Sailing with Biggs Orcas T18's and seeing a brown pelican

August 3, 2020 – We cast off heading south cutting behind Turn Island where our familiar black matte harbor seal was hauled out (he is pretty rare in that he is lacking pelage). Crossed over to the Lopez Island shoreline where we found black oyster catchers, great blue herons and a bald eagle perched on the shoreline. There were several harbor seals hauled out by Deadman Island as we passed by. When we arrived at Whale Rocks the steller sea lions were busy mucking about climbing all over the rocks while others played in the water. We were excited to find a rare brown pelican sitting on top of the island who had been seen there the prior two days. There were also many Brandt’s cormorants on the island – some in breeding plumage with bright blue throat patches.

We had been monitoring reports of a family of orcas known as the T18’s who were heading towards San Juan Island from south of Discovery so we headed up the coast of San Juan to meet them. As we approached Lime Kiln Point Lighthouse we saw the fins as they surfaced along the rocks right in front of the park. They continued to hug the shoreline all the way up to Mitchell Bay. We had some great winