Sightings Report: T123s April 29th, 2022

Date: Monday, April 18th, 2022Location: Possesion Sound/Saratoga Passage. Viewing locations: Edgewater Beach in Mukilteo, Langley Whidbey Island, Hidden Beach on Whidbey Island, and Mariner's Cove on Whidbey IslandWeather: Partly Sunny 61 degrees Farenheight with 15mph winds from S/SETide: Low Tide/FloodPods/Matrilines: T123sTotal Whale Count: 4Behaviors: Hunting and foraging, and travelingBoat Count: +5 (2+ recreational vessels, 3 Whale Watching vessels)

The morning started at Edgewater Beach in Mukilteo, Washington. We had seen reports of the T123s traveling in Possession Sound, close to the Everett shoreline. The T123s consist of T123 “Sidney” (37-year-old female), T123A “Stanley” (22-year-old male), T123C “Lucky” (10-year-old female), and T123D “Darcy” (4-year-old female).By the time we arrived, they had started making their way out towards Hat Island. After viewing them for a few minutes, it seemed like they were committing northwest towards the direction of Saratoga Passage (waterway between the Whidbey and Camano Islands). We ended up joining up with a new friend from Our Wild Puget Sound, jumped on a ferry and made our way onto Whidbey Island.Once we got to Whidbey Island, we decided our best bet to intercept the T123s would be Langley. We spent some time viewing from Langley before making our way up to Hidden Beach. While at Hidden Beach we observed a lot of surface activity and hunting behaviors. They rapidly moved around back and forth mid-channel between Camano and Whidbey Islands, which left us wondering if they had made multiple kills, or if it was one long hunt. While at this area we observed a lot of Harbor Seals, which is what we suspect they were hunting.After an hour or two, the T123s began to start trending north. We decided to make out way up to Long Point, where we ran into friends from Whale Scout, but we had no luck finding the whales here. After a while of waiting and searching, we decided to travel up to Mariners Cover, we were spotted them briefly, but lost them. After checking another location, we decided to call it a day.The T123s ended up staying overnight in Saratoga Passage, and spent three more days in the area before making their way out to Admiralty Inlet. It was a total of 19 consecutive days that the T123s spent in Puget Sound proper, doing the "Puget Sound Shuffle" (hunting route between Tacoma and Penn Cove).During our encounter we observed a few boats on scene including multiple private vessels passing through where the area the orcas were traveling, three different whale watch boats (Puget Sound Express and Outer Island Excursions). The whale watch boats all staggered their viewing times, and only one whale watch boat was on the scene at a time. All vessels remained over 300 yards distance and followed Whale Wise Guidelines. No research or enforcement vessels were present.https://youtu.be/NyGCiHm0kxs