September 2015 Whale Sightings

Click here for Map of September 2015 whale sightings.

September 30
L122 is a boy! Oh Boy! They came through President's Channel which was a first for me! We were skunked on All Aboard Sailing in the morning by fog. But then, after hanging with a humpback, meeting up at sunset with the Js, Ks and Ls south of Flattop was just... incredible. More breaches than I've ever seen... and L91 rolled around her calf L122, less than a month old, to reveal he is a boy. (we await official confirmation from the Center for Whale Research) -Barbara Bender

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Tonight was one of those night's that we dream about out here ... Let me paint the picture for you in words: forty plus resident orcas traveling up the Orcas Island coastline, socializing, breaching, syphoping, cartwheeling, and surfacing in respiratory synchronicity in the late afternoon sun. Backlit blows, water that was like glass, my best friend on board, and the sound of their exhalations carrying on for miles like the harmonic sound of water dripping on pebbles. There's nothing that get's me quite like the "koof, koof, koof" of a pod of orca surfacing all at the same time, displaying ties of social familiarity and family unity. They're so close to one another - neurologically programed to take care of each other with an innate sense of family that exceeds our human ties. To them, this social and tactile behavior that we're fortunate enough to witness is vital for their survival. It's an incredibly powerful thing. Humans could learn so much from these black and white mystics. I will stop at nothing to protect these orcas and try to bring back their primary food source, Chinook/King salmon so that our lives will continue to be enriched by their presence. We need to do our part so that they're around for generations to come. -Heather MacIntyre

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5:25 p.m. - sporadic calls on Lime Kiln hydro.
5:15 p.m. - Orcas heading past Lime Kiln Lighthouse. (webcam) -Kim Merriman

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5:00 p.m. - Amazing huge group orcas (est. about 20 or more of them) passed through breaching and heading west between Orcas Island and Sucia Island over a period of about 1 hour! -Mindy Blaski

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4:00 p.m. - Large orca pod sighted, feeding and traveling. The orcas were traveling westward in the waters between Orcas Island and Sucia Island, directly north of Point Thompson. -Sig Snelson

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3:35 p.m. - My husband and I were heading towards Sucia Island. About 1 mile south of Matia Island we noticed several boats stopped, so we slowed down and lo and behold we saw a pod of orcas heading north and two going south. This was my first siting while on our own boat. Loved seeing a little one following its Mama.... -Susan Waters

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7:15 p.m. - Woo hoo! First orca sighting of the season. I think T's, 6 orcas including a large male and baby headed slowly north past Dilworth - Vashon. They were traveling pretty close to shore. -Aimee Demarest

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6:50 p.m. - Three Orcas just passed by Dilworth heading towards Point Robinson, Vashon. -Kelly Keenan

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6:49 p.m. - Orcas just passed Dilworth on Vashon, headed south. Think I hear more. -Laura Daughenbaugh

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5:24 p.m. - Just saw them! Heading north - I am at the north end of Lincoln Park! -Kristin Jones

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4:00 p.m. - today saw 3 orcas (I think) at Haines Wharf (Edmonds) traveling slow/average rate north towards Meadowdale County Beach.. Unable to determine if any males. -Jennifer Love-Talley

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7:00-9:30 a.m. - Small pod (5-6?) on Possession bar (south Whidbey) this morning , going in every direction, actively chasing/feeding. Milled around for several hrs. One large male, foggy and 3-400 yards away. -RognSue Allen Ford

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5:54 p.m. - humpback turned westerly and now out further from shore off north Edmonds (south of Possession Point) 5:42 p.m. - humpback heading north close to shore north Edmonds. -Stu Davidson

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5:20 p.m. - There's a whale right now in Edmonds 1.6 miles north of downtown next to the sailboat. Saw the tail, few spouts. - AnaLisa Gerbig

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4:27 p.m. - lucky me, just parked at Sunset Ave in Edmonds and humpback straight out in the middle between here and Kitsap, heading north. -Michelle Goll

September 29
We spent all day with the majority of the southern residents in the Strait of Georgia. Sunset trip with the staff was the highlight though! Awesome trip! Big mixed groups of J's, K's and L's including the newest one, L122. The vocals were insane! especially at sunset....it was a pretty surreal setting sitting at sand heads at sunset with whales everywhere squawking away, man, are we lucky to have the opportunity to do this every day. -Gary Sutton

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L41 Mega this afternoon off San Juan Island. He's such a beautiful creature. -Heather MacIntyre

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What a great day on the Chilkat! Captain Trifecta took us to Port Townsend, then we found the T049A's (all 4), stopped by whale rocks on the way to Hannah Heights where we found L Pod Resident orcas, and on the way back we found two humpbacks whales!! -Janine Harles

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3:55 p.m. - Blows appeared a mile or two north of Point No Point, still heading south. Appeared to be 4 or 5, including one big male. -Howard, ON

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3:20 p.m. - Orcas at Bush Pt. Whidbey Is. Heading south. -Dave Anderson

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T049As on a kill, South Lopez-Iceberg area. -Janine Harles

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6:51 p.m. - whale blows east of PNP. Definitely two whales! Same general location. 6:30 p.m. - humpback has moved north and should be directly east offshore of Point No Point several miles. As seen from north Edmonds 5:45 p.m. - Watching big Blows (single humpback I think) close to Kitsap side south of Point No Point (PNP) a couple miles+. -Stu Davidson

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Fin Whale near McArthur Bank -Mark Malleson

September 28
Tonights beautiful encounter with the J14 and L4 matrilines. We watched the two groups join up in Haro Strait and form one huge 'cuddle puddle'. It was great to see the youngsters socializing together too! Towards the end, we even got to see L95 and J27 chasing each other at high speeds - so cool! -Heather MacIntyre

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3:48 - Various calls on Lime Kiln hydro now. -Kim Merriman

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3:24 p.m. - Orca off Lime Kiln Point State Park visible on the webcam! -Janet Helton

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2:25 p.m. - Orca on Lime Kiln! -Katy Rudolph

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T10B west bound past Clover Point, Victoria in the morning. -Mark Malleson

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2:32 p.m. - North Puget Sound - Leaving him as he heads back towards Point No Point.
2:22 p.m. - humpback feeding still near shore 1/4 mile or less south of PNP.
2:05 p.m. - humpback near shore mile south of Point No Point (PNP) -Stu Davidson

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1:00 p.m. - San Juans - There's a humpback whale in the Straits south of Lopez Island. This one definitely is doing its exercises for the day - at least 5-10 minutes of rhythmic tale slaps followed by pectoral slaps, with breaches between exercises. -Tom Reeve

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11:15 a.m. - central Puget Sound - Jeff Hogan sees two humpbacks about 1.5 miles north of Alki Point, almost in the Bainbridge to Seattle ferry lane. Lots of flipper-slapping going on.

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11:12 a.m. - central Puget Sound - have been seeing blows and breaches way across the sound from Alki, north of Winslow. Looks like humpbacks, not orcas. Very stiff and cold wind, hard to see. But beautiful! -Trileigh Tucker

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10:59 a.m. -central Puget Sound - They were a ways off and the waters pretty rough. I saw simultaneous blows as well. The one who was breaching appeared to be slightly smaller, but again I was a ways off. They've gotten slightly further out of my sight slowly trending north. Big splashes off and on. A couple were not far from the ferry as it passed, so hoping someone on there might send an update.
10:30 a.m. - It's a breaching humpback! Just saw a huge splash. North of Alki. There's two of them, one looks smaller...Lots of breaching again! Milling in the same area 10:36. Blows visible without binoculars north of Alki beach. -Rachel Haight

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10:00 .a.m. - central Puget Sound - Maia at WA State Ferries relayed a report of an undetermined number of orcas (later ID'd as humpbacks by several people -ALB) off Alki Point, possibly southbound.

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Central Puget Sound - I saw them from the 9:40 ferry from Bainbridge this morning: awesome athletics! Just finished a mtg in west Seattle so I figured I'd come down and take a look but I'm not seeing anything from the lighthouse. -Lisa Sibbett

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8:27 a.m. - north Puget Sound - They are north of me now and I would say they are the west side of the mid channel buoy.
8:10 a.m. - The two humpbacks are out front again this morning. We live on President Point/Kingston and they seem to be steadily heading north. -Chris Otterson

September 27
7:03 p.m. - went quiet for a while and now a few faint calls and echo.
6:00 p.m. - Echolocation and vocalizations amping up again on Lime Kiln hydrophone. -Alisa, ON

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6:08 p.m. - orcas on the hydrophone,...I'm listening to Lime Kiln right now and they're there. Not sure who... Still learning. -Katy Rudolph

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5:40 p.m. - very faint calls again on LIme Kiln.
5:14 p.m. - hearing faint calls on Lime Kiln. -Ed Brooks

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4:47 p.m. - Loud calls on lime kiln right now. -Ann Hazen

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We saw L89 and K12s spread out 2 miles offshore of Eagle Cove. -Barbara Bender

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2:35 p.m. - The whales are very very spread. Did see L89 and L22, L88, L72 and L105, J19, J27 and J39. We had them way offshore from Eagle pushing west. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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11:03 a.m. - Orcas heading north toward Lime Kiln mid channel. Lots of boats. -Jack Nolan

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Point No Point at 7:30 tonight with at least 100 other people waiting for the eclipse to start when the humpback blew and dove about 200 yards off the beach just south of the lighthouse. Then we saw it blow and dive a few more times before it headed north toward Hansville and Foul Weather Bluff. -Jan Clare

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Many people gathered at Point No Point to watch the eclipse, and just as the moon began to be visible, the humpback came by! It was close to the beach when first spotted, then moved on to the west. -Marilyn DeRoy

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Hello I don't see any reports from yesterday on the website, but hopefully someone with knowledge and experience saw the whale we saw off of West Beach in West Seattle. The whale was surfacing and blowing as we stepped out of our car at the condos there at West Beach (south of Brace Point), and I only had a glimpse of its back so I'm not sure which kind of whale it was. I'm pretty sure it had a fin on its back, and it was really a large creature - and very close to shore, maybe 100 yards or even less. The whale seemed to be alone and was headed north. It continued to blow occasionally, but unfortunately it did not surface for another look to see what kind it was. I hope this is helpful. -Ellen Cole (no positive ID but the description fits and there have been several reports of humpbacks in the general area of Alki, Vashon, Blake Island- ALB)

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1:31 p.m. - Saw some blows and pec slaps from a Humpback just off Point No Point just about 15 minutes ago. He was heading towards Whidbey Island the last dive he took. -Gail Greenwald

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10:03 a.m. - Humpbacks 1/2 mile east of Bainbridge Island on the North side! -Dylan McCoy

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10:00 a.m. - Two humpbacks off President Point/Kingston (Port Madison whales), one of which is tail slapping like crazy!!! -Chris Otterson

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9:15-10:45 from upper terrace of Richmond Beach Saltwater Park in Shoreline watched two humpbacks west of mid channel off Faye Bainbridge Park. Surface times about every 8- 10 minutes with occasional breaches and tail lobs, 2-4 in succession. Slowly drifting northward then again southward but keeping to the same general location. Much gull activity across the Sound with several very large bait balls out there! -Alisa, ON

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8:20 a.m. - Sequence, breaching Humpback calf off Port Madison! Mother nearby taking deep dives. Breached 20+ times in a row and still going when Victoria Clipper 3 left the scene! -Justine Buckmaster

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Elyse Margaret reports Thomas Judd witnessed a humpback early this morning at Point No Point.

September 26
A five-year-old playing with a Chinook salmon. We left from Orcas island, not totally sure where we were when we saw them, but I want to say it was something like six miles off from Friday Harbor. -Danny Auerbach

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Smaller of two humpbacks spent the better part of the morning breaching while a larger whale foraged close by. Near Port Madison in Puget Sound. -Justine Buckmaster

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L89 Solstice surfacing west of Hein Bank today. The big guy was cruising along slowly, appearing to be in resting pattern and eventually came over next to the boat. He was swimming around while other whales foraged. There were fish there. L113 caught a salmon right in front of us and looked to be teasing L121 with it. Solstice is 23 yrs old. -James Gresham

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L88, Wave Walker, takes a break from hunting for salmon to breach! We watched him just southwest of Salmon Bank on Saturday from the Island Explorer 4. -Bart Rulon

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On another truly spectacular "mill-pond-like" day, we headed out in search of whales. Little did we know that a humpback whale would steal the day as we headed towards Salmon Bank to find our Resident orcas. The humpback was very active with hundreds of pectoral fin slaps, and amazing tail lobs, it was difficult to leave! Thankfully we continued on and found members of L-pod, notably L89 Solstice, his mom L22 Spirit, L77 Matia, L119 Joy and many others, spread over a large area. After visiting with these majestic whales, on our return trip we found the same humpback, still active. He surfaced one time totally decorated with bull kelp, on the head, body, and his tail. What a sight - and what an amazing day! -Jill Hein, volunteer naturalist

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J2 Granny and K14 Lea traveling together in Haro Strait. -Monika Wieland

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Orcas all over Lime Kiln today between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. - 2 or 3 different pods. -Mike Kratzberg

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1:10 p.m. - group males and females, traveling east 1/8-1/4 m from shore. Move past me towards Edwards Point. Everyday is a good orca day.
12:30 p.m. - 1 large male & 1 unknown traveling west quickly 1/4 m from shore. Move past me towards Lime Kiln.
12:23 p.m. - Edward's Point group moving farther east out of sight.
11:52 a.m. - Edward's Point group continues milling, east, west back and forth around the point. 2 females closely interacting with something small (prey? Or is it a calf? Can't tell.)
11:40-11: 48 a.m. - 1 male, 6 females all strung out moving west leisurely. Move past me towards Lime Kiln. Group off Edward's Point (I think it's called that. East of WP); 2 males 4 females probably more. 2x breach, 2x rolling dorsal extended, 1 spyhop observed.
11:23 a.m. - Large male, small male & female traveling west leisurely. Move past me towards Lime Kiln.
11:12 a.m. - Orcas along West Side Preserve, (San Juan Island) No ID's, sorry. 20 (There were a few more. I couldn't be positive I hadn't already counted so didn't add them to count. Traveling, playing. Possible feeding? Breaches, tail slap, Dorsal fins seen during roll over. Observed with binocs from the most easterly edge of West Side Preserve. Orcas approximately 1/2 mile from shore. Large male & female traveling west quickly. As they meet a slower moving group, they greeted w tail slaps, 1 breach. Move past me towards Lime Kiln. -Michelline Halliday

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T049A1 westbound out the Juan de Fuca. -Mark Malleson

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7:20 a.m. - WA State Ferries reports "a single large orca" about 3-400 yards west of Blakely Rock, off the SE side of Bainbridge Island, opposite Elliot Bay. No direction of travel, just milling.

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Three humpback whales have been frequenting the mouth of the Columbia River up as far as the Megler Bridge. Last sighting: 9/26. Our daily paper, Daily Astorian, has a good photo of one. -Kristen Sodervick

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7:00 p.m. - Whale sighted swimming north past Lowman Beach Park, West Seattle...Looked like a solitary Humpback whale. 47deg32'27"N 122deg23'48"W. -Janet Murphy

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Humpbacks still hanging around between Edmonds, So. Whidbey Island and Point No Point, WA - Marilyn DeRoy called at 6:15 pm with an update on the Point No Point humpback, saying it was about 500 yards out off the north side of Point No Point, milling and diving around the area.

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6:18 p.m. - from my location half a mile inland, the humpbacks are in line with Double Bluff, but from the ferry terminal, it will probably be more inline with Scatchet Head. There are 2 here, closer to Edmonds than Whidbey Island. The third one that I see near PNP is very far away (the farthest I've ever seen a humpback from my home) and is much closer to PNP than Whidbey Island.
6:00 p.m. - Make that three humpbacks, one by PNP and two nearer to Edmonds, maybe 2-3 miles NNW of the ferry terminal. And the one near PNP is more like a mile off PNP, judging by its distance vs. a tug on MarineTraffic.
5:20 p.m. - I am seeing two humpbacks in the north sound. The first is halfway between Edmonds and Double Bluff. The second is way far away from Edmonds near Point No Point (PNP). It is hard for me to accurately pinpoint its location relative to PNP, but I think it is about 2 miles north of PNP. -Sherman Page

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5:00 p.m. - There was a humpback near Spieden Channel, south of FlatTop near Rueben Tarte. Saw the flukes from shore! -Peggy Mauro

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5:00 p.m. - I saw at least one, maybe two humpbacks between Vashon Island and West Seattle, near Fauntleroy ferry...on the move, heading south! -Anna Sewell

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4:50 pm - WA State Ferries reports a large whale, probably a humpback, off the Fauntleroy dock in West Seattle.

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Around 4:00 p.m. - Saw 2 humpbacks while kayaking near Port Madison on Bainbridge Island. -Kim Dougan

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A humpback diving south of Lopez Island today. One of 3 we saw between San Juan Island and Rosario Strait. -James Gresham

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2:00 p.m. - On another truly spectacular "mill-pond-like" day, we headed out in search of whales. Little did we know that a humpback whale would steal the day as we headed towards Salmon Bank to find our Resident orcas. The humpback was very active with hundreds of pectoral fin slaps, and amazing tail lobs, it was difficult to leave! ...on our return trip we found the same humpback, still active. He surfaced one time totally decorated with bull kelp, on the head, body, and his tail. What a sight - and what an amazing day! -Jill Hein, volunteer naturalist

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1:45 p.m. - Large humpback heading north in shipping lanes just east of Port Madison, traveling north fairly rapidly. A boat came speeding by only 30 or so yards from the whale, then he disappeared. I don't think the boater saw him. -Shelly Edwards

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Noon - Humpback whale heading towards Skunk Bay. -Stu Davidson

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11:00 a.m. to NOON - Two humpbacks (large & small) spotted off Jefferson Beach, Kitsap County, on Puget Sound. Nine of us saw the pair. We all perceived them to be a mother/"baby" pair. I believe this was just based on how small the second appeared (we never saw much of the young one's body). Juvenile might be a better word. Also, the extreme closeness of the pair, the little one was alongside like a shadow. I did not see the tale of the little one. -Donna Moreland

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8:20 a.m. - There was a whale sighting on the 7:55 run of the Bainbridge - Seattle ferry this morning. Pretty sure it was a humpback and it did a full breach right off the port side. It was pretty spectacular. -Sarah Martin

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I live on Lopez Island and I counted ten spouts as two moved south through San Juan Channel, off of Otis Perkins Park. I was in the car and did not have binoculars, so I could not identify whether there were two and if they were orcas or...? Any other ID's in the channel? -Diana Sheridan

September 25
T049A's off the entrance to Friday Harbour in the evening. -Mark Malleson

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5:25 p.m. - Maia from WA State Ferries called to relay a report of four orcas just off Friday Harbor in San Juan Channel, including one adult male.

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Any day you can see orcas a ten minute walk from your house is a decent day in my book - that's T49A1 in San Juan Channel this afternoon. -Monika Wieland

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3:00 p.m. - Orca Sighting off Jones Island (San Juan Channel) I saw 3-4 but too many boats in the area to be sure. -Frank Cardinale

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With Transients (T49A1) off Spieden Island, the only gang in town on Friday....lots of boats, including WDFW and a Coast Guard boat...lovely, misty, glassy smooth Northwest fall day! Some hunting going on under the surface, with gulls snatching up the scraps. -Bonnie Gretz

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1:00 p.m. - Orcas off Blake Island. I saw them off the Bremerton ferry. Mostly flapping around. No real direction of travel. Possibly eastbound if anything. Maybe 2 whales. One juvenile at least. -Michael Brubaker

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Saw a humpback swimming past the northeast corner of Bainbridge Island about 6:30 this evening heading north. -Tim Cuddy

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3:55 p.m. - just saw a humpback breach 5 times, followed by lots of fin slapping, E or NE of Point No Point. (viewing from downtown Edmonds, so very far away from) -Sherman Page

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4:00 p.m. - Marilyn Deroy and her husband are seeing the humpback south of Useless Bay, breaching repeatedly and flipper slapping, as only humpbacks do.
3:35 p.m. - Marilyn Deroy is seeing a humpback northeast of Point No Point in the direction of Double Bluff.

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12:20 p.m. - arch and dive, Humpback now just south of green buoy off of Scatchet Head (South Whidbey)
10:06 a.m. - huge fluke followed by a deep dive.. Still close to Kitsap side not far south of Point No Point.
9:48 a.m. - Humpback just blew...Those on Point No Point should look from the south-east beach south easterly (like towards Edmonds ferry terminal). Whale close to Kitsap side just east of shipping lanes
8:38 a.m. - humpback once again out from Point No Point - slight north easterly amongst several fishing boats. Blows seen from North Edmonds. -Stu Davidson

September 24
Today we traveled 2 hours (well worth the wait) before our first sighting of whales. We found transients (near Hannah Heights) moving quickly south along San Juan Island. J & K pod were southbound not far behind! We had both residents and transients in the same area! We continued northbound, and suddenly, we saw Dall's porpoises rocketing across the water. Some of the residents turned to play with them, and then the porpoise headed our way, bowriding for a few seconds. It was amazing! We turned back south visiting with residents before returning to the transients, ID'd as the T049As (T049A2 not present). T049A1 snagged a harbor seal and the family proceeded to breach and spyhop after the kill. As we headed home, we came across two humpbacks. We stayed with one for awhile trying to get an ID shot on the fluke, but he'd never show his tail. As we were about to leave, he suddenly started pec slapping for about 10 minutes. He approached the boat (we'd been totally stationary at this point) doing his backstroke and you could see his whole body under the water. He even cartwheeled once and trumpeted twice! What a day! -Rachel Haight

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K44 Ripple cruising Haro Strait by the west side this afternoon with the rest of Js and Ks. -Monika Wieland

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2:42 p.m. - I'm pretty sure I heard Ks and Js. -Connie Bickerton

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1:48 p.m. - GREAT action on the webcam - orcas swimming by fairly close to the camera - so cool! -Susan, ON

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1:35 p.m. - Lots of chatter on the Lime Kiln hydrophone right now, and saw them on the web cam! -Laura Davis Robeson

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Today we traveled 2 hours (well worth the wait) before our first sighting of whales. We found transients (near Hannah Heights) moving quickly south along San Juan Island. J & K pod were southbound not far behind! We had both residents and transients in the same area!...We turned back south visiting with residents before returning to the transients, ID'd as the T049As (T049A2 not present). T049A1 snagged a harbor seal and the family proceeded to breach and spyhop after the kill.... -Rachel Haight

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We had a whale sighting at 10:30 PM. We are a mile south of the Southworth ferry on the Kitsap side of Colvos Passage. It was dark, but it was probably a humpback, definitely not an orca...no dorsal fin ! Guessing it to be 18-20 feet in length, very close to shore and doing lots of shallow dives as it headed steadily northbound. -Noreen Ferris

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4:41 p.m. - humpback blows slightly south east from Point No Point. few miles off shore on Kitsap side - I guess slightly east of shipping lane. Trying now to determine direction. Appears to be in a feeding pattern. -Stu Davidson

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....As we headed home, we came across two humpbacks. (off Iceberg Point, Lopez Island) We stayed with one for awhile trying to get an ID shot on the fluke, but he'd never show his tail. As we were about to leave, he suddenly started pec slapping for about 10 minutes. He approached the boat (we'd been totally stationary at this point) doing his backstroke and you could see his whole body under the water. He even cartwheeled once and trumpeted twice! What a day! -Rachel Haight

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4:05 p.m. - Yeah! Humpbacks! Have been seeing humpbacks off south Lopez Island the past few days (spouts, dorsals, breach). Now there is one amongst a huge gathering of seagulls doing pectoral splash after pectoral splash to the south of Iceberg Point area. -Sally Reeve.

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1:00 p.m. - two humpbacks apparently feeding amongst a cloud of gulls south of Iceberg Point, Lopez Island. -Tom Reeve

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I saw one blow at 8:40 east side of mid channel transect Kayu Kayu Ac park (Shoreline) and Kingston ferry. Nothing since now it's windy and seas a bit rough. -Alisa, ON

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8:02 a.m. - Saw them again from Marina Beach Park, Edmonds still southbound.
7:45 a.m. - 2 humpbacks seen from Edmonds fishing pier southbound close to edm side, big one and small one. -Michelle Goll

September 23
We received a report at 3:05 p.m. that the leaders of the Ls (including L91 and L122) passed Lime Kiln and are at about Pile Point, NOAA is with this group of Ls. Js and Ks are up north somewhere.

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2:03 p.m. - approaching Lime Kiln
12:45 p.m. - Orcas at Open Bay milling.
10:15 a.m. - Hearing calls on Lime Kiln now! -Barbara Bender

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10:35- 11:30 a.m. - Listening to what sounds like some Ls on Lime Kiln while working on the report. -Alisa, ON

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12:57 p.m. - north Puget Sound - Richmond Beach - I could see them feeding through the binoculars, looked to be a large and a small one. They have worked their way closer to the east side now.
12:15 p.m. - Appears to be 2 Humpbacks heading north off President Point/Kingston out in the middle. -Chris Otterson

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9:27am - north Puget Sound - Point No Point - humpback near Kitsap side just south of Point No Point heading southerly. -Stu Davidson

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7:15 a.m. - north Puget Sound -Point No Point - One humpback whale at Point No Point heading north towards Whidbey Island. -Savanna Troka

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Earlier this month we welcomed our fifth new calf to the Southern Resident Killer Whale community since December 2014. Here is said bundle of joy, L122, swimming next to new mom, Muncher (L91). This is the first known calf for the 20-year old and we are ecstatic. Hopefully this little one survives its' first year and grows big and strong. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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6:29 p.m. - Humpback at Fort Casey. (Whidbey Island) -Mary Janowiecki

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2:55 p.m. - Humpback heading north in Admiralty Inlet, just south of Port Townsend. -Renee Beitzell

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Humpback whale south of Constance Bank . The encounter was just epic! While out with BC Whale Tours, we got to witness some of the most acrobatic surface behavior I've seen all year! -Heather MacIntyre

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One, possibly two humpbacks feeding actively, viewed from 5:15 pm to 7:45 pm. surface activity and shallow dives, surfacing every 3 -5 minutes with longer breaks when moving onto another feeding area. The whale had reddish-orange coloration on its back fin, quite hooked shape, never saw tail or pectoral fins. appeared quite large when seen close to a watching boat. at one point possibly two whales given length of distance between blows that were only seconds apart, but not sure. We saw the humpback in Rosario Strait: east of Obstruction Pass (south-east side of Orcas Island), traveling north to Buck Bay (east side of Orcas Island), swimming within a half mile of the east shore of Orcas Island, then circling back (further east, approximately in the shipping channel) and swimming south to Obstruction Pass, then going north again to Buck Bay and turning south again, but this time staying close to the east shore of Orcas Island. Then it got too dark to see. We saw it the late afternoon and evening of Sept 22, and then again the afternoon of Sept 23 also for several hours, repeating its cruising up and down the shore feeding, then at about 4:30 pm the whale kept going north of Doe Bay and we did not see it again. -Amy Mower

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2 Pacific white-sided dolphins around Point Richmond (Colvos Pass) this morning, no whales that I saw. -Bryan Owens

September 22
2:00-3:00 p.m. - Hello, about 20-30 Orcas passed by our home between Thieves Bay and Mouat Point on N. Pender. One was a babe - wonderful! Very close to our shore. We have a great fishing hole for the Orcas about 10 metres off our little cove, where the water is really deep - about 200 metres. Super to watch! -Kathy Gilbert

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This was taken of the west side of SJI, and the whale is L95 Nigel w/NOAA-NWFSC. -Connie Bickerton
(A breath sampler with a petri dish at the end of the pole- HG)

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3:15 p.m. - People watching people watching whales. Members of J and K pods played in the kelp offshore of Pender Island to the delight of many shore-based whale watchers! Here is Shachi (J19) and her grandson, Nova (J51). Someone stops for an aerial scan as Js and Ks were swimming along the Pender Island shoreline, heading for Swanson Channel. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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3:45 p.m. - Left Ls milling at Open Bay. -Monika Wieland

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11:25 - Lots of mews (K pod?) on the hydrophone right now. -Lauren Davis-Robeson

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9:47 a.m. - Jpod on Lime Kiln. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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Had a wonderful wildlife filled day on the water. We headed west to find most of J Pod including 9 month-old J50, J26 and J27 almost out to Sherringham point. We headed home via Race Rocks, where the highlight was three elephant seals. Just southeast of Race, we had at least 3 humpbacks feeding. -Connie Bickerton

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6:15 p.m. - north Puget Sound - Richmond Beach - seeing blows & tail flops from Richmond beach mid channel...6:35 still seeing blows. Not familiar with area but appears to be 2 humpbacks. -Brittany Gordon

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6:20 p.m. - north Puget Sound - east of Point No Point - Like Stu, I also see two humpbacks NW of Edmonds, about a mile north of a huge mass of birds. -Sherman Page

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6:17 p.m. - north Puget Sound - east of Point No Point - There are actually two southeast of Point No Point!
6:11 p.m. - now southeast of Point No Point heading south - close to Kitsap side near shipping lane - watching from north Edmonds.
6:03 p.m. - watching a humpback feeding east of Point No Point back and forth north and south - from shore north Edmonds
5:40 p.m. - watching a humpback out east from Point No Point heading northerly. -Stu Davidson

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5:30 p.m. - Port Townsend - Whale sighting; close enough to hear her blow. Humpback? Grey? I'm new at this. Looked as though the fishing might be good; likely 2 or more. Between Port Townsend and Protection Island, heading towards North Beach in PT. -Laura Lewis Thayer

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5:30 pm - a humpback headed west-to-east past Flint Beach, Lopez Island. -Tom Reeve

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Out in the Strait of Juan de Fuca between Victoria and Port Angeles. I'm not exactly sure where we were, and I forgot to snap a picture of the route map before I left the boat. -Connie Bickerton

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The humpback whale was swimming against the Blakely Island shoreline in Rosario Strait. It made a large circle and then continued heading south. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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2:50 p.m. - 2 humpbacks spotted from the top of the hill at Richmond Beach Saltwater Park. One has breached 5 times, mid channel! Very active at the surface. -Kayli Ann Breitweiser

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1:19 p.m. - surfaced further north again. Kayli saw a second fluke within 1-2 minutes, we think we have two whales.
12:58 p.m. - Surfaced further north midway between mid channel and shore north Richmond Beach probably off from Kayu Kayu Ac park.
12:37 p.m. - single whale surfaced just now northbound north of the weather buoy off Richmond Beach. Very shallow exhalations making sightings more difficult today. -Alisa, ON

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12:12 p.m. - Humpback sighted South of Richmond Beach Saltwater Park heading North bound! -Kayli Ann Breitweiser

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11:48 am yay, finally resighted the (a) humpback... south of Richmond Beach off point between me and Carkeek. Very close to this side!
10:09 a.m. - at least one humpback about 200 yards off shore off north end Richmond Beach Saltwater Park in Shoreline. Glassy calm water! -Alisa, ON

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9:00-10:00 a.m. - This morning I saw this beauty. The Whale stayed about an hour. Richmond Beach Saltwater Park, Shoreline. -Susan Pope

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11:18 - A humpback whale was reported in the same location just east of the north end of Vashon Island, so this is probably just one humpback and not a gray whale. -Susan, ON

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11:10 a.m. - A small gray (probably humpback) whale was just reported about a mile east of the north end of Vashon Island by Maia of WA State Ferries.

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9:40 a.m. - A humpback was just seen off Point No Point. -Mark Loughlin of WDFW.

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Humpback sounding near Lopez Island. -Mark Wangerin

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This Minke Whale was feeding in Boundary Pass near Stuart Island. It surfaced in the glassy calm waters with Stuart Island as a backdrop before pushing east. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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Minke Whale in Boundary Pass. -Mark Wandering

September 21
Fin whale off of Smith Island. I was out with Puget Sound Express and we spotted the fin whale, several minke and a humpback. -Sue Larkin

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THE Fin whale! It was still west/northwest of Smith and feeding in the vicinity of two minkes. We were watching the minkes as they were fairly active at the surface and all of a sudden the fin surfaced with its huge exhalation! At 85-90 feet long, Fin whales, also known as Finbacks, are the second largest animal on the planet! Second only to the blue whale. These guys were hunted out of the Salish Sea before commercial whaling was banned in 1966. They have not been seen in these inland waters for several years and some say even over a decade. We are hoping this is the first of many yet to come. -Renee Beitzel

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6:50 p.m. - Saw a humpback 3-4 miles NW of Edmonds, heading W or SW. Swimming right to left then back again every 5-10 minutes. -Sherman Page

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6:45 p.m. - Just saw humpback whales at Richmond beach going south towards Elliot Bay. -Gina Nolan Cohen

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6:20 p.m. - Been watching them for more than an hour. Back and forth, Richmond Beach. -Wendy Hagel

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What looks like a humpback whale just passed fort Casey headed north. Doing shallow dives every 4-5 minutes! -Steven Seidel

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4:30 p.m. - Lots of spouting just south of the refinery near Edmonds, pretty close to shore. 3 whales? The train was going to fast to see them well. -Caleb Thompson

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1:00-3:00 p.m. - Came back down to Richmond Beach and with many others watched these two humpbacks travel in tandem northbound, southbound back and forth. Down times seem a bit shorter than this morning, more like 9-12 minutes vs. 15-18 this morning. These two are just trolling back and forth. Beautiful! Beach goers in awe! -Alisa, ON

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1:44 pm - report from Sandy Barnard, watched the two humpbacks head south past Richmond beach an hour ago, then just watched them (plus possibly a third?) heading back north past Richmond Beach.

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1:30 p.m. - two humpbacks still feeding parallel to Richmond beach... A little north then south back and forth. Currently a couple hundred yards west of weather buoy off of Richmond Beach.
12:24 .p.m - just surfaced from long dive. Two are staying close together. They look awesome in parallel !! Still directly out from Richmond Beach
11:46 a.m. - two humpbacks close to shore from Richmond Beach - long deep dives. -Stu Davidson

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12:23 p.m. Humpbacks still off Richmond close to shore. 12:40 p.m. surfaced again south end. -Stephen Hullin

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11:19 a.m. - Humpback just spotted off Port Townsend, northbound in the shipping lane. -Mitch Bogrand

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Noon - was last surface I saw out from Kayu Kayu beautiful tandem surfacing and dives. Long 15 + minute dives.
10:48 a.m. - surfaced again same general area, logged then deep dive.
10:24 a.m. - After nearly and hour I just re-sighted this pair just east of mid channel between Richmond Beach and Jefferson Head. -Alisa, ON

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9:33 a.m. - Just saw the Possession humpback (3rd whale) heading north, foraging near a bird pile, closer to Kitsap side. -Janine Harles

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9:25 am - 15 minutes plus of tail lobs...between Kayu Kayu and Presidents Point, mid channel. White sailboats with red parade flags you need to back off!
7:50-8:50 a.m. - they've been foraging back and forth but trending north in general. Now both are off north Richmond Beach/ Point Wells. 3-4 surfaces then deep dives, 10-15 minute down times.
7:50 a.m.- 2 Humpbacks off south end of Richmond Beach (Shoreline) where I left them last night. Foraging. -Alisa, ON

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Only saw one of the dolphins while fishing by Gig Harbor this morning. It jumped next to a buddies boat and splashed him. -Bryan Owens

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Late to report because I discovered this group after the fact. Whale sighting Monday morning around 7:30am just southwest of the tip of Duwamish Head in West Seattle. Spotted heading south along shore from my car, couldn't have been more than 75 or 100 from shore! A passing cyclist and I both guessed minke based on relatively small size, but based on other reports I wonder if humpback is more likely? -Jason Lee Bell

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Minke near Smith Island. -Janine Harles

September 20
L122 and mom, L91 just south of Victoria BC. -Capt. Jim Maya

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We saw SO MANY whales today! I can't recall the last time I saw this many of them so close together. They were traveling for sure, but there was also a lot of social behavior as well as what looked like a resting line at times. Here is a sampling of groupings we saw between J's and K's, possibly L's. An interesting mix. Its gonna take a while for me to figure out who all was there! But we had a few guest appearances along with the usual suspects. And, of course, the J16's were, for the most part, dancing to their own tune away from the rest. -Renee Beitzel

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5:53 p.m. - Ls still vocalizing.
4:45-5:27 p.m - Been listening to members of K and L pods vocalizing on Lime Kiln hydrophone. -Alisa, ON

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4:35 p.m. - Faint calls on Lime Kiln. -Barbara Bender

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7:20 p.m. - they went a bit south and have turned back north bound...getting dark & rainy.
6:55-7:15 p.m. - Found and am watching at least 2 humpbacks off Richmond Beach. Surfacing and fluking in southerly direction. Talked with Jeannie and Anan who said they've just been foraging around this general area off Richmond Beach Saltwater Park in Shoreline. Those two talked with a kite surfer who said there were 3 whales. 3rd whale may the southbound whale in Michelle Goll's 4:50 report. -Alisa, ON

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6:37 p.m. - Yes they are still here about 1 mile south of Richmond Beach. Still about 500 yard off of Innis Arden Beach.
6:15 p.m. - there are two humpbacks just south of Richmond Beach. They seem to be hanging out in the same area for the past 2 hours. -Diane Strecker

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4:50 p.m. - Saw humpback on ferry from Kingston to Edmonds out in shipping lanes, still southbound
3:15-3:50 watched the humpback from Point No Point in front of the lighthouse, trending south. -Michelle Goll

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3:40 p.m. - The humpback is still there ...the white caps and wind make it difficult to see the blows and whale.
3:10 p.m. - I saw several blows and finally a humpback back and tail before its dive, 3-5 miles NW of Edmonds, which probably puts it a bit south of the line with Point No Point and Possession Point. -Sherman Page

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3:42 p.m. - Just saw him/her again. Mid channel, headed towards PnP/ Useless Bay. Laura Finch
3:06 p.m. - We just saw some blows between Point No Point and I think what would be Possession Point... Anyone else see anything? They were pretty large, thinking possibly the humpback... We're still trying to spot again. I'll post if we see anything else. -Laura Finch

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I arrived at Point No Point today @ 3:00 spotted a Humpback just South of Possession Point. We continued to watch for hours, over & over , many times we saw the Humpback surface, 1-4 blows and then take a big dive with the fluke way up in the air... This whale headed North towards the yellow buoy, directly across from Pont No Point. and continued milling further North just South of Double Bluff. Turning back around in the area , going away from PNP and then coming back for a closer look, keeping perimeters south of Double Bluff then treading south of the yellow buoy , towards Possession Point. I left @ 6:30 last sighting was just south of the yellow buoy closer to Possession Point. Days like this makes my heart happy, and a reminder to buy a powerful lens/camera. -Kathe Bradley

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Happy Monday, everybody! I was encouraged to post this image that I took yesterday of our humpback friend breaching in the Colvos Passage. Still can't believe it! -Tara Brown

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12:30-3:00 p.m. - Saw two full breaches! One about 12:30pm other maybe 1:30pm. Made lots of observations until about 3 pm in Colvos area, no observed evidence of any fishing line entanglement. -Zeno Martin

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1:02 p.m. - From entrance to Gig Harbor, it took a long dive heading north. -Jill Clogston

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1:47 p.m. - closer to the Gig Harbor side, boats still surrounding him. Haven't noticed any fishing gear on him.
1:00 p.m. - south of Point Defiance out from Salmon Beach about mid channel
12:48 p.m. - Just blew under viewpoint (Gig Harbor ) on the 5 mile drive at Point Defiance headed south.
12:27 p.m. - still visible, middle of the mouth of Colvos. -Brittany Gordon

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12:02 p.m. - That boat is gone now. They whale and the dolphin are headed up towards Colvos Passage now.
11:55 a.m. - Humpback and dolphin outside of Gig Harbor. Absolutely beautiful. To the boats keeping a quiet distance, kudos. To the boat that drug his fishing gear straight through them......that is bad juju man. Bad. -Heidi Gerling

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11:15 a.m. - Humpback south of Gig Harbor, out towards Narrows. White boat near it, appears to be following at a respectful distance. Nice flukes. Feeding? -Alan Passero

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7:30 a.m. - Humpback is at Point No Point, heading NW. Worth getting up early! -Judith Wood

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Via my dad, Robert... He saw about a dozen whales from Breaker's Point, Cannon Beach, Oregon today. He said he saw many spouts and spurts of breaching from this morning around 10 am until the afternoon. The whales didn't appear to be traveling in any direction. They were off the surf zone clearly visible from shore. When they breached he saw long white pecs and he thinks they were humpbacks. -Whitney Neugebauer

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4:35 p.m. - Lil buddy the Pacific white-sided dolphin is close, out with him/her now off Owens Beach, Point Defiance. -Dino Martini

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3:17 p.m. - I don't see the Humpback but have a boat with a Dolphin at the Gig Harbor Viewpoint at Pt. Defiance. -Melissa Bird

September 19
Day report: Cool and misty day, with light winds, as we headed out toward Smith Island and McArthur Bank to catch up with some humpbacks, and they were magnificent! One did a full out-of-the-water breach! We watched two as they moved through the area, feeding on small fish. One was catalog number MMX0006, with close to an all black tail fluke, and the other had a lot of white, but I couldn't find a match in the catalog. (see photo below) They eventually joined up and swam quite close to each other, giving us some wonderful views of their flukes and rostrums... -Bonnie Gretz, volunteer naturalist

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At 6:00 pm I saw a humpback a couple of miles south of Cultus Bay. -Sherman Page

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5:30 p.m. - We were in a sailboat across from Carkeek Park around 5:30 when we first saw a group of whales. There was a cruise ship on the other side of the whales but maybe it was a later one. The whales were humpbacks and it was awesome. There were at least 2, maybe 3 that we saw several times over 15 or 20 minutes. -Charles O'Hern

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Just before 5:00 p.m. - Just saw several whales, (humpbacks, see 5:30 report- ALB), from the Westerdam cruise ship as we were leaving Seattle about 30 minutes ago! My first whale sighting! A friend told me to let you know. -Meg Taylor

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3:01 p.m. - A humpback just swam a few feet offshore from Point Richmond Beach in Colvos Passage, heading S past the No 6 marker. -Christy Robinson

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2:32 p.m. - frequent blows seen in a line between Pt no Pt and north Edmonds .. My guess it's the same humpback that been in the area for awhile now. -Stu Davidson

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Between 2:00 and 2:30 pm saw the humpback whale heading NE through Colvos Passage between Sunrise Beach and the southern tip of Vashon Island. -Ann Marie Eberhart

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1:00 p.m. - Taken from the old ferry landing in Gig Harbor. -Jill Clogston

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12:28 p.m. - Humpback just south of Gig Harbor, heading slowly north, 3-4 boats floating with it. -Dino Martini

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11:30 a.m. - Between Point Defiance and Gig Harbor ...Right now the porpoise (Pacific white-sided dolphin) is enamored with our sailboat and so we are not moving!
10:58 a.m. - Humpback between Point Defiance and Tacoma Narrows bridge heading sideways across channel. -Janet Buzzard

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Humpback between Pt Defiance, Tacoma and Vashon at 11:15 a.m. -Gaby Kinner

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10:20 a.m. - Humpback whale at Gig Harbor. Spent a hour watching a humpback whale surfacing in close proximity to the half a dozen boats watching. Once along with a pacific white sided dolphin who leaped totally clear of the water. -Paul Smith

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9:00 a.m - The birdwatchers at PNP had seen the humpback heading north, so it wasn't moving with the tide. Point No Point is very, very busy this morning with fishing boats. -.James DeRoy

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8:41 a.m. - Humpback whale at Point No Point off the north side of the beach headed north. -Connie Bickerton

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6:11 p.m. - Single dolphin off Anthony's Restaurant deck west of Pt. Defiance ferry dock. Now he's having fun breaching & we're all oooohing and ahhhhhing. It was leaping and checking out boats... I knew about the White Sided that had been hanging around Talequah. Had no idea he was keeping company with a Humpback! How marvelous. -Cheryl Richmond

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6:41 p.m. - Dolphin last seen heading west toward Gig Harbor between boat house and Vashon. It may have been two. It seemed as though I was seeing different sizes.
6:12 p.m. - The dolphin is heading toward the east side of Vashon.
6:00 p.m. - Dolphin near Anthony's (Point Defiance). -Ronda Walters

September 18
Sometimes an encounter can become quite special in the blink of an eye. We were out hanging with some orcas, when we approached a small group. It became very apparent that this particular orca had a tiny, blip of a shadow. Turns out I got to meet L122, the new L Pod baby with Mom, L91. I don't like going out of my way to find a new calf, I am just happy knowing they are out there and I thought I would see it when I would see it. Little did I know it would be today. -Traci Walter

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Today, we first came across a humpback who was nice enough to cartwheel, then we moved on to a visit with members with J pod. It was an incredible special to see J51 Nova be very playful with lots of spyhops and breaches, traveling alongside his mother J41 Eclipse and grandmother J19 Shachi, J28 Polaris and J17. We had a nice close passby with J34 Doublestuf as well. Baby orcas are the cutest! SW of Eagle Point San Juan Island. -Rachel Haight

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8:25 p.m. - Humpback near Gig Harbor -Carol Troup

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8:00 p.m. - Just saw the humpback again feeding just a half mile north outside Gig Harbor. The whale has been here several nights along with huge herring balls. -Carla Malich

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7:00 p.m. - the humpback was seen blowing quite aways south and east of the lighthouse.
6:30 p.m. - from Point-No-Point...watching the humpback about 200 yards out, east and slightly south of the lighthouse. Blows & dives. -Marilyn DeRoy

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6:00 p.m. - They (humpback & dolphin-ALB) came back after that. I was there about 6 ish, they were not in sight when i got there but they showed up after a few min and they were still there when I left around 7pm. -Jessica Hill

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6:00 p.m. - playful dolphin and a humpback between Salmon Beach and south tip of Vashon. Breached twice... spectacular! Seemed to be progressing north. -Randy Wickers

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4:35 p.m. - Gig Harbor humpback, seen with dolphin buddy not far offshore on Gig H side just south of tip of Point Defiance. -Patricia Damron

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3:29 p.m. - It's off the South end of the Mouth of the Harbor now. It looks like it's turned and headed back North now Old Ferry dock would be good right now.
3:05 p.m. - Gig Harbor Humpback and Dolphin BFF are just North of the Lighthouse very close to shore feeding & trending South towards Gig Harbor. -Melissa Bird

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3 p.m. - saw Humpback and dolphin from end of Gig Harbor for about an hour. Then headed North... -Henry Pedersen

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Gig Harbor Humpback. I was happy to get a photo of it's head this afternoon. -Heidi Powers Armstrong

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2:20 p.m. - Still seeing one of the north sound humpbacks a couple of miles south of Scatchet Head (Whidbey). -Sherman Page

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1:45-2:30 p.m. - The humpback whale at Point No Point, Hansville. -Becky Newell Woodworth

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I'm confident that I witnessed 2 Humpbacks blowing and slapping tails elsewhere. They were about halfway between Points Monroe and Jefferson, seen from Fay Bainbridge. There was a crowd of visiting school children watching and shouting with each splash, but the whales were just too far away for anyone to make a positive ID. After an hour or so-between about 1-2 PM-most watchers gave up. The shared assumption was Orcas, but now I'm convinced that they were Humpbacks, mostly because the slashes were large but no one really ever saw a breaching body. There were also sailboats in the general vicinity, but none too close. -James Hill

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12:41 a.m. - Dolphins and Humpback very active outside Gig Harbor! (Viewing from Old Ferry Landing) -Jessica Hill

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Noon - We're headed south for Port Townsend, and sailed past a humpback feeding over McArthur Bank. -Melissa L

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11:35 a.m. - Humpback and dolphins are excited by Gig Harbor right now. -John Siemssen

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11:00 a.m. - Humpback and dolphin companion are back between Pt. Defiance and Gig Harbor. Milling around, probably feeding. Boats are getting way too close. -Amy Bliss-Miller

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10:27 a.m. - watching the humpback all morning - it's east of Point No Point and seems slowly heading northerly towards Scatchet head, as seen from north Edmonds shoreline. -Stu Davidson

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10:10 a.m. - Seems to be feeding right straight out from the Point. I do not have a camera but with binocs whale tail is mostly white.
9:50 a.m. - One closest to shore seems to be trending north. But very slowly. Doing down for long dives
9:42 a.m. - Just saw 2 definitely distinct different blows. One for sure a humpback. Not sure about the 2nd one yet, maybe 1/2 mile apart from each other?
9:34 a.m. - Just got to PNP. Found it. About a mile south of lighthouse, mid channel with a bunch of fishing boats. Saw blows with binocs. Pretty windy out. -Kimberly Sylvester-Malzahn

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8:22 a.m. - The humpback is still here at Point No Point! (Hansville) A little south (of the point) - maybe a few hundred yards. She's fishing with me and all the other boats! -Jason R Bourne

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6:25 - Marilyn Deroy is watching the humpback again off Point No Point, about 300 yards off the beach to the east.

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This is the Pacific white-sided dolphin that has been seen around Gig Harbor. 6:30 pm at the mouth of Gig Harbor. -Lisa Durbin Charbonneau

September 17
Here is a selection of photos and surface sequences of the L54's off False Bay, San Juan Island. As a result of L54 Ino and her two offspring L108 Coho and L117 Keta coming to check us out off the bow. -Renee Beitzel

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10:25 a.m. - Just spotted the humpback going past the mouth of Gig Harbor. Already out of sight headed up Colvos. Watched the dolphin do 6 leaps in a row. Amazing! -Heidi Powers Armstrong

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10:07 a.m - Humpback heading north in Narrows now towards Gig Harbor. His buddy, the rogue Pacific white-sided dolphin is with him. Asher Beckett

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We watched for about a half hour. Humpback seemed to be feeding in the same general area off the east side of Point No Point. With the tide going out, it stayed pretty far out there, but we had a good view of several blows at a time, followed by the fluke and the deep dive. -James DeRoy

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9:00 a.m. - Marilyn DeRoy sees that humpback again this morning, about 300 yards off Point No Point, no direction of travel.

