September 16, 2023: T60s | San Juan Island
Date: Saturday, September 16, 2023
Location: Landbank Westside Preserve, & County Park, San Juan Island, WA
Weather: Partly Cloudy, 65 degrees Fahrenheit with 6mph winds from S
Tide: Flood
Pods: T60s
Total Whale Count: 4
Behaviors: Traveling, hunting
Boat Count: 7 (6 whale watch boats, 1 research boat)
T60s surfacing off of Land Bank. Taken by Kendra Nelson | Board Secretary
When asked about when is a good time to find whales, I always tell people that more times than not, there is usually a whale somewhere in the Salish Sea. This is also often true when it comes to San Juan Island. For the duration of this particular day, there were no whale sightings and it seemed relatively quiet as far as cetaceans go. I had been on the island for a several-day trip and decided to show a friend one of my favorite spots off Cattle Point where I like to pass the time and look for whales.
It’s worth mentioning that my friend Silver, who has also spent time as an Orca Conservancy volunteer, has this undeniable knack for finding whales seemingly anywhere. I always joke and say she could be climbing a mountain and find a whale because she has actually done that! (She once was on a hike a spotted a gray whale.) While at the time it seemed that there were no whales about, we decided to stop at South Beach and watch the foxes while they hunted in the fields. While we were watching the foxes, Silver periodically scanned the water and naturally found a whale, specifically a humpback.
We decided to make our way to Cattle Point to get elevation since the whale was over a mile offshore, and we watched the whale for several hours. Up until this point, this was the only reported whale in the area. After an hour or so, Silver thought she spotted some orca exhales several miles offshore, but I was unable to confirm since I could not find them in the haze, and she wasn’t able to find them again. On this particular day, there was a fire on the Olympic Peninsula that was sending a smoke cloud and haze to the southwest making visibility in some areas challenging. A little over an hour after that, Silver saw orcas right off of South Beach, heading up island. They had snuck in through the haze and made it to San Juan Island almost undetected. Based on the location, numbers, and behaviors, I was certain these were transient or Bigg’s killer whales (mammal eaters). Silver asked me who I thought these whales could be, and based on the location and matrilines that were in the area I guessed it was the T60s.
After reporting this group of orcas, we quickly made our way up to Landbank Westside Preserve to get ahead of them. Transient killer whales usually move pretty quickly, so it is important to get ahead of them when doing shore-based whale watching, otherwise they can be easily missed. While we moved to our next location, a few local whale watch companies and a NOAA research boat were able to locate them and confirmed that these were the T60s as I had suspected. The T60s are comprised of six total individuals, although two of the male offspring (T60D and T60E) do not travel with the rest of the family and were not present during this encounter.
After arriving at Land Bank, it was only about 20 minutes that the whales were rounding Edwards Point and coming into view. Bigg’s killer whales are cyclical breathers, and will often take a series of short breaths followed by a deep dive that can last for several minutes. After being on a deep dive, one of the whales surfaced right below us, startling many of us on shore. As the whales were approaching where we were situated on the bluffs, they began hunting, approaching the kelp beds right below us off the bluffs giving us incredible looks at them. After what we suspect was a successful hunt (we did not see it as it was underwater) the whales exhibited a few surface behaviors. T60C Yelnats displayed an impressive spy hop and tail slap. Eventually, the whales continued on north, hugging San Juan Island.
If we were quick, we knew we could get ahead of them again and made our way up to County Park. We arrived just minutes before they did. Immediately off of County Park is a small wildlife preserve called Low Island. Seals and sea lions like to use Low Island as a haul-out spot to thermoregulate, which makes it a popular hunting spot for transients, who will come between County Park and Low Island in search of food. This was the case of the T60s who as expected, passed between on another successful hunt. After their hunt, T60C did a couple more spy hops, and so did another whale, and then they eventually carried on north ending our sightings with them.
T60s:
T60 Panthera (female b. ~1980)
T60C Yelnats (male b. 2001)
T60C Onca (male b. 2004)
T60E Lynx (male b. 2008)
T60F Tigris (female b. 2012)
T60G Uncia (sex unknown b. 2019)
*Note, T60D and T60D were not present, as they tend to travel together separate from their family.
Learn more about the T60s and other matrilines on our Transient page.
