Douglas Gelowitz
Redondo, WA
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Re: "lone Gray Whale" off East Pt. I was in my kayak around 6:15 along Bells Beach heading toward a boat in the cove, when all of the sudden, "WHhoooosh!" a gray whale exhaled right off my shoulder very close to shore heading south! I nearly jumped out of my kayak! I thought it looked like a calf and raced out deeper (gray being shoreside) to give it some room. I was also bracing for an adult, but it was alone- definitely a gray with the white crab patches/barnacles. The boat took off, probably thinking I was coming to report it, but they must have seen my surprise. Of course, I didn't have my camera.
Kathy Carr
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We encountered what were probably the same two grey whales reported by others around Mukilteo/Clinton ferry route on our way north in the morning.
Darcie Larson
Naturalist on Clipper III
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We saw a full tail on the 9am ferry out of Clinton. It was 30-40 feet right in front of my eyes on the starboard side of the ferry. Not sure if it was a grey or orca. They made an announcement on the ferry. It only happened once and we did not see other whales.
Pat Hamilton
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Boating off Northeast of Point Defiance, at about 1:45 PM observed at least one whale. This appeared to be a large whale, black with small dorsal fin and seemed to be traveling North from just West of the Gig Harbor entrance to the Southern tip of Vashon Island.
Eric Elgar
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J-Pod had been seen just around Alden Bank at the top of Rosario Strait. Once in Rosario, we noticed that the J's were spread out from side-to-side in a swath of maybe 1 to 1 1/2 miles across. It was so cool to see J22 Oreo traveling with her two kids Doublestuff (J34) and Cookie. J34 was feeling mighty frisky as he did several half-breaches, and one very large breach that had him completely out of the water. The big surprise of the day came when we were watching a small group of orcas and I noticed a minke whale swimming amongst the orcas. We last left the whales just at the northern end of Bellingham Channel.
John Boyd (JB)
Marine Naturalist, Western Prince
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Afternoon we saw J's out by Alden Bank (upper Rosario Strait).
Darcie Larson
Naturalist on Clipper III
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At 5AM a report came into our Hotline about orcas Heading North off Point Roberts. At 0645 I saw the end of some orcas moving fast Heading South off the Point. So did I miss Js? No. At 0845 a large number of orcas were also Heading South. This time some breaches 100 feet off shore. While Watch Watch Companies first found Js at Alden Bank at 1145 I was miles north of them with other Js. They all went into Rosario and I left them spread out in calm waters just East of Java Rocks at 1645.
Peter Hamilton
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On my way over on the 9:00 ferry from Mukleteo to Clinton I saw 2 gray whales spouting and moving slowly. I was able to see them again from the beach after I got off the ferry. They were close enough to the shore that I could hear them spouting. When I saw them on the beach they were between the beach and the ferry as the ferry traveled back to Mukleteo.
Beth Swanser
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We enjoyed seeing a lone gray whale at east point between 5:30 - 6:30 this morning.
Roger Clark
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11:30 am, we had just rounded Point Defiance coming from the south. Big blow from an unknown whale, though certainly not an Orca. We would estimate @ 1/3 mile off shore to the north of Point Defiance. We were approximately 75 yards north of the whale when it first blew. Estimate 20-30 feet long. Solitary as far as we could tell. Worked its way south around the point.
Mark Eide
The lone humpback has been seen in the same location recently. -hg
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1:30-2:30 ish p.m. - J pod off Lummi Island - very very spread out and heading south towards Rosario Strait and Lummi Rocks - couple of good size sprouter boys out there - wow!
Penny Stone
Lummi Island
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We headed out from Victoria across to the Haro Strait and approx. a couple of miles SE of Kelp Reef, at 1345, we just happen to come acrosss 2 lone Transients, one identified as T20 (and the other T21?). We proceeded to observe them as they headed north, and left them with other WW boats off the east side of Sidney Island at around 1445.
Tim Hunt
Orca Spirit/former Beam Reach student

May 17, 2008

Js were off SJI. A lone Minke whale Heading West off Point Roberts.
Peter Hamilton Some friends on the South end of [Vashon Island] called me at 3;40 with a report of the minke/humpback mystery whale. Sounds like it was in the same spot as the morning sighting. I'll try to go do some scouting tomorrow.
Amy Carey
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Orca Network received a call Monday AM from Gregory Gilbertson about a sighting of roughly ten orcas ~2:30 PM, approx. 25 miles west of Newport OR (240 degrees from Newport), in an area known as the "chicken ranch." He described them as hunting whales so these may have been Transients (or Offshores? or Residents?).
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J POD passing by Andrews Bay at 8:30 PM heading north very slowly. I was on my way out around 7:30 but the water got pretty rough, but by the time I saw them at 8:30, the water was flat calm again. Last saw them passing Kellett Bluff still going north!
John Boyd (JB), Chore-Bound Naturalist
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J pod was here. The pod traveled up west San Juan Island in the morning, turned around at Lime Kiln and made wonderfully close passes along the beach. Many calf spyhops, almost as many adult spyhops, lots of the spyhops? where they come way out of the water and fall backwards, tail lobs, tail slaps, and rolling over and rolling over each other. J27 (Blackberry) was doing many angled dives seemingly right on top of other whales. As they went south in the afternoon fighting the flood tide, they swam in place in some of the rip currents for up to half an hour or more. It seemed they were exhibiting lots of the behaviors you see in superpods.
Sharon Grace, San Juan Island
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Sighted a whale this AM approximately .75 nm west of the Tahlequah Ferry dock, Vashon Island. Solitary, inconspicuous blow, prominent dorsal fin, didn't show fluke when it dove - looked more like a minke but we did not see white sides.
Step Williford, M/V Saratoga Sue, out of Oak Harbor, WA
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Near Strawberry Point (NE Oak Harbor, Whidbey Island). Around 10:30 PM or so, I heard a sound like a neighbor opening/closing sliding door. When it happened 30 seconds later right in front of me I knew it was sound of a whale spout. Stepped outside tent and heard/saw puff of a third spout in light of a full moon. Neat stuff!!! Heard fourth and final spout as whale was just passing through heading southwest towards Polnell Point. Most likely a single gray as we have had prior gray visits this spring.
Robert Stonefelt (N.E. Oak Harbor)
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At 9:25 AM a gray whale swam by Langley, right along the drop off (it was low tide), traveling from southeast to northwest. The whale did not seem to be doing any feeding just traveling slowly along.
Veronica von Allworden, NW Langley

May 16, 2008

Regarding the Point Defiance "Mystery Whale," I believe I saw the same animal from afar on the afternoon of the 16th in the same area. I'm voting humpback; dorsal was too small/blunt to be a minke, and the shape of the back didn't strike me as a gray whale would. (/twocents)
Erick
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Js past East Point at approx. 2PM Heading towards Point Roberts.
Peter hamilton
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I was sailing with 3 friends yesterday evening around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m. and three of us sighted what appeared to be a fin whale. The whale (or whales--Ken saw one first and Mark & I saw one a few minutes later) was dark sable brown, very large, moving slowly on the surface for about 10 seconds. It dived, keeping its back low in the water, bending at the base of the tail without exposing its tail. At the break in its back (i.e., the flex point between the body and tail), a small, scimitar-shaped dorsal fin was seen clearly. The whale was very large, on the scale of a grey or humpback (which it did not resemble). Two of us have seen fin whales in the Bering Sea, so they aren't unfamiliar to us. Still, a live fin whale would be unusual in Puget Sound. Later that evening, I also saw an unusual orca whale, what I think might have been a lone female. It seemed unusually large for a female, but it had a very "bent" --scimitar-shaped-- dorsal fin, so I assumed it must be female. Its back was all black, no visible saddle, no notches or distinctive marks. (The light level was good enough to have seen a bright saddle, but maybe not a dark grey one.) It did not show its head or tail and I didn't see it again.At the time of the whale sightings, we were west southwest from Shilshole marina, slightly north of Murden Cove , in the south- bound shipping lane. Murden Cove is Degrees Minutes Seconds: Latitude: 473906N Longitude: 1223022W Decimal Degrees: Latitude: 47.65167 Longitude: -122.50611
Allison Reak (report forwarded by the Whale Museum)
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Spectacular day on Monterey Bay CA! Followed three Orcas, transients I assume, for a while, then had two VERY friendly humpbacks. The Orcas looked like a mom with a calf accompanied by a not yet full grown male.
Steve Johnston, Monterey Bay Aquarium
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We watched J pod foraging and playing a few miles off Saturna heading eastward towards Point Roberts. We got great looks at J-1 and J-26 as well as a group of unidentified J-Pod females. They seemed to be in high spirits and breached and spy hopped multiple times. We even got looks at a dozen Steller Sea Lions hauled out on Boiling Reef as well as Harbor Seals hauled out nearby.
Megan Young, naturalist (San Juan Safaris)
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We are seeing J Pod right out in front of my house, just south of Henry Island, headed north.Summer is here for a couple of days. 0836 hrs.
Capt. Jim Maya, San Juan Island
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Thanks to Jim's email, we tuned into OrcaSound and heard orca calls from 8:51-8:56 am, then a large ship passed by & the calls stopped.
Susan & Howard, Orca Network
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At about 1240, while surveying for marbled murrelets from R/V Rosi, I came across J pod passing by Iceberg Point heading towards San Juan Island. They were moving at about 5kts in classic "groups spread out" formation, probably occupying at least one square mile of water. I was able to see J19, J41, J16, J36, and J42 together with J26 a bit farther out, followed by the J11's, then the J22's and J17's together, while what I'm assuming were all of the J14's passed by about .5 miles away (I could only confirm J30 but he was with two other female-sized and a juvenile, which would make sense). Other animals were passing by well outside of binocular range. We left them as they were passing Long Island and approaching Middle Channel.
-Adam Ü USFS/CWR
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Sailing between Point Defiance and Vashon Is. at 2:45pm, one or two *(Minke's(?) were apparently feeding. Couldn't determine direction as it (or they) were coming up in different spots.
Dave Calhoun
In looking at the photos, and noting the location, we are thinking this might be the juvenile humpback whale that has been in the area and was recently spotted off Pt. Defiance. The fin, & the presence of a large spout make us lean more toward a humpback than a minke - but it's difficult to tell at this distance - sb
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A pod of orca surfaced around me in Ladysmith Harbor (south of Nanaimo, BC). They stuck with me from outside Transfer Beach through the narrows and all the way down to the sawdust barge pier at the mills, about 2 NM. Distance varied between 5 and 15 meters the entire way. 5 of them, I am pretty sure. A calf and an adult that always surfaced together, two adults that always surfaced together, and a single adult that was always by himself. Or there might have been two singles, but no way to be sure. They were short dorsal fin, by the way, and all seemed to have sort of lighter grey patch somewhat in front of the dorsal fin.
Stephen Newberg

May 15, 2008

Not an orca, but black, long, 2 fin - maybe a psueorca. 1 of them, off the south side of vashon. It was going in circles around that south end of colvos eating. - 6pm - 8pm and the previous week. Sorry - no photos, but we watched him for a couple hours and my father in law saw it last week in the same spot.
Kacy Patton
hmmm - could possibly be a Minke, or maybe the humpback that has been down that way? Did anyone else see this? sb
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2:20 pm: I just talked to Captain Pete on the Odyssey and they are with J Pod (2:00pm) about ½ mile south of the Lime Kiln lighthouse on the Westside of San Juan Island.
Erin Ancich, San Juan Excursions
Update at 3:25 pm: We have confirmation. We saw J19, J41, J16, J36 and J42 ½ mile south of the lighthouse on the West Side of San Juan Island.
Captain Pete, Odyssey,
Erin Ancich, San Juan Excursions
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Bill Applegate called Orca Network to report at least 2 orcas, observed from Joseph Whidbey State Park from 10-10:15 am. They were between NW Whidbey and Lopez Island, way out in the channel, heading SW toward Smith Island. There was one adult male and one female. The timing is right that this could have been some of the J's coming down from up north before swinging up the west side of SJI - Sb
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Orca Network received calls from Carolyln Mercer and Mary Pacher, at 3 pm and 3:05 pm, reporting a gray whale off Hidden Beach, N. of Greenbank. We got down to the beach at 3:25, and watched one gray feeding back and forth, in and out, until after 5 pm when we had to leave (it was still there feeding!). It didn't show its back very often, but from what we could see of the dorsal ridge and the flukes, we are pretty sure it was Dubnuk/#44. (see photo above - the left side of the fluke has a flattened tip with 3 distinctive white circles on it.

May 14, 2008

I was at Marina Beach Park in Edmonds around 8 pm when I happened to look out at the end of the pier, probably about 400-500 feet away. I saw a gray breaking the water in a slow leisurely roll, never showing its tail and heading North. All I saw was the back of its back, starting about a foot in front of the "bumps" and then continuing on through all of the "bumps". (I'm sure they have a proper name, but I'm too lazy right now to look it up). What I saw was probably about 6-10 feet long. It continued on, leaving my sputtering in amazement.
John
the bumps on a gray whale's back are called "knuckles" - sb
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I just got a reply from Graeme on the identity of the Transient orca sprouter. He said it was T73B and has not been seen for a few years. Also, I have been calling T90's juvenile T90A and I am wrong. I guess T90 did have a previous calf sometime (?) and lost it and her current juvenile is T90B.
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research
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Just thought I'd add a little more info about the Transients sighted off Victoria. It seems as though we picked up the T's where Dave Ellifrit left them. We had a 1pm trip and came out of Victoria Harbor and they were approx. 2 miles SW of the Ogden Pt Breakwater. They then hugged the shoreline and swam right up against the breakwater, with one of the individuals rolling over and giving the lucky people walking along the breakwall a nice view of its white underside. It was amazing to see them right at the tip of Ogden Pt at the mouth of Victoria Harbor. They then crossed the mouth of the harbor and headed in a general SW direction towards Albert Head.
Tim Hunt, Orca Spirit/former Beam Reach student
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Here is a bit more on the transients I was out on: I left Snug harbor at 1055-overcast and mostly calm- and got on scene around 1135 just west of the Chain Islets. The eight whales were tight and heading southwest at a medium speed. The whales present were T87, T88, T90, T90A, T124, T124D, T124E, and a sprouter who I don't remember seeing before. I will have to send a picture of him off to Graeme for an I.D. By around 1155, the whales were off the south tip of Trial Island still tight but had slowed down a bit. Most of the whales appeared to be resting but T124E and the sprouter were just slightly off to the side rolling around together. I saw a seasnake from those two that I think belonged to T124E so am pretty confident he is a young male. I left the whales with a couple Victoria boats at 1238 about 2 miles southwest of Trial Island. The whales were still tight and slowly heading southwest.
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research
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We traveled all the way to Albert Head, west of Victoria Harbor. J-Pod had traveled too far north, but the Transients were in reach. After a super calm journey across the Haro Strait, past Discovery Island, and beyond Victoria Harbor, we made it to our prince charming (a large Transient male). Our guests got some amazing views of the group of 6- 8 Transients, which included multiple females, a juvenile, an unknown sprouter (juvenile male), and an adult male. The orcas appeared to have caught a Harbor Seal because there was an oil slick in the water just behind them and the sea gulls were going nuts, diving in and out of the water. The orcas gave us some fabulous views as they surfaced just off Albert Point, providing the perfect backdrop for photos.
Megan Young, Naturalist (San Juan Safaris)
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6-8 Transient orca picked up near Trial Isle are seen here 2 NM NNW of Albert Head, 1420hr . Observed again around 1615hr 0.3 NM offshore William Head. Left them last 1630hr 0.5 NM North of Race Pass heading for the passin ebb current. I'm still reading the survey (thnx Big Blue) so I only have T87 ID'd.
Chris Zylstra, Victoria
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We found J-Pod coming through Active Pass at 1:15 p.m. We had heard that they were near Enterprise Reef up at the top of Swanson's Channel, so our route today took us to the east entrance of Active Pass in the Strait of Georgia. We decided to wait in Miner Bay and as soon as we settled in, we sighted a huge breach as the lead whale came "around the bend" in Active Pass. Most of the whales stuck close to the north side of the pass, with a few stops for foraging off the ferry landing. We floated along in the current, watching as what must have been the entire family, picked up speed and moved on, out into the Strait of Georgia. Ruffles and Granny went way up to the north, an outer escort of two? The rest of J-Pod moved along in smaller sub pod groups, stopping to tail slap, pec slap, do a few belly rolls, and then continue on across toward the Fraser River. As we left, about 2:15 p.m., I noticed J-26, Mike, as he stopped to do a fast turn around, some foraging behavior, and then onward toward the river.
~Nan Simpson, Western Prince
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J's are apparently in Enterprise Channel [upper Swanson Channel) heading north at 1225.
Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
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I've heard we had transients out today, and J-Pod was heading back north up Swanson, and through Active Pass.
John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Friday Harbor
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Dave Ellifrit is with some Transient orcas off Trial Island at 12:25 pm.
Ken Balcomb, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island

May 13, 2008

I was driving into Langley village, just passing Overlook when I saw spouts so I dropped down to the marina and walked out along the pier. They (gray whales) were cruising along mid channel, heading south at a leisurely pace, about 200 meters off shore.
Sue Morrow Flanagan, Bayview, Whidbey Island
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Beam Reach met up with J-pod about a nautical mile south of Bird Rocks in Rosario Strait between 2:00 and 2:30pm. We followed them south as they hugged the shore of Lopez Island in a rather spread out fashion. We observed lots of exciting surface behaviors such as pectoral slapping, tail slapping, breaches, half breaches and spy hopping. We had deployed a hydrophone array off the stern of our vessel, the Gato Verde, consisting of three hydrophones as well as a high frequency hydrophone, also off our stern. The whales were not vocalizing for at least 45 minutes when we first got to them, luckily, however, the pod became very acoustically active for a short period of time, emitting a large amount of echo location clicks, S1, S3, and S4 calls, and surprisingly, an unusual amount of whistles. They soon fell silent again and intermittently made echo location clicks and S1 calls. As the whale watching fleet slowly left the vicinity, the whales became more and more spread out and we left them at 5:30pm near the Salmon Bank buoy. They seemed to be milling non- directionally, though we got a message from Orca Spirit stating that they were slowly moving west when they left the scene at around 7:00pm.
Dominique, writing for Beam Reach
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We saw J-Pod in Rosario Channel in three distinct groups slowly heading south. In the lead group was the very recognizable and distinctive ruffled dorsal fin of J-1 Ruffles, who was surrounded by 10-12 of his family clan, including his mom J-2 Granny. We watched them for awhile as they made slow, lazy surfacings with an occasional tailslap. Then we moved to watch the back group of whales which included J-22 Oreo, her two youngsters (Double Stuff and Cookie), as well as J27 Blackberry. This group was a bit more boisterous, with Blackberry pushing Doublestuff around on the surface a couple of times. Then J27 gave us a nice viewing of his belly as he swam upside down for a bit. The whales were spread out probably over 1 mile as they slowly made their way down the Strait.
John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Western Prince
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The Beam Reach students/staff with Marla Holt aboard are with J pod as of 2:19 pm viewing breaches and tail lobs, but hearing no vocalizations. The pod is traveling around S. Lopez Island heading NW.
Scott Veirs, Beam Reach
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J pod were found near the bottom of Rosario Strait.
Peter Hamilton, Lifeforce Founding Director

May 12, 2008

We had a few reports of killer whales in the Strait of Georgia last week: 12-15 killer whales seen from the Duke Point to Tsawwassen ferry on several trips during the evening (probably J pod?)
Alana Phillips, B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network
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One Humpback Whale spotted off of Owen Beach at Point Defiance Park Tacoma Wa. 8:30 p.m.. Whale traveled back and forth approx. 100ft off shore- Departed heading toward Dalco Passage.
Tyler Budge
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Derek Whitmarsh called to report three gray whales off Pebble Beach, SW Camano Island, heading north up Saratoga Passage, less than 100 yards offshore at 6:53 pm, headed north.
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Two gray whales passed by our house(south of Mabana) about 8PM. In the clear flat calm water, you could see the sand plume as they fed. They settled down for a real feast at the Mabana Road.
Barbara Brock, Camano Island
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Today we were treated to a half-hour show of two greys feeding off of our high bank, about half way between Pebble Beach and Camano Head, on Camano Island. They have been cruising by us the past few days, but today about 5:30 pm they stayed, swimming back and forth below us, delighting us with lots of blows & fins.
Peg Boley, South Camano Island
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Ideal conditions to spot quite a group of Pacific White Sided Dolphins kind of meandering around slowly, as if just taking a break. As we began moving parallel to the group, they decided that is was playtime and made a bee-line for our boat. It was amazing seeing these creatures darting around the bow of the boat, gliding along almost effortlessly. Then they'd let the wake catch up to them and would surf in the waves, only to shoot forward back to our bow. It was truly a humbling sight to see that they chose to interact with us for a few minutes, then they decided to go off elsewhere, so we continued on our way knowing we had just encountered a rare interaction. It was truly magical!
John Boyd (JB) Marine Naturalist, Western Prince
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Adam U told me about seeing some Pacific White Sided Dolphins down near False Bay (SW San Juan Island). We zoomed on down to Pile Pt. and got our the binocs. After a half hour search we found them just north of Eagle Pt. and had a great 45 minutes watching them play, feed and travel east along the shore.
Capt. Jim, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island
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Lifeforce received a report to our Whale and Dolphin Hotline that approx. 20 orcas were in Georgia Straight heading south off the Fraser River, BC. We confirmed that it was J pod when they passed Lighthouse Marine Park, Point Roberts, WA at dusk. J's spent nearly 3 peaceful days in BC waters. Off the park they were moving fast and did two great breaches.
Peter Hamilton, Lifeforce Founding Director
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Nancy Nolan called Orca Network at 3:45 pm to report a whale in Saratoga Passage, off Baby Island Heights, heading south toward East Pt. and Langley. She said it was close in, she heard it blow and saw the flukes, probably a gray whale?
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Capt. Jim Maya called Orca Network at 1:45 pm to report 8 Pacific White-sided Dolphins playing in the wake of his boat off South Beach, SW San Juan Island today. These are very acrobatic and fun dolphins to watch - he sent us some photos.

May 11, 2008

At about 2:45 we were out kayaking and spotted a gray whale. The whale was headed east through the passage between Point Defiance and Vashon Island. We weren't close enough to see any identifying features.
Melissa Negretti, Tacoma
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We didn't get an exact time, but approximately 5pm two grey whales slowly worked their way along the south end of Camano Island, south of Pebble Beach; they were also spotted yesterday morning heading north. Most of our sightings this Spring have been one or two whales heading south to the Gedney/Hat Island area. Perhaps they travel between Gedney and Camano each day to feed?
Peg Boley, South Camano

May 10, 2008

The Center for Whale Research reports J pod was off the Fraser River entrance, and almost to Lion's Gate Bridge in Vancouver by nightfall.
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Single Gray whale visited us approximately 1 PM. Moving east along the southern edge of Gedney/Hat island. Probably 150 yards offshore, surfaced within 50 feet of our boat -- quite a show and surprise!
Brian Fleming
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J Pod off Fraser River, Strait of Georgia. We located J Pod at approximately 11:30 AM, offshore of the Fraser River. They were headed south at the time, and very spread out. They did a few directional changes in the time that boats were with them, and were last seen on our second outing at approximately 3:30 PM, heading Northwest from Point Grey, Vancouver. We observed several foraging lunges, and lots of pursuit behaviour, so hopefully they were finding lots to eat.
Joan Lopez, Naturalist, Vancouver Whale Watch
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Our operator took this photo of Jpod at 5PM in waters off the North Arm of the Fraser River, BC.
Peter Hamilton, Lifeforce Ocean Friends
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Orca Network received a call from Tom Quigley, reporting at least 3 - 5 orcas off Depoe Bay, OR at 10 am, heading north.
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Barbara Anderson of Camano Island called Orca Network at 1:53 pm to report 3 Gray whales feeding close in off Pebble Beach, SW Camano Island.
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12:15pm - Single Grey whale off of Arroyo Beach in W Seattle, moving quickly to the south toward 3 tree point. Maybe 50 yds offshore. Couldn't get the camera fast enough to catch it fluking.
Jennifer Barwick
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I looked out our office window this morning, picked up my binoculars, and immediately spotted a spout out in Saratoga Passage!! One Gray whale was mid-channel, closer to the Camano Island side, heading north at a pretty good pace at 11:25 am. I first saw it just north of Camano Island State Park.
Susan Berta, Orca Network, Greenbank, Whidbey Island
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Windwalker Taibi called Orca Network at 10 am to report two Gray whales coming in to the beach at East Pt (Saratoga Psg, near entrance to Holmes Harbor). There were some kayakers nearby. Then emailed us this update: Well, the two grays that we saw turned out to be three. They moved off pretty fast, so we didn't get pictures. We did get a look at one that was a much lighter color then any Gray I've seen before. Maybe it was the lighting, but I don't think so. The kayakers I mentioned in my phone call are definitely a bit of a problem. They just don't have a clue about the law. But, lots of folks were yelling at them from the shore, so I hope they got the point. Have a great weekend - what a treat!
Windwalker Taibi, Whidbey Island
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A gray whale just past by Langley at 7:35 to 8:15 AM, moving from the SE to NW and feeding close to the shore.
Veronica von Allworden, NW Langley 8:00am, 3 grays feeding north end of Port Susan.
Gary Lingenfelter

May 9, 2008

We had reports in the Strait of Georgia of 8+ killer whales (6+ adults and at least 2 calves) off Powell River, heading S.
Alana Phillips, B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network
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Ken Balcomb and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research found J pod spread out at mid-day (12:12-3:56 p.m.) heading north in Haro Strait. All accounted for, except J43 who has been missing all of this year and is presumed dead.
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At 5:30pm, flying in a small plane at 3000 ft I saw about 4 whales. One looked about 2/3s the size of the others. They were stationary. Not Orcas. Maybe grey? From my point of view they looked white. Location was between 1 mile south of Camano Island State park.
Rodney Tong
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J's are back and all present except J43 (as noted in an earlier report - unfortunately this new J pod calf was last seen and photographed Nov. 24th off Whidbey Island - sb). They looked fat and healthy yesterday, but were very spread out.
Ken Balcomb, Senior Scientist, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
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I'm very pleased to hear a few calls on the hydrophone again (started at 14:38 and continuing now - 14:52 @ Lime Kiln). Val passed on this sighting report from Shann of the Western Prince: J pod heading north at Eagle Point this morning at 11am. I'll upload some recordings to OrcaSound shortly. Update: Scott called in at 3:40 pm reporting J pod calls on the OrcaSound hydropone, the calls began at 3:29 pm.
Scott Veirs, Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School
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Just talked to Capt Mike on our boat and they are with the whales (J pod) right now - 2:13 pm - off lime kiln.
Colleen, San Juan Safaris
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Noon, Gray at Kayak Point moving south. Neighbor said he saw 3. 11:30pm, heard at least 1 feeding in front of my house in the cove just north of Kayak Point.
Gary Lingenfelter
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We just saw a gray whale 1/4 to 1/2 mile offshore, just north of meadow point (golden gardens) in seattle and heading south. 9:00 PM. As far as we could tell there was only one whale.
walt & nan spady, Seattle
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Orca Network received a call from someone reporting a lone small gray whale off the WA coast near Kalaloch at 5:45 pm.
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Two gray whales currently (7:15 PM) feeding in the shallows off Mabana Rd (SW Camano Isl). We just got back on Camano after being gone for several days, and our neighbors told us that last night about the same time, several grays were feeding in the shallows in front of the house, also several nights prior.
Barbara Brock, Camano Island
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Orca Network received a call from Eric (?) reporting 3 - 4, possibly more, orcas 400 yards off Bullman Beach, which is about 1.5 miles east of the eastern boundary of the Makah Nation, between Neah Bay & Clallam Bay, at 5:30 pm. They were heading west, there were 3 males.
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9:00am, 2 grays feeding north of Kayak Point, moving north towards Warm Beach (Port Susan).
Gary Lingenfelter

May 8, 2008

While we were in Coupeville looking for the Gray whale in Penn Cove today, we met some folks who relayed a sighting of two orcas in Penn Cove on May 8th at 6:30 pm in front of the Mad Crab Restaurant.
Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network
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We had reports in the Strait of Georgia of 15-20 killer whales off Entrance Island, Nanaimo, heading NW, and 8+ killer whales (6+ adults and at least 2 calves) off Powell River, heading N.
Alana Phillips, B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network
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A friend of ours had stayed the night in his boat there and his Uncle was with him. His Uncle told us he was up late and heard a [gray] whale feeding nearby for a long time. He said it sounded very large. He could hear the blow sounds and the feeding sounds. Anyway, that was late into the night right next to the Langley Marina.
Lynda Imburgia, Langley
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Just a quick report that I heard a few transient calls between about 11:50 and midnight PDT on OrcaSound. The first couple were very loud and squawky -- at first I thought it was a great blue heron getting surprised and eaten by something! The subsequent calls were spaced a few minutes apart, rapidly grew fainter, and sounded like transient calls.
Scott Veirs, Beam Reach Marine Science and Sustainability School
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Heard a Gray feeding and blowing tonight at 9:30 pm near the shore off Edgecliff, just west of Sandy Point.
Gail Fleming, Langley
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5:30 PM - Saw large gray whale off of Langley 100 yards out traveling SE. Later - 6:30 pm, walking along the Langley waterfront we saw what appeared to be mother and child off of the Camano Island side.
Wayne & Linda Furber
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At 5:30 PM a gray whale swam by from northwest to the southeast past NW Langley. The tide was still pretty far out and the whale was just past the drop off doing deep dives and showing its fluke. The whale stopped in front of Langley at about 5:45 and in fifteen minutes it had sky hopped three times! That's the first time I'd seen a whale spy hop- it was wonderful. Of course I did not have my camera, by the time I had it the whale was headed to the SE (6:05 PM), I got one shot of its back and I think it is whale # 723.
Veronica von Allworden, Langley
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We were on the 1 pm Mukilteo/Clinton ferry, and saw a whale watch boat and two spouts off Camano Head from about 1-1:15 pm. We drove over to Sandy Pt. south of Langley, to discover the two [gray] whales (and the boat, giving the whales lots of room) had moved south and were off the west side of Hat/Gedney Island. They were feeding VERY close to the shoreline! We watched them from 1:40 - 1:50 pm, they seemed to be slowly heading south as they fed.
Susan Berta and Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island
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We have had two greys off our beach on Edgecliff Drive, Langley, just west of Sandy Point for about 90 minutes (8-8:30 am) at this writing. Appears to be a female with a youngster.
Dan Prewitt, Edgecliff Drive, Langley
Note - according to Cascadia Research, the local whales that feed in Saratoga Passage tend to be adult males rather than females with calves. However, one of the whales is smaller, and is often mistaken for a calf -sb
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About 3:45 pm I spotted what looked like a minke heading north bout 1/4 mile south of Point Wells (near Edmonds). It was about 1/4 mile off the beach. I saw it surface twice so got a pretty good look at it thru the glasses.
Dan Leyde, Richmond Beach
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I believe I saw a Minke whale. I saw the rear portion with the small dorsal fin as it rose out of the water. It was much smaller than an orca or a gray whale. Black or dark gray. I saw it just north of Rolling Bay on Bainbridge Island, and just south of Faye Bainbridge State Park. It was about 150 yards off-shore, travling north along the shoreline at 11:15 am.
Spencer Lemons

May 7, 2008

This was an amazing evening for gray whales! I thought they had finished feeding here NW of Langley but, at about 5:30 PM we heard a whale breathe and then accompanying splashing of a whale close into shore feeding. Sure enough it was Patch. He stayed for almost an hour and then suddenly took off very fast to the southeast. He was shallow and literally left a wake. We watched him head out to deeper water toward Camano Head and then at 6:30 PM we saw another whale blow off in the distance. The two whales met almost mid channel between Langley and Camano Island. They spent about 15- 20 minutes sort of milling about. At 6:50 they began to head back to the NW and 7:00 PM both whales were feeding side by side NW of Langley. They continued to work their way to the NW feeding and then swimming out to deeper water, then back in to feed. We thought they had left but at 8:30 PM they were back NW of Langley. At 9:45 PM they were still here feeding. It was wonderful to see them again!
Veronica von Allworden, NW Langley
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A repeat performance of the day before, a large Gray was feeding close to shore at 6:30 am just north of Kayak point, moving north toward Warm Beach (Port Susan). Don't know ID's but saw two brushstroke-like markings on either the top of left fluke or bottom of right fluke.
Gary Lingenfelter, Kayak Point
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Another report of T20 and (apparently) T21 -- same place (Eastern entrance to Sooke Basin) , close to the same time, in fact 50 hours later. Animals were almost exactly on top of the point where I had marked them on May 05. Time of sighting was 15:42 and seas were 6ft.-plus at in a roaring flood current.
Chris Zylstra, Victoria B.C. Canada
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T20 and T21 going West off Sooke this afternoon in 5to 6 ft. seas at 1455.
Ron Bates, MMRG, Victoria B.C. Canada

May 6, 2008

Around 6:00 p.m I looked out and saw a lone (gray) whale outside my window feeding in front of my house. I am on Witter Beach (SE Whidbey) and face directly east toward Hat Island and Everett. He hung around for quite awhile making his way south.
Sharon Wandler, Whidbey Island
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Orca Network received a call from Cheryl Uberman of California, she observed one male orca from the Timber Cove Inn, 90 miles north of San Francisco. It was several hundred yards offshore, possibly hunting, at 8:30 pm, then it headed out to sea.
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Derek Whitmarsh of Pebble Beach, SW Camano Island, called Orca Network to report 2 gray whales heading south, closer to the Camano side of Saratoga Passage, at 3:35 pm.
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One Gray feeding in shallow water between Kayak Point and Warm Beach (in Port Susan) at 7:30am. Moving north.
Gary Lingenfelter, Kayak Point

May 5, 2008

Orca Network received a call this morning from Chris Peterson, reporting a sighting of orcas off the N. end of Texada Island, B.C Gulf Islands. There were at least 3 orcas, near Rebecca Rock, observed from 11-11:30 am.
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1204 hr - 1300hr. Bull orca T20 and (another T?) spotted in 3 ft. seas (4 ft. and building by the time we left the animals) approx. 2 NM offshore of Sooke Bluffs (Eastern entrance to Sooke Basin) at 1204hr. Current was a strong flood at Race Rocks but, further west and offshore, there was still a river of ebb current that the Westbound Transients sought out and rode West (of course dragging us into more exciting seas as time wore on). Left the animals near 1300hr approaching Otter Pt., still 2 plus NM offshore. Behaviour: 3-4 min dives between 3-4 minute "surfacings" (time near surface). No apparent hunting; animals traveling 4-6 Kn. (S.O.G).
Chris Zylstra, Victoria B.C.

May 4, 2008

Sighting began at 12:45, 1 gray (#49) milling, traveling north bound, off the shallows NE of Gedney Ils. Second gray spotted at 12:50 much further north, SW of Tulalip. Sightings ended at 13:11.
Kwasi, Salish Sea Charters

May 3, 2008

I just received a few more pictures and details about last Saturday's orca sighting in Newport.
Jim Rice, Newport OR: Last Saturday I stepped out on to our balcony and saw a big dorsal fin then a couple more. I counted 5 total. One big, three medium and one smaller. They were circling and splashing in the area shown in the photos (see above). We could hear them blow as they came up. I did not see the seals, but one man said that there were a couple of seals in the middle of them. There were 3 other seals that were up hiding up on the rocks on shore. We took the 3 pics from the balcony. I headed down to get pics close up, but by the time I got there the orcas were headed back out toward the ocean.
Allan Best, Newport, OR
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There was a report by at least 3-5 people that on opening day of shrimping season they saw a killer whale eating a sea lion just north of Ayock Beach. It happened about 8:45. I did not see it.
Elaine M. Wiley, Gypsy Cove, Hood Canal, WA
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We received several photos of the Orcas reported Saturday morning in the Yaquina River, Newport OR, along with an additional report (which leaves no doubt that they were Transients!).
From Jim Rice: I've received this additional piece of information about Saturday's orca sighting: "I was out at S. Jetty this evening and ran into a young man walking the road who saw the orcas kill at least one harbor seal this morning. He lives near the start of the S. Jetty road. He thought there were 5 orcas, and they killed the seal on the south side between the bridge and the finger jetty. Barry"
Jim Rice, Stranding Coordinator, Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network, Marine Mammal Institute, OSU
Orca Network shared Angi's photos (which weren't great ID shots, but one had some saddle patches) with researchers, and Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research replied: I will go way, way out on a limb here and take a GUESS that this MIGHT be T49C and T50. The fin shape is right and I think I can believe that I see nicks where they should be. I believe both of those whales have been photographed down that direction before too. Other than that, I can't say for sure!
Dave Ellifrit, Center for Whale Research, San Juan Island
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Heard it through the grapevine that a group of Orcas was supposedly going through Active Pass.
John Boyd, San Juan Island
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We observed single gray whale pass through Mariner's Cove (near Strawberry Point) and feed very close along the shoreline at 7PM Saturday evening. A lot of swirling around with flippers exposed for 15/20 minutes before heading south towards Polnell Point.
Robert Stonefelt, Oak Harbor
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Our first whale sighting began at 12:12 - The small/juvenile Humpback NE of Possession Pt. (N 47' 54.195 W 122' 21.995). The whale was traveling south bound, taking two to three breaths before diving. The sighting ended at 12:27, the whale did not fluke. Our next sighting began at 13:07 - 2 grays moving SSW of the dolphin day marker E of Gedney Island (N 48'00.268 W 122'15.863). Then a third Gray whale spotted at 13:15. All three whales were foraging in the shallows, with pectorals and flukes out of the water. One whale was #49. We left the whales at 13:35
Kwasi, Salish Sea Charters
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Orca Network received a call from Dave Metz of Newport, OR at 10:10 am, he was observing 3 orcas swimming up the Yaquina River in Newport. They went 200-300 yards upriver, nearly to the Newport Bridge, then turned & were starting to swim back down river. He referred Angie to us, who was nearby watching the orcas - she first saw the orcas at 10:00 am as she was driving over the Newport bridge. She followed them along the jetty and took some photos which she will send to us. It is likely these are Transient orcas looking for a seal or two.
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Orca Network received a call from Kwasi Addae of Salish Sea Charters at 12:15 pm, with a report of the juvenile humpback that's been hanging around lately. It was off Possession Pt, South Whidbey Island.

May 2, 2008

Heard it through the grapevine that a group of Orcas were seen over near Port Angeles.
John Boyd, San Juan Island
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The T100's, T101's, T124's and T90 with T90B (15 animals) head east past Race Rocks on Friday evening. They were first picked up near Pillar Point at 3:30 p.m.
Mark Malleson, Victoria, B.C.
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(1) very large Gray whale, west Camano Island 1/2 mile north of Onamac Beach, Observed from High Bank Waterfront. First seen 5:55 PM and was still at location @ 6:15 PM moving north and south within 1/4 mile feeding.
Tom & Vicki Perry, Camano Island
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T14 tail slapping away near Sooke! Curious to know just how many T's were turned up 3-4 NM West of Crescent Bay (Olympic Peninsula) today -- sounded like quite a few (around 1600hr).
Chris Zylstra , Victoria B.C.
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2 minkes observed at Hein Bank exhibiting feeding (lunging with multiple changes of direction) at 1040-1120 and again from 1440-1515. Minkes were on the Southeast end of the bank where bait-balls were also observed and a few sports fishermen were having some good luck bottom fishing.
Chris Zylstra, Victoria B.C.
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I should be sleeping, but am listening to the Orcasound hydrophone and it is 1:34am. I am hearing whales and I think they sound like transients!
Annika, Shoreline, Wa.
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Yes, it was T calls at 0133-35 off Lime Kiln.
Ken Balcomb, Senior Scientist, Center for Whale Research, Friday Harbor

May 1, 2008

T14 at Beechey Head (East Sooke park), 1030hr.
Chris Zylstra , Victoria B.C.
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T14 was picked up again today, this time back on his own. He was first spotted at 10:10 a.m. cruising through the kelp forests of East Sooke Park. He then continued east through Race Passage and crossed Victoria's waterfront (see above photo). He passed by Trial Island at 5:00 p.m. and went through Oak Bay. I last saw him exiting Baynes Channel going north past Ten Mile Pt. at 6:45 p.m.
Mark Malleson, Victoria B.C.
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Probable grey whale spouting just off Camano Head (S. Camano Island) visible from above the Langley marina 10:40 AM May 1. Appears to be one individual. It was heading slowly northerly and disappeared behind the east side of Camano by around 10-15 before 11 AM.
David Daye, Langley, WA