August 9, 2017 – Fun family adventure plotting a course to go north with the hopes of intercepting transient orcas who were in the area. We arrived just outside of Roche Harbor north of San Juan Island just in time to see two huge breaches as the orcas were hunting. Didn’t take them long to finish eating before they beelined over to Flattop Island via Spieden Channel at speed. The group split up as they went circling around the island. T19 with son T19B began milling around the south eastern tip of Flattop Island. T19B did a really high spy hop before heading off around the island slapping his tail repeatedly on the surface. T18, T19, and T19B were all together and it seemed like T19B was calling his younger brother because T19C quickly came swimming from around the corner. Next they went hunting at Gull Rock. One of the females was deep in the cove looking for seals in the shallows. After they finished they moved on to the north while we sailed across the way to check out more critters before heading for home.
Transient orcas T18 or T19 with T19B
Transient orca T19C
T19B traveling in Spieden Channel
Sailing to Flattop Island
T19B hunting near Flattop Island
T19 hunting near Flattop Island
T19 hunting near Flattop Island
T19B Spy Hop
T19B repeatedly tail lobbing – Flattop Island
Orcas hugging the shore of Flattop Island
T19B tail lob on the shore of Flattop Island
T19B tail lob
T19B tail lob
T19B hunting near Gull Rock
Transients hunting near Gull Rock
T19C
Cactus Island reflections
Kelp forest in the sunset
Bald eagle
Sunset over Spieden Island
Pink sun over Sentinel Island – our skies have been full of smoke from BC forest fires