August 21, 2023: J & K Pods, and T60s | San Juan Island

Sep 28

Date: Monday, August 21, 2023
Location: Cattle Point, San Juan Island, WA
Weather: Mostly sunny, 63 degrees Fahrenheit with 13mph winds from SW
Tide: High/Ebb
Pods: J Pod, K Pod, T60s
Total Whale Count: Unknown
Behaviors: Foraging, traveling
Boat Count: 10+

This was quite an interesting day, in the sense that a lot of the sightings came down to pure luck and being in the right place at the right time. I had been on San Juan Island the previous day with another Orca Conservancy member in hopes of seeing a Super Pod, as all three pods had come into the Salish Sea. We spent the day Sunday waiting and watching to no avail. After reports came through that members of J, K, and members of L pod were all the way up by the Campbell River in B.C., Canada traveling south, the whale math put the whales on the west side of San Juan Island during the night or into the next day depending on the travel speed of the whales. With the potential to see the whales, I decided to stay the night and was able to get a last-minute reservation at San Juan Island County Park.

The goal was to hear the whales pass by in the evening, or possibly see them in the morning. The whales however had different plans. When sightings reports came through, unconfirmed but presumed Southern Residents had been seen traveling south in Rosario Strait, which is not visible from San Juan Island. Instead of going their normal route down the west side of San Juan, the whales went east instead. Another report had come through of a small group of whales south of us around Landbank. I decided to pack up the campsite and go find out who the whales were.

As I was getting ready to leave, I stopped in the bathroom to brush my teeth and was chatting with someone I knew, when a person came into the bathroom and stated, “you guys know there are whales outside right now?” Without missing a beat I jetted out to the water. Suspecting it was transients or BIgg’s killer whales (mammal eaters), I knew I wouldn’t have time to run up to my site to get my camera out of my car, but I thought maybe I could at least catch some shots with my phone. As I got to the water, the whales were just leaving the area, and I could only see them swimming away in the distance getting further and further. I was correct in my assumption that this group was transients, and they were confirmed to be the two brothers T60D and T60E, who travel separately from their family.

I had figured these were likely the whales that were reported south of me earlier, and with no new reports, I decided to go into town for the phone service to catch up on emails and other work tasks while I waited to see where the SRKWs in Rosario went. I knew it was probably that they would eventually end up going south past the San Juans, and end up around Hein or Salmon Bank south of San Juan. Within a few minutes of being in town, a friend of mine reported yet another group of whales from her home around Eagle Cove. She was leaving on her way to work and saw a whale spy hopping said, “I walked out the door and literally saw a whale face!”. Her reports stated it appeared that this group, likely also transients, was trending down island.

I knew from town I wouldn’t have time to get to Eagle Cove, so with the direction they were said to have been traveling I decided to get ahead of them and I went to Cattle Point. I pulled over at a small gravel parking lot, grabbed my binoculars, and immediately saw a dorsal fin. At this point, the group that my friend had seen had been confirmed to be the T60s, the family of the other two whales that had passed me earlier at County Park. I figured that was who I was viewing at first. That was until I saw a dorsal fin in front of me. Then another further out. Then two more surfacing ahead of that one. And more behind. And some over by a bunch of private fishing boats. I realized I was seeing way more whales than the T60s, and the behaviors and numbers didn’t add up for these to be transients. I grabbed my camera and took a handful of shots, the whales were pretty far, but I was able to get some clear saddle shots and realized I was in fact seeing the Southern Residents and not the T60s. I got positive IDs on L26 Lobo first, followed by J53 Kiki, J40 Suttles with J45 Se-Yi-Chnn, and then J37 Hy’Shqa with J59 Sxwyeqólh.

Other people had also reported seeing Residents a little up island from me and reported that they were traveling up island “with purpose”, which basically means they are committing, and to get ahead of them. The group that I was watching was following suit and traveling up island, nearing where I wouldn’t have good visibility on them. I left my spot and made a quick stop in Eagle Cover, where I found the same group I had been watching at Cattle Point. They did appear to be committing up island so I quickly left and went up to Land Bank, the next public location they would be visible. When I got there many whale-watching people were arriving and already scanning. After waiting for a few minutes, they came into view, and as they came into view they started pushing offshore until we could no longer see them. After waiting a while I decided to go back down island to South Beach to see if they were making their way to Hein Bank. My instinct turned out to be correct, and I watched them pushing offshore until I could no longer see them. They were later reported at Hein or Salmon bank foraging, but ultimately left and headed out to the ocean later that day.

At this point, I had checked other reports that the T60s had been located again and were traveling through Cattle Pass. I did try to see them, but I kept missing them at every spot that I went to. I tried following them until the got to a point where I would have no access to view them. After which I decided to bump up my ferry reservation to come home. And as fate would have it, the T60s flipped and changed directions, which put them right in the route of my ferry and I was able to see them as the ferry stopped to let them pass in front of us.

It was such a bizarre day in all honesty, and shows that even the most seasoned whale watchers can have misses or get really lucky. I completely missed the two whales who passed right by where I was, and then in attempts to find the T60s, I ended up finding the Southern Residents instead. Had I not gone out to see the T60s I would have likely seen the reports of the SRKWs and gone straight to Land Bank where I would have missed them. Then after multiple misses of the T60s, my decision to go home brought me straight into the path of the T60s. At the end of the day, patience and luck… and whales rule the day.