Breach Fest of Southern Resident Orcas on Westside San Juan Island

July 13, 2018 – We sailed south on reports of Southern Resident orcas on the west side of San Juan Island. J pod was westbound but K pod stuck around. We drifted inside of Turn Island and sailed a beam reach to Lopez Island tacking back towards Harbor Rock. Passing Goose Island cormorant rookery we noticed Glaucous winged gulls now had new chicks we hadn’t seen previously. Passing Cattle Point Lighthouse en route to Salmon Bank we found 2 Pacific loons before meeting K21 “Cappuccino”. Looking for a larger group we headed to Eagle Point and then Pile Point. K22 and K33 were vocalizing while foraging near False Bay. We turned south with some of the K13’s and then traveled alongside the two males K25 “Scoter” and K34 “Cali” who were breaching continuously. The whales grouped up closer together with breaches all around us. We left the group looking for a humpback whale who eluded us after one breath. We did however see a minke whale as we crossed back over Salmon Bank. We drifted the shore of Long Island finding the eagles nest with a chick who stood above it. A large gathering of black oyster catchers took place on Whale Rocks. Came in through Cattle Pass with the benefit of the flood tide we saw a few harbor porpoises. Returned home via the east cliff face of Turn Island.