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We watched it until dark on the 17th (almost 8:00), just making out the blows. Even though it was out pretty far (Pt No Pt, east of the lighthouse in the boat traffic), we could hear the blows. Generally, in the days we've been watching it, it seems to do 3 or 4 blows at short intervals, then show its fluke for a deep dive before it appears again several minutes later. -Marilyn & James DeRoy

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1:00 p.m. - Humpback feeding in Colvos Passage 1.2 N of Gig Hbr entrance @ 1300 on 9/16/2015. Accompanied by a very playful acrobatic dolphin. If this was not outside their range we would ID as. spinner Dolphin. Could have been a Pacific White sided, but was not a harbor porpoise. -John Oliveira

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11:17 a.m. - Humpback and dolphins close to Gig Harbor shores just north or the mouth of the harbor. Should be good viewing from the lookout by old ferry landing and from 5-mile and Point Defiance. -Michel Riley Campbell

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10:25 a.m. - I don't know if this is the same one that was off of Point No Point, but I just saw a humpback 1-2 miles off of Edmonds...heading south. When I saw it from Edmonds Bowl, it was in line with PNP. -Sherman Page

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10:25 a.m. - Just spotted the humpback going past the mouth of Gig Harbor. Already out of sight headed up Colvos. Watched the dolphin do 6 leaps in a row. Amazing! -Heidi Powers Armstrong

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10:07 a.m - Humpback heading north in Narrows now towards Gig Harbor. His buddy, the rogue Pacific white-sided dolphin is with him. -Asher Beckett

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9:00 a.m. - Whale/dolphin duo sighted out side mouth of Gig Harbor... -Janet Perry

September 16
6:55 p.m. - Watching a humpback about 200 yards off the beach at Point No Point, Hansville for the past hour or so. Most exciting was when it came in close enough that we heard it blow. Many people fishing, enjoying it too. -Marilyn DeRoy

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6:45 p.m. - Now out at Point No Point, Hansville- humpback mid channel between here and Double Bluff- lots of blows surfacing and tail flukes. Just blew again - herring must be right there as it's staying put for 10-15 minutes. -Donna Green Van Renselaar

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In sum, I watched the humpback for about 30 minutes. It traveled north from Eglon area to Point No Point. Most of the time it was mid channel but it went very close to Double Bluff before coming back to mid-channel, where it milled about, back and forth. Another great day to see cetaceans in Puget Sound! -Donna Green Van Renselaar

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I saw my first whale tonight! I was at Point No Point, Hansville between 6:20- 6:50 pm and saw the humpback, it was displaying many blows and dives with fluke visible. I'm so excited! -Jann Clare

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4:45 p.m. - Spotted Humpback just north of Gig Harbor entrance, heading north. -Dino Martini

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Heidi Powers Armstrong watched a humpback and dolphins between Pt Defiance & Gig Harbor from Old Ferry Landing between approx. 3:50-4:40 p.m.. Not sure of their location after 4:40 and no direction of travel was distinguishable.

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10:42 a.m. - Seems to have left, it was going back and forth but not sure of final direction
8:54 a.m. - The Humpback is at Point Defiance, watching from old ferry dock Gig Harbor. -Robert Buzzard

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9:00 a.m. - Whale/dolphin duo sighted out side mouth of Gig Harbor. Pictures of the dolphin show some distinctive scares of the left pectoral fun and dorsal. -Janet Perry

September 15
1:35 p.m. - K13s off Eagle, southbound. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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12:25 p.m. - residents at Hannah Heights traveling northbound fast. The one and only J2 Granny - this afternoon off Lime Kiln. -Monika Wieland

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Got to spend a calm afternoon with members of the K13 and K16 matrilines. They were actively fishing along the west side of San Juan Island just north of Eagle Cove. -Connie Bickerton

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Amazing evening with the T036a's and 075b's in Active Pass, BC. We headed north after debating whether to go south into rough seas to see Residents, a sure thing, or go north into calm seas on the chance that we might find the Ts. With the help of Lance Underwood on Taku, we found them. Watching them take a seal at the eastern entrance to Active was spectacular. -Capt. Jim Maya

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30 minutes off the dock and we come across the T137s. As we were traveling along parallel to them, they suddenly turned right toward the boat. I was on the upper deck looking straight down as two orcas surfaced looking up at me. They went under the boat and on the other side, one surfaced on its side RIGHT next to the boat. It was WOW! We left them for a little bit and then found 3 humpbacks. One of them even breached! On our way back to see the T137s, we came across a Steller sea lion feasting on a skate! It was such fun to watch him whip it around and eat it! We thought the orcas might sneak up on this Steller, but no, they found a different one! We got on scene in time to watch the orcas methodically and successfully hunt a Steller sea lion. We were all waiting for the orcas to send it flying in the air, and sure enough, they did! The entire trip was pretty special, and I'm not sure today's trip will be topped for a long time. There is nothing more incredible than watching transients take down prey! -Rachel Haight

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I was witness to something intense and Nat Geo worthy. A family of Bigg's killer whales, the T137s, took down a large Steller sea lion. Did you know that Steller sea lions can grow up to 2,400 lbs and have a skull similar to that of a grizzly bear? These are formidable predators in their own right, but are no match for a hungry killer whale. T137 was by far the most acrobatic of the four whales involved, though her youngest, T137D, was definitely very involved and tried her best to help take down the sea lion. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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Here are just a few among many action photos from the T137 pod attack on a Steller sea lion due south of Lopez Island from the Island Explorer 3. T137 did a lot of the hard work in this attack, slashing around, lunging, and trying to keep the sea lion from coming up at times, but the whole family definitely participated. Even little T137D lunged at the sea lion on several occasions! At one point T137 lunged out of the water appearing to plunge the sea lion back under with her left pectoral fin! The biggest, breath taking, moment happened when T137 knocked the sea lion completely out of the water by ramming it with her head! Every once in a while the pod would swim slowly away from the sea lion about 50 yards almost as if they lost interest, and to do some socializing, but they always returned to give their prey more punishment. I've seen a handful of transient attacks on Steller's over the years, and they have always been really intense! This one ranks right up there as one of the best! It was a stunning exhibit of how powerful these animals are. -Bart Rulon

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7:30 p.m. - We spotted at least two (perhaps 3) humpback whales off of Point No Point. We saw two dorsal fins and then a blow. It could've been the same whale that had turned. That's why we're not certain of the number. They swam back and forth varying between 200-300 feet off of the Point. We saw them blow a number of times and diving. Saw their tails more than six times. We watched them for about 30 minutes. They were not orcas because of the short dorsal fin and large size. It was quite exciting! -Maria Stienbeisser

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6:45 p.m. - Just received a report from Marilyn Deroy of the humpback off Point No Point, Kitsap Peninsula, 600 yards out just hanging around feeding in the area off the point.

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2:55 p.m. - Just saw humpback tracking north along the west side of Vashon. Last sighting of it was down by the Vashon ferry landing. -Amy Bliss-Miller

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I saw him/her out there around that same time (10:35 a.m.). Gig Harbor overlook on the 5 mile drive. -Bryan Owens

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10:35 a.m. - Humpback sighted just north of and outside of Gig Harbor entrance, traveling south. -Rhonda Turner

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I was out fishing with my grandpa when we spotted a humpback whale along Sunrise Beach in Gig Harbor...It also appeared to be by itself.... I shouldn't say it was entirely alone. It was actually swimming with one or two porpoises (Pacific white-sided dolphins-ALB). It was interesting because for nearly an hour, they swam together. Often, when the whale spouted water, the porpoise would leap out of the water simultaneously or seconds after....-Dieter Veitenhans

September 14
5:00 p.m. - All of Js and Ks went north past CWR. -Monika Wieland

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I've attached a photo I took of J50 breaching from the Island Explorer 3 near Hein Bank. J50 and J52 were swimming together by themselves and playing the whole time during our visit with them! They breached, tailslapped, lunged around, spyhopped, and seemed to have a fantastic time with each other. At one point they also did a double spyhop! Eventually J36 swam in and joined them, but it didn't stop the the little duo from playing one bit! It's hard not to have a big smile on your face when you see these little calves having such a good time together - seemingly without a care in the world. It feels like lots of hope looking forward with so many new calves! -Bart Rulon

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4:02 p.m. - Loud SRKW calls on Lime Kiln Hydrophone! -Connie Bickerton

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2:00 p.m. - Residents spread near Hein. Saw J16s, J17, J22s, members of the K12s, L84, L88, and more (probably the others in L54s but will have to confirm). All just kind of going every which way. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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12:38 p.m. - Ts headed to s beach! Just got on scene!I think it was 36A's and 75Bs - they cut over to Sidney from Henry. -Barbara Bender

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12:30 p.m. - Small family of Transients (male,female & baby) feeding on harbor porpoise off North West Point of Henry Island-heading North. ALSO 1 or 2 Humpbacks heading into Spieden Channel from Haro Strait!! -Megan Michelle

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To start out our day...the T75Bs and T36As heading towards San Juan Island. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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6:35 p.m. - Humpback and porpoise (dolphin) close to the Gig Harbor side...headed north towards Dalco. Watching from Narrows viewpoint on Five Mile Loop. -Meghan Davis-Van Horn

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6:45 p.m. - Humpback headed over towards Owens Beach right under 5 mile view point.
6:14 p.m. - Still watching humpback from Old Ferry Landing in Gig Harbor!
4:58 p.m. - watching the humpback, heading north close to Gig Harbor shore.
4:01 p.m. - hugging Gig Harbor shore, kayaks and a sail boat following him. Heading towards Sunrise Beach! -Brittany Gordon

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3:50 p.m. - Getting close to the mouth of Gig Harbor, trending towards Sunset Beach. 4 Kayaks in hot pursuit.
3:33 p.m. - In between Gig Harbor and Pt. Defiance now. Headed towards Gig Harbor. It has Porpoises with it! (Pacific white-sided dolphins-ALB)
3:16 p.m. - Off Owen Beach headed towards Gig Harbor.
2:53 p.m. - It's heading slowly back towards Owen Beach...Its maybe 400 yards off Vashon Ferry, to the East, heading West. -Melissa Bird

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3:29 p.m. - Just saw it breach off 5 mile drive!!! So crazy! At Gig Harbor viewpoint now!
3:12 p.m. - Watching the humpback from Owen Beach now. -Brittany Gordon

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2:50 p.m. - Two humpbacks northwest of Smith Island circling. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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2:10 p.m. - Just left Owen Beach and the "pod" (humpback and dolphins) was moving towards Anthony's restaurant. Orca Networkers out in force making sure kayakers were being whale wise. -Danielle Vance

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2:07 p.m. - Seeing the humpback and Pacific white-sided dolphin, Owen Beach, Tacoma. It's now in front of the Yacht Club, heading East towards Commencement Bay. -Jessica Pagan

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1:30 p.m. - Joe and I are sailing in the gulf islands and spotted several humpbacks, 3 maybe more just south of Pender Island passing the entrance to Bedwell Harbor. We watched them for about 20 minutes and then they headed towards the USA, hope they have their passports! -Veronica Von Allworden

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1:11 p.m. - He's heading towards Vashon Island now.
1:00 p.m. - Seeing spouts from the Gig Harbor view point.. humpback is heading north towards tip of Point Defiance. -Brittany Gordon

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11:54 a.m. - They are still here...You will hear them before you them, so wonderful!
11:00 a.m. - A humpback and 2 dolphins very actively feeding between Point Defiance and Gig Harbor for the past 1+ hour, absolutely mesmerizing to watch and hear. It is hard to look away even for a moment! -Michele Riley Campbell

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10:30 a.m. - I saw a large whale off Point No Point a few minutes ago from north Edmonds. Just a blow and a fluke. 7+ miles from me so hard to see with even a scope. -Josh Adams

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10:00 a.m. - I saw about a dozen blows around Point Defiance but not close enough to see the dolphins. -Bryan Owens I still haven't gotten a good fluke shot of the humpback, but I did get a better photo of the Pacific white-sided dolphin that was hanging around with it today. (Point Defiance, Tacoma/Gig Harbor area) -Heidi Powers Armstrong 2:00 p.m. - Owen Beach today, humpback and Pacific white-sided dolphin. -Jessica Pagan Sighted a humpback 1 mile S of Point No Point 1215 hrs. Whale was traveling south. One blow, rolled one flipper into the air, the a large blow and the whale sounded with flukes high. -John Oliveir

September 13
I was out sailing today and we had fun watching K44 and K36 playing with a salmon. -Barbara Bender

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J Pod very spread out in Haro strait tonight slowly meandering south. All J-babies present! -Ariel Yseth

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6:25 p.m. - Hearing some K pod calls. -Sandra Pollard

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5:15 - Calls starting on Lime Kiln hydrophone - along with a very active piece of kelp. All quiet (no boats) except for nature's sounds! -Kim Merriman

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5:05 p.m. - Just got in. We had what looked to be all of J and K crossing Haro. I heard L may have been coming behind them. -James Greshamn

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Big seas and harsh lighting made for an interesting passby at Lime Kiln late this afternoon, where it was nearly impossible to ID anybody. It was a mix of Js and Ks and maybe Ls, so that narrows it down, right? -Monika Wieland

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3:50 p.m. - Hearing calls on Lime Kiln, Js and Ks. -Alisa, ON

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3:00-5:00 p.m. - We watched them from the Westside Preserve for about 2 hours from 3pm to 5pm. They were very spread out, but we got to see at least one baby. Sorry I don't know them well enough to ID them. -Denise Joins

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4:40 p.m. - Calls on OrcaSound right now! -Susan, ON

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4:10 p.m. - Hi, Saw a small group of Orca in Brentwood Bay, North Saanich on the 4:10 pm crossing from Mill Bay to Brentwood. They were traveling north between Senanus Island and the coast, then reversed south. Sorry no pics they were too far away. Don't usually see them down that way, hence my email. -Lesley Carere

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8:40 a.m. - Black fin specks in the distance between Useless Bay and Point No Point, Admiralty Inlet. I was looking through binoculars, and wasn't sure what I was looking at, until a breach and a white belly happened! Keep your eyes out, let me know where anyone else sees them! Appeared to be headed north. (Unconfirmed, Ashe later thought they may have been dolphins-ALB) -Ashe Davlin

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Humpback: CS468 first seen in the Clayoquot Sound in 2011. This whale has been seen going back and forth from Haro Strait to the Spieden Channel area for the past week+. I love all these new humpbacks coming into the Salish Sea! -Heather MacIntyre

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6:15 p.m. - The solo humpback is slowly heading towards Gig Harbor now.

5:50 p.m. - Just had a single humpback buzz my deck at Salmon Beach traveling north, heading towards Pt Defiance. Closest I've ever seen them, maybe 30 yards out, wow! -Dino Martini

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3:23 update: now 300 yards from the beach, heading possibly SE.
3:15p.m. - One humpback reported off Point No Point in the direction of Double Bluff, no direction of travel, just milling, at one point about 50 meters off PNP. -Marilyn Deroy.

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Humpback whale in Spieden channel. I can't believe how many of these wonderful Humpbacks we are seeing in the area lately. What a treat to be able to see these animals regularly. -Traci Walter

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12:15 p.m. - Just saw a humpback just nort of the west end of Spieden Island. Only surfaced twice but we were treated to a nice full tail view! Headed west pretty quickly. I didn't see anything forward of the blow, just a small sickle shaped fin, quite a distance from the blow and a solid dark gray or black dorsum. -Dana Brooks

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11:00 a.m. - Gretchen Burger and I watched a humpback whale meander back and forth in Rosario Straight between Sea Acres and Doe Bay. He/she was close to the Orcas shoreline and appeared to be feeding. We watched it from about 11 am to 1 pm. What a thrill!! -Ann Jones

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10:00 a.m. - Humpback 1-2 in Spieden Channel heading east. -Peggy Mauro

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9 :00 p.m. - We saw at least two humpbacks near Foul Weather Bluff in Skunk Bay from our home which is located on a high bluff overlooking the Sound near Hansville, WA. They were about 500 meters off shore. There seemed to be at least two of them - one noticeably larger than the other(s). The large whale had a nearly all-white fluke underside when fluking. They were too far away to get decent pictures. They didn't seem to be heading anywhere but rather to be going slowly back and forth in a 500-square-meter area, spouting and fluking. We watched them for at least an hour. There were several small boats in the area - fishing boats and a sailboat under power - that seemed to be watching them, too.
The night before (11th), we also saw a few spouts and flukes in roughly the same location, and after dark we had heard the unmistakable whooshing of a whale spouting/breathing about 5-6 times every few minutes in front of the bluff moving in what seemed to be an west-east direction. We could not see it, but it seemed to be closer to shore since the breathing sound was quite loud. -Tom Buell Jr.

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Hello! There was a grey whale off Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC today in the afternoon. Was feeding for the whole hour or so we were watching. Very close to the shore, just off the seawall. So happy I decided to go for a walk there today! -Laura Wenn

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7:25 a.m. - Minke sighting. On the Coupeville-Port Townsend ferry heading west, about half way across, it was headed east. -Rebekah Padgett

September 12
This is a couple of days late but I wanted to share since the encounter was with the L-54's. It was my first time to see them and they are somewhat rare to encounter. On board The Legacy, we started out on the west side of San Juan Island at Kanaka Bay where the J-17's were foraging close to shore. I guess my path is destined to cross with this group as I have seen matriarch Princess Angeline and family three out of the last three trips. Due to the number of whale watch, commercial fishing and pleasure boats, we didn't stay long and departed for Hein Bank. There we found the L-54's in an absolutely beautiful setting with calm seas, blue skies and a Mt Baker which is just a tad whiter these days. It was extra special to watch orphaned and adopted Wave Walker take a turn at babysitting Ino's youngest calf for a while. -Debbie Stewart

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11:00 a.m. - A group of about 5-6 showed up to join the fishing boats just before 11am. A bit of tail slapping followed by several breaches from one of the younger ones, before they seemed to split up and look for fish. Most of us pulled up our fishing gear and enjoyed the show - it was fun to see everyone pause to admire creatures far better at fishing than we will ever be! -Jennifer Wapenski

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A few orcas were milling off Land Bank between 12-1:00 p.m. They never made it north of Deadman Bay so I never got positive IDs from Lime Kiln before they turned back south. -Monika Wieland

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Onboard Glacier Spirit, just left J17s near False Bay. They were heading north, we had to head south for lunch in Friday Harbor. Saw some foraging but a couple breaches right as we arrived on scene around 10:45 this morning. I'd never seen a breach before and I captured this shot of the first breach. Today is definitely one of the best days of my life, such a privilege to see these beautiful beings in their home. -Amy K Fowler

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11:40 a.m. - 3 orcas heading east about mid channel between Port Angeles and Victoria. One with huge dorsal and white patch with 2 smaller ones with gray patches. Beautiful! -Dino Martini

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6:55 p.m. - Humpback now at Point No Point, Hansville appears to be foraging close to shore this evening, no distinct direction of travel. -Elyse Margaret

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3:30 p.m. - Humpback sighting - Gig Harbor. the whale came over from Pt. Defiance and appeared to be tracking along the shore, going north on the Gig Harbor side. Many boats were observing but at proper distance. -Amy Bliss-Miller

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1:22 p.m. - Humpback whale just passed Point Richmond Beach, heading South in Colvos Passage at No. 6 Marker. -Christy Robinson

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...mid channel between Port Angeles and Victoria.. we just spotted a humpback now 12:17 p.m.! -Dino Martini

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Noon - Two humpbacks surfaced off the beam of my boat at noon, west of Smith Island. -Kimberly Lynn Wickens

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Humpback whale in Colvos Passage near the southern end of Vashon around noon today. Whole family delighted. Boaters were all very appropriate with the whale. -Jennifer Mounsey-Abderhalden

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11:06 am - Humpback whale has been hanging out at Possession Bar, south Whidbey Island with all the derby boats for the last couple of hours. -Lisa Poulin Coale

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2:00 p.m. - Minke whale spotted mid-channel about 3-4 miles south of Cattle Point, San Juan Island surfacing and diving, no distinct direction off travel. Water is so smooth, made for easy viewing. Pics to come! -Jennifer Greiner Clark

September 11
Fin whale at McArthur Bank, notice the scarring on the fin whale's back. -Bonnie Gretz

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Saw the second largest mammal on earth again today, the fin whale, just north of Smith Island. -Janine Harles

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8:15 p.m. - Sunset humpback blows back and forth in Spieden Channel this evening. Two of them...They were hugging the south shoreline so I didn't see much but could hear them and see the plumes. -Peggy Mauro

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Humpback this evening off Southwest point of Vashon Island. -Wendy Pacheco Stuart

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7:35 p.m. - We have been sitting between Point Defiance and Vashon watching what I think is the humpback whale we saw two weeks ago in front of Chambers Bay. It circled our boat for over an hour and a half. It was incredible. I only have cell phone shots. So incredible. -Cindy Faker

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5:50 p.m. - Humpback currently breaching off the south point of Vashon Island. Son is watching as I write, jealous! -Kelly Sedgwick

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Spent a lovely day with this humpback (and the fin whale) off McArthur Bank. -Bonnie Gretz

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I saw it one more time at about 2:40-- same location, right before I left.
2:10 p.m. - Saw the humpback at about 1:00 and again just now off the north shore at Point No Point. Fairly far out. -Aviva Weiss Grele

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9:30 a.m - My parents are fishing off of Point no Point this morning and saw a blow and a fluke, then it disappeared. Looks like the humpback is still around. -Heather Polverino

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10:13 a.m. - Slowing moving north and south, feeding, has been closest to Gig Harbor side. There are a few boaters watching from and appropriate distance.
9:13 a.m. - It's here! It is close to shore heading up to Sunrise Beach, Gig Harbor. -Michele Riley Campbell

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7:20 a.m. - Possible humpback off Gig Harbor heading south at 720 this morning. -Peter Woodward

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Humpbacks lunge feeding in BlackFish Sound. -Mark Malleson

September 10
2:30 p.m. - We were with L54s, L88 and L84 as they approached East Point, Saturna heading towards Strait of Georgia. -Barbara Bender

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From today's encounter with a small group of Lpod. This is L84, "Nyssa" traveling off Turn Point on Stuart Island. He lost all of his immediate family members, and hangs out with the L54's primarily. -Traci Walter

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So many whales... Members of all three Southern Resident pods (J, K and L) were present in Rosario Strait today. Passengers on the Washington State ferry 'Kitsap' enjoyed a rare treat as the orcas meandered along against the backdrop of freshly snow-capped Mt Baker, before passing under the watchful eye of Ken Balcomb (Center for Whale Research). Perfection comes in many forms - we saw it all today. -Sandra Pollard, Naturalist

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12:19 p.m. - John Rogstad of WA State Ferries relayed a report from the ferry Kitsap of 45 or more orcas in Thatcher Pass, Rosario Strait, heading southward.

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The T065A's are a small group of transient killer whales. They eat marine mammals, not fish. This group was on a mission! They were chasing prey that was never seen, but later it was evident that they had been successful at making the kill. Lots of surface activity during the hunt, convergence then silence, followed by long dives and a change in direction when all was said and done. We left them at noon south of Flagler crossing the channel. Looked like they were heading northeast-ish. Mid channel when we left, heading closer to Whidbey side.-Renee Beitzel

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10:26 a.m. - They're very close to shore southbound. They're just a bit north of Fort Flagler. -Rachel Haight

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9:15 a.m. - Group of about 5 orcas spotted by Clipper 4--- 2.6 miles north of Point Wilson heading south into Admiralty Inlet. -Jason Mihok

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7:45 p.m. - Humpback hugging shoreline headed from Norwegian Point around Point No Point and then headed SE into the Sound towards Seattle. -Donna Green Van Renselaar

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4:50 p.m. - We were with a Humpback at north end of Green Point right between Spieden and Flattop Islands going back and forth trending north. -Barbara Bender

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4:00 pm - Just found blows. I am on Vashon at the ferry and the whale is generally just a bit north of the Gig Harbor entrance and just south of Sunrise Beach. Close to Gig Harbor side. No dolphins yet but will keep looking. -Amy Carey

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Talked to a few if the fishermen at Point Defiance boathouse who have been watching the whale the last couple mornings. Hear it has been going back and forth near gig harbor near shore. -Brian Owen

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2:00 pm - Saw the humpback again today...it was swimming on the west side of Vashon Island then crossed into the center of the channel and headed toward us. It continued down toward the Narrows and then turned around to head back north. Would it be feeding on the schools of small fish we've been seeing? (yes) -Amy Bliss-Miller

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4:00 p.m. - He's south of the point right now, last seen headed southeast into the sound
3:40 p.m. - He just cruised the shoreline north then south. I think the water was too shallow for him to show his fluke.
3:05 p.m. - Humpback is here ( Point No Point) and was close in. The whale was less than 50 feet from shore as it fed, passing first heading west, and then turning and heading east until it got to the end of the point, where it headed southeast into the sound. -Connie Bickerton

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2:45-4:00 p.m. - Watched humpback very close to shore. Point No Point, Hanseville, Kitsap County. -Susan Marie Andersson

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10:41 a.m. - The humpback and dolphins are off Sunrise Beach in Gig Harbor again. It's been there since about 9:15 I just left & it was still there. Trending north a bit. -Heidi Powers Armstrong

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10:26 a.m. - Humpback feasting just west of Possession Point, Whidbey. -Renee Beitzel, Chilkat

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9:45 a.m. - We started our day 5 minutes from the dock watching a humpback whale off Possession Point, south Whidbey Island. -Janine Harles

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9:10 a.m. - A lone humpback has been in Spieden channel across from Lonesome cove resort for the past hour. The owners indicate they see them frequently. -Dave Ackelson

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10:00 a.m. - humpback deep diving east of Point No Point south of Scatchet head...amongst lots of fishing boats and Whale watching boat Chilkat
8:35 a.m. - Blows seen east of Point No Point. Might be a humpback. Seemed to be slowly foraging northerly. Watching long distance from north Edmonds. -Stu Davidson

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6:37 a.m. - There's an orca spouting fairly close in at Point No Point. Heading southeast. (came in as single orca ID not confirmed...humpback seen at this location night before and shore time after this report-ALB) -Christy Delch Mackey

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Wanted to let you both know my husband and his brother were walking the Henry Island Isthmus today, early evening around 4:30 pm and witnessed a single Minke breach 5 separate times. After the fifth breach they did not see the Minke again. This was on the side of the Isthmus that faces Open Bay. -Christine Langland

September 9
8:10 p.m. - Lovely sunset as always at Lime Kiln tonight- was greeted by 4-5 orcas passing by the lighthouse. It was so quiet there tonight - very few people - I loved the fact that I knew the whales were close by because I could hear them "blowing". -Cindy Jackson

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The new calf, L122 and mom, L91. Haro Strait aboard the Peregrine, Maya's Legacy Whale Watching out of Snug Harbor Resort and Marina...One of my happiest images ever! -James Maya

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Got to meet little L122 ! We saw it's first trip through Active Pass! -Gary Sutton

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10:15 a.m. - still near the rocks....hearing echolocation and faint calls still.
9:30 a.m - Listening to Js and Ks on and off for the past hour on Lime Kiln hp. -Alisa, ON

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I had Js and Ks including J27 Blackberry going by between 830 and 930. Dense fog, mostly heard only, but a few were right on the rocks! Still passing when I left. -Monika Wieland

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8:15 a.m. - More whales on LK - getting closer!
8:05 a.m. - think I just heard k pod on Lime Kiln hydrophone. -Barbara Bender

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My 6th encounter with this family (T65As) this year, and as Sara said, it was a charm. This family group is so much fun to hang out with. Today they were wandering south along Lummi Island before heading over to do some serious hunting along the shores of Orcas Island. This family of whales is very curious of boats and people, and they came in to check us out several times. -Connie Bickerton

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EPIC. That was the day we had on the water with the T65As, T65A, T65A5, T65A4, T65A2, and T65A3 today. We found them up near Lummi Island and they were in a playful mood the whole time we were with them----well, playful and hungry! It sure wasn't a great day to be a harbor seal. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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Today was a pretty epic day with the T065As. They came close to the boat by THEIR choice. They breached, jumped, and tail lobbed. We watched as they caught an unfortunate seal who became their meal. When they were swimming in the shallows, you could even see their jet black bodies underneath the surface and it was breathtaking. They are definitely one of my favorite family groups by far, and they like to have fun and are such a delight to watch. Such a beautiful amazing day on the water spent with friends, couldn't have asked for better. -Rachel Haight

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Just a quick update on the Satellite Tagging Research on Alaska Killer Whales : The sat tag we placed on T100C is still working and providing valuable information. The T100s spent a considerable amount of time in lower Puget Sound - as far south as Olympia. As they headed north they spent some time around Whidbey Island and then north through Admiralty Inlet. They headed north along the east side of Vancouver Island - transiting into the Strait of Georgia. -Marilyn (Dahlheim) Research Biologist, National Marine Mammal Laboratory, Alaska Fisheries Science Center/NOAA

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Fin whale cruising along the edge of McArthur Bank this evening. -Mark Malleson

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Fin Whale surfaces, scaring gulls at Salmon Bank off south end of San Juan Island. -Melisa Pinnow

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6:45 p.m. - We had a whale report from Brian M, who was on the ferry from Sidney when he saw a very tall, straight blow. He said it was almost as tall as a sailboat mast, off Spieden Island, between Green Point and Limestone Point. He didn't see the whale however. (several humpbacks have been frequenting this general area this week-ALB)

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6:40 p.m. - Watching humpback at Limestone Point. -Barbara Bender

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4:10 p.m. - Was just on the water with the humpback at the mouth of Gig Harbor. Looks like a young whale. He was hugging the shore to the North of the harbor and continued south toward the Narrows. Sorry about the terrible picture but it was the best I could do with my phone at the appropriate distance. The sailboat wasn't playing nice and used it's motor to position itself in the whale's path. -Amy Bliss-Miller

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11:45 a.m. - Saw a humpback or humpbacks breaching completely out of the water at Apple Tree Cove Point. (Kingston, Kitsap County). -David Luxton

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11:23 a.m. - Humpbacks and dolphins(?) slowly heading southward now, seemingly toward Narrows.
10:52 a.m. - A little more between sunrise and north sunrise at this time. Several respectful boats that were here before my first sighting in the area.
10:28 a.m. - Humpback off Sunrise Beach, Gig Harbor. -Courtney A Turk

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6:45 a.m. - I heard the humpback in Spieden Channel. It was way out there but we saw a few blows, no fluke, and a beautiful sunrise with the crescent moon. It was heading west then turned back, now heading east. -Peggy Mauro

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Mary Pacher of Greenbank called on a report of two whales in Saratoga Passage just north of Hidden Beach at 9:20 am. They were fairly close to shore - first she thought they were orcas then thought they might be grays as they were so close to shore.

September 8
We caught up to the T65As today and found an extra whale traveling with them. Big thanks to Gary for figuring out who the extra fin belonged to! Here's a photo of that tagalong, T49A2, and T65A3 cruising along the Moresby Island shoreline. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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We got to spend time today with the T65A's up in Canada. We found them near Mandarte Island, and followed them to just northwest of Moresby Island. I've seen this family group at least 5 times this year, 3 times from boats, and twice from shore in Puget Sound. They have definitely become favorites because of their close family bonds. -Connie Bickerton

*
A humpback whale was observed swimming off of Point Richmond (near Gig Harbor) at about 10AM this morning. The whale was accompanied by 2-3 porpoise?? (probably a couple of Pacific white-sided dolphins seen in the area for over a year-ALB). The porpoise were playful, jumping out of the water swimming around buoys, all the time staying near the humpback whale. The whale came with 40' feet of shore at one point surfacing inside one of the boats moored on a buoy. Sorry couldn't catch the porpoise on camera, must have been camera shy! -Joyce Winge

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From 5:30-6:30 PM this evening we had two humpback whales near Spieden Island. We encountered the first one milling off the north side of the Island. The second one was in the middle of Spieden Channel north of Pearl Island. By the time we left, both animals were visible west of Battleship. -Monika Wieland

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Humpback whale "rainblow" late this afternoon off the north side of Spieden Island. -Monika Wieland

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My son and his friend saw this humpback whale fluking off Point Defiance, Tacoma in the morning. -Kelly Sedgwick

September 7
Today there was another new baby in L pod! L91 and her new calf L122. -Center for Whale Research

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"Aerial photographs of L91 and the new calf, courtesy of our colleagues at NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Center (John Durban, Holly Fearnbach, Lance Barrett-Lennard). Photographs taken for health assessment using an unmanned hexacopter at an altitude of >100ft above the whales, authorized by NMFS permit #16163 and flight authorization under an MOU between NOAA and the FAA (Class G MOU # 2015-ESA-4-NOAA)." -Center for Whale Research

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New calf L122, L 91 is the mom! The Peregrine was the first U.S. boat there with Jeanne Hyde and myself on board. First seen near Victoria, BC. -James Maya

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L91 and her new calf L122 in Haro Strait. -Monika Wieland

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3:25 p.m. - Orcas traveling east between County park and Lime Kiln. 3 individuals (maybe more, including adult male ) seen with binocs from my house. -Michelline Halliday

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3:08 p.m. - turned Orca Sound back on hearing SRKW calls. Ls and Ks sounds like.
1:48 p.m. - switched to Orca Sound, start hearing few faint calls, S19 calls I think.
12:45-1:40 p.m. - hearing SRKW vocals on Lime Kiln. -Alisa, ON

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1:15 - Still periodic calls on LK hydrophones as well as periodic fins at Lime Kiln Lighthouse! -Kim Merriman

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Calls on Lime Kiln ~~ 12:35. -Anne Hazen

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12:29 p.m. - Ls on LK now! -Barbara Bender

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12:05 p.m. - Seven orcas southwest off Lime Kiln spotted from a Kenmore air flight, they were heading ENE! -Melissa L

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4:10 p.m. - With T18's T19's by White Rock headed in direction towards Spring Pass (Jones). -Barbara Bender

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Lucky enough to hang out with the fin whale south of Lopez Island this afternoon! -Katie Jones

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3:00-4:00 p.m. - Not life bird, a life whale. Fin whale at MacArthur bank at the south end of Lopez. I'm just thrilled I saw it. Saw orca, humpbacks, minke, fin, harbor porpoise, and about 90% I saw a dalls. -Connie Bickerton

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4:00 p.m. - 1 large humpback playing around in the Tacoma Narrows. Tail splashes and just rolling slow across channel. Looks to have headed north around Pt Defiance. -Asher Beckett

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2 humpbacks in the Sannich Inlet/Pat Bay, B.C. all day today. This is the 5th day these guys have been in here. -Karen Gray

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4:20 pm. - Headed into President Channel now. Humpback along Flattop Island...There was a humpback at Jones Island too. -Barbara Bender

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1:00 p.m. - Saw the humpback near Flattop Island, San Juan Islands. -Peggy Mauro

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Reported as Minke, probably humpback: whale and a porpoise seen roaming around the Gig Harbor shoreline around 11am, same area as salmon fishing boats. (I asked if could be a humpback-ALB) "Possibly, not an expert at this very dark (looked black), haven't seen many but was curious to see the little one swimming & jumping right along side for 1/2 hour (when they surfaced). -Mark Strother (We've had several reports of humpback in this same area, and on the 8th report came in of "porpoise" interacting with a humpback, probably Lags, see the 8th-ALB)

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8:30 a.m. - Pat reports 2 or 3 humpbacks about 200 yards off John's Island in the San Juans. They were on the north side of the island heading east.

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9:00 a.m. - south of Sunrise Beach, near Gig Harbor Bay. The humpback whale was very close to shore (but plenty deep). Did not see any of the dolphins that day, but there was a herd (4-5) of sea lions not to far away. -John Holmaas

September 6
The light out there this evening was amazing...Granny, J2, and Murres. Lopez Island. -James Maya

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6:00 p.m. - Pod of orcas rounded Watmough Head around 6pm, Lopez Island headed west. -Joe Penrod

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4:09 p.m. - Seeing Js from Washington Park, Anacortes southbound in Rosario Strait. Pretty spread. Lots of breaches, spyhops, tail slaps. Over more towards the islands. Pretty far from this side. Lots of active whales not going anywhere in a hurry, leaders to Bird Rocks by 4:25 p.m. They may just be tiny specs but it's a nice afternoon. -Sara Hysong-Shimazu

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Definitely Ts! They were hunting when we arrived. We shut down and the sea lion took refuge between our hull, later ending up on our hydrofoil. The Ts swam away and the sea lion eventually took off. We were with them for almost an hour because we couldn't move. ...It was crazy!...heading north in Admiralty Inlet...there were at least two females, a sprouter, two juveniles and a calf. May have been one more female. Will go back and look at photos tonight. (Later ID'd by Renee as the T100s). T100C (left side) with intact satellite tag on his dorsal. He was tagged in July 2015. -Renee Beitzel

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11:38 a.m. - Orcas, mid channel Mutiny Bay, 2 miles S of Bush Point, heading North. I'm not sure how many. Followed by Whale Watching boats. -Mike Meyer

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8:30 a.m. - Stephanie from Victoria Clipper lll relayed a report from the Victoria Clipper IV of a pod of orcas off Bush Pt, SW Whidbey Island at 8:30 am, no direction of travel. There was one calf present. (Not SRKWs later ID'd as Bigg's pod T100's-ALB)

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Special day on the water- not only did we see J pod, a humpback whale, minke whale, and sea life, but we also got to see the second largest mammal in the world: the fin whale! -Heather MacIntyre

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Fin whale near McArthur Bank. -Mark Malleson

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7:00 p.m. - Not sure if it was a gray whale or humpback just outside Gig Harbor entrance cruising down the Narrows at 7pm then back up past the entrance at 7:45. -Peachy Smalling

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7:00 p.m. - This evening a small whale, possibly a grey whale, was feeding at the mouth of Gig Harbor. About 20 feet long, was alone. -Jay Smalling
(Quite probable it's a humpback that has been frequenting the area and was photographed on the 5th, 7th, and 8th-ALB)

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We saw it (humpback) on the way to Friday Harbor at 9:45 closer to Lopez island. Then we saw several in the east end of Speiden channel sometime around 2:30pm, and then as we continued north we saw another humpy in boundary pass, north of Flattop island. We were watching them blow off in front of us and behind us! A few tail flukes too. So huge! -Kimberly Lynn Wickens

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South end of Spieden just off Green Point this afternoon, two humpbacks. -Carrie Selting

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11:15 a.m. - Washington State Ferries reports a humpback whale observed by the Samish Ferry off Turn Rock near Friday Harbor San Juan Island.

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2:25 p.m. - Fin or minke about 2.4 miles east of the current station on Smith Island. Was likely 30-40 feet, we figured either a juvenile fin or minke... (Confirmed minke by Jonathan Stern: " it is a minke whale! very cool..there is no visible blow and in the 4th photo in the sequence that you sent, you can see the bow hole and tip of the dorsal fin at the same time...that is a very minke whale kind of thing....you do not see both on a fin whale" ) -Samuel Hilbert

September 5
Resident pods were heading northeast towards Fraser River.

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My dad Brad Buckmaster took these photos from Land bank at 3:09pm. Could this be L-122? There were no boats in the immediate area and the whales were very spread out. This cow and calf pair milled in the same spot about a half mile from shore for at least an hour. I assumed it was L-94 and L-121 but now I'm not so sure because I can't see the finger of L-94's saddle patch and the calf looks quite small to be L-121. Can anyone help with IDs? (Confirmed by the Center for Whale Research to be new calf L122 with mom L91). -Justine Buckmaster

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New, day(s)-old calf L122 with mom L91. Taken from Land Bank, San Juan Island. -Brad Buckmaster
(Submitted by Justine Buckmaster and ID confirmed by the Center for Whale Research)

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5:30 p.m. Watched Ks pass Lime Kiln southbound. K33 Tika (aka The Shapeshifter) off Lime Kiln this evening. He looks so different from different angles, that I think I've mistaken him for almost every other male in the population at some point during the last two years. -Monika Wieland

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We saw K12's K13's and K14's from Boundary south to Battleship. -Barbara Bender

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9-10 a.m. - They were mostly milling just south of LK - most turned back south. K12s and prob a few others did go north but still seemed to be in foraging mode rather than committed to traveling up. -Monika Wieland

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I heard Ks and Ls on Lime Kiln. -Barbara Bender

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10:16 a.m. - start hearing faint calls on OrcaSound.
9:45 a.m. - still hearing calls, sounds like Ls. Heard Ks earlier too.
8:47 a.m. - echolocation and calls on Lime Kiln! -Alisa, ON

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9:30 a.m. - At least part of the orca pod has turned and at least 3 are heading north in Saratoga Passage in travel mode. By 9:30 AM, they were at Mabana.
8:45 a.m. - Small group of Orca actively feeding off the dropoff in front of my house. One male, several females, and possibly one young. At least 2 full breaches. To far away for any ID. Group heading slowly south...In over 15 years, this is the first time I've had a chance to see Orca this close in front of the house. -Barbara Brock, Mabana, Camano Island

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9:00 am - Orca whales spotted in Saratoga Passage off S Camano! 300 yards offshore. Breaching and playful! -Jennifer Feldman Spanton

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6:29 p.m. - Watched a (90% sure) humpback surface several times in the drizzle Maury Island Aquatic Reserve. One lovely tail fin display too. -Claire Tonry

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5:30 p.m. - Another humpback right outside Roche Harbor. Milling around no direction of travel. Lots of whale watching and other boats but all seem to be keeping respectful distance. -Jennifer Greiner Clark

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4:00 p.m. - northeast side of San Juan Island near Wasp Islands saw one humpback whale. Surfacing between deep dives of a several minutes at a time. Trending generally south slowly. So cool!! -Jennifer Greiner Clark

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Orca Network received a report by Patty Sheehan of an unidentified whale, 20-30' long, with a dorsal fin, well inside Quartermaster Harbor at 4 pm (and also seen by Wynne Mentink).
(Confirmed as humpback-ALB)

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2:00 p.m. - Humpback is headed up Specimen channel. West to east, breached in front of Stuart island. -Joanne Langkow

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7:35 a.m. - One, maybe two, humpbacks hanging out in Sannich Inlet. Splashing around and syphopping. -Karen Gray

September 4
2:20 p.m. - L41 Mega, L25 Ocean Sun, in Haro Strait near Hein Bank. -Vickie Doyle

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Haro Strait. L84 Nyssa, If you look closely you can see the marks on his dorsal from his SAT tag. His travels, combined with Scoter's (K25) tagging showed just how dependent the SRKW's are on Columbia River Salmon. -Connie Bickerton

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North of Cattle Point, I finally got to see "my" little Cousteau, L-113, plusL77 Matia, and a bunch of the handsome young guys from all 3 pods! -Bonnie Gretz

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We left the K13s and K14s milling at Kellett at 1430. -Monika Wieland

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At about 7:30 pm on Friday, Sept 4th my wife and I watched 4 Orca in Saratoga Pass from our home off North Bluff Rd in Greenbank. They were more than a mile offshore so too far for pics but with binoculars we could clearly see 4 whales, 1 larger male and 3 smaller females/juveniles (?). They were very active with numerous breaches, tail slaps, barrel rolls, and even one somersault. We watched for nearly an hour before they moved closer to Baby Island (a seal snack perhaps?) and it got too dark to see. Great fun! -Steve Liedle

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Humpback near Flat Top Island, San Juan Islands, WA at sunset. -James Maya

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11:25 a.m. - Humpback n the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Approximately 7nm north of Green Point, Port Angeles, WA -Connie Bickerton

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10:00 a.m. - Still there and milling just west of Possession Point. -Renee Beitzel, Naturalist, Puget Sound Express

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8:45 a.m. - Victoria Clipper III just stopped to watch a humpback in Puget Sound! It was about 1 mile off of Possession Point, milling but trending toward Point No Point. -Justine Buckmaster

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Washington State Ferries reports 3 gray whales (possibly humpbacks) at Danger Shoals, Haro Strait.

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While searching for THE Fin whale today, we spotted it once and waited for it to resurface. In the meantime, we happened upon a pretty active bird pile/bait ball. A bait ball is a tight ball of fish (herring, capelin, sand-lance) that have come together at the surface due to being driven there by a predator from below. These can be seals, sea lions, porpoise, birds or more likely, minke whales! We found this one surface lunging through the bait ball and a few birds (Ok several) that were taking advantage of the fish that were stunned as they were left in the path of a feeding minke. -Renee Beitzel

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I talked to reporting party, Robin Waterman, She is reporting seeing a whale from her cabin at Quilcene. She said the animal is large (maybe 30 feet), dark in color with a blowhole. No dorsal fin seen. She didn't notice any blotchiness in the coloration. The animal surfaced near the shore in an area that drops off to deep water fairly quickly. She hopped into a kayak and tried to paddle out to get a closer look but the animal showed what she thinks was a large pec flipper and dove from sight. The sighting occurred around 0915 to 0930 and she hasn't see the animal resurface in the area as of 0945. -Brent Norberg, NOAA

September 3
L's yesterday and J's and K's today! Strait of Georgia...Group A and Ks near point Roberts and group B offshore of them by a couple miles. -Gary Sutton

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10:55 p.m. - Loud calls on Lime Kiln hydrophone.
9:54 p.m. - Calls on OrcaSound. -Jack Collins

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Sounds like Ls, listened until 10:40, they were still audible. -Alisa, ON

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10:27 p.m. SRKWs on Lime Kiln. -Connie Bickerton

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10:15 am. Chatter on Lime Kiln now! -Ann Hazen

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9:39 p.m. - I hear vocals on Lime Kiln hydrophone. -Lore Borras

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7:00 p.m. -Orca Super Pod Off South Pender Island ...traveling and playing. -Jennifer Emery

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6:45 p.m. - About 30 orcas off south Pender near Tilly Point heading west in Boundary Pass around 6:45 pm. Some were headed towards Turn Point on Stuart island, some headed north! -Kayla Doucette

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A wonderful day on the water including a rare sighting of a Fin Whale! The day started off with a report of Transient orcas near Whidbey but they were sneaky T's and we never found them. A few minutes later we found a whale, it looked quite beat up with a weird fin, no fluke, turns out we may have been one of two boats that saw it today, sounds like it may be a young Fin Whale!!...next we found L41 Mega, he was supposedly with a few other L's but was by himself when we found him. We spent some quality time with Mega then found a Minke whale on our way to Protection Island. Lots of wildlife to see today, with Captain Anna hitting the trifecta! -Janine Harles

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6:44 p.m. - Picked them up again in front of woodland beach, closer to Camano side, heading north. -Krista Paulino

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5:40 p.m. - We received a call from a woman on Camano Island reporting 3 orcas off Camano Island State Park heading towards Whidbey Island.

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4:30 p.m. - My school (Overlake) saw a pod of orcas from Camano Island State Park (on the/a beach). There was 1 mother a calf 1 male and 1 young male/female. The orcas got fairly close to the shore but I couldn't really catch their saddle patches. First they where traveling, then the stopped to play then they left. -Midori Leibovitz

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3:42 p.m. - This group slowly moving north, mid-channel just north of Camano state park boat launch. Appearing to be milling now..a few tail lobs and one spy hop.
3:19 p.m. - Oh gosh! I looked to my left and huge dorsals outside Elger bay. 4 at least.
3:05 p.m. - At Camano Island State Park and seeing blows over in Greenbank area heading south possibly into the harbor. -Krista Paulino

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1:55 p.m. - Two off of Langley right now (between Langley and Bells Beach, Whidbey Island, Saratoga Passage). Were moving north but may have slowed or turned. -Dan Gulden

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12:40 p.m. - At Columbia Beach, Whidbey Island, see a couple whales heading north toward Clinton ferry, Possession Sound. -Tim Andersen

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12:35 p.m. - Marie Waterman at WSF relayed a report of 3 orcas, one very big, northbound off Clinton ferry dock.

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8:10 a.m. - orcas at north end of Mutiny Bay, Admiralty Inlet heading south. -Karen & Dave Anderson

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Orcas were having fun today just out of Mosquito pass moving north towards Stuart island. -Noelle Morris

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Saw two fins in Spieden Channel...got to see a couple breaches and spyhops. Looks like 2 big males, a wee fin and probably a female heading west out of the channel. They were closer to the Spieden Island shore so I couldn't see a lot. -Peggy Mauro

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Fin whale at Hein Bank, Washington, USA. Very rare in this area. -Brian Goldberg

September 2
Whales at any time of the year are a gift, September whales especially so as sightings become a little less regular. Magnificent Mega (L41), Matia (L77) and other L pod members milled and foraged near Salmon Bank off the west side of San Juan Island today. Although initially fairly well spread out, the whales appeared to be grouping up as Mystic Sea left. Our visiting Steller sea-lions, always an impressive sight, were hauled out on Whale Rocks enjoying the afternoon sunshine before the rain. -Sandra Pollard, Naturalist

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4:50 p.m. - Orcas on west Whidbey (south of Bush Point, Admiralty Inlet) slowly moving north, as if feeding. 4 females, one male. No spectacular behavior, just surfacing and slow dives. Adams Road earliest we've ever seen them go by. -Christina Baldwin

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2:45 p.m. - saw blows just outside Cultus Bay so at least some appear to be coming around south end of Whidbey.
2:10 p.m. - From Stamm Overlook in Edmonds they (at least some) were breaching about 1-1.5 miles south of Scatchet Head, south Whidbey. Due to distance and sea chop no direction discernible.
1:45 p.m. - They (or at least some) did not choose Admiralty...they are keeping a line northward towards south Whidbey.
1:35 p.m. - most of pod (10-12, with 3 large males) has grouped up into two groups with some separation, large male leading and ahead of both groups. They appear to have kept a line which has moved them off shore...they are northbound in southbound shipping lanes. Appear to be angling Admiralty but not certain at this time.
12:58 p.m. - From Sunset Ave in Edmonds, pod is northbound, north side of Apple Tree Point Kingston on Kitsap side, a bit spread out, with a couple closer to shore.
12:30 p.m. - From earlier reports hear that pod has flipped and is now northbound. From Richmond Beach, pod just passed out from Kingston ferry dock northbound at a steady pace. -Alisa, ON

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1:23 p.m . - Received a phone report from Washington State Ferries of a couple of orcas hanging around off Alki. (It appears some continued south or this is another group entirely-ALB)

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12:55 p.m. - The ferry captain spotted a pod of 5-6 orcas heading north between Edmonds and Kingston. -Ignacio Cabezudo

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11:30 a.m. - Just got a report the T's are now back up at Faye Bainbridge. Lots of action. -Susan Marie Andersson (At least some flipped somewhere around Rolling Bay and are now northbound)

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11:00 a.m. - T's have moved back west and are right off Rolling Bay, Bainbridge Island.
10:30am. (from South Beach, B.I.) Seeing them off the point at Discovery Park. Heading up to watch from Rolling Bay again. -Kimberly Sylvester-Malzahn

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10:05 a.m. - I just caught a glimpse of them from lower Queen Anne (with binocs) surfacing right around the orange buoy. From here it looks like the buoy is just south of Rockaway, but I could be wrong on that. Saw them surface once and they've been back down for the last five minutes or so. -Katie Kirking

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9:15 a.m. - Watching from Rolling Bay on Bainbridge and see 6-7 fins, long dives, still trending south, mid channel. South of 2nd marker. -Kimberly Sylvester-Malzahn

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8:09 a.m. - Pod just came into view from Skiff Point, Bainbridge Island (from the bluff on the north side) looks like the Victoria Clipper stopped to watch, still southbound. -Lynn Batson

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8:35 a.m. - Clipper has left. They were doing 6 plus minutes dives in a resting mode. Edging into the southbound traffic lane.
8:07 a.m. - Abeam Point Monroe moving south at 6 kts. -Jason Mihok

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8:30 a.m. - Rolling Bay, Bainbridge slowly southbound.
8:05 a.m. - From a Richmond Beach, I just spotted a lot of fins southbound out from Faye Bainbridge park, west of mid channel. -Alisa, ON

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7:15 a.m. - My sweetheart on the ferry out of Kingston says they saw orcas just now. Southbound toward Jefferson Beach. -Doug Hayman

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I spotted what is likely an old and sickly fin whale at north Hein Bank. It was seen and photographed again on September 3rd near McArthur Bank by Island Explorer III of Island Adventure Cruises. -Mark Malleson

September 1
1:44 p.m. - Seen a beautiful wild pod heading south by Marrowstone just now. All looked well! Large male. Huge dorsal fin with a distinctive notch on the upper back side. I believe there were about 5-6 and we believe a baby was also on board. -Niboreel Sreyas

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3:05 p.m. - Received a phone report from Washington State Ferries of a single Minke whale in Rosario Strait shipping lanes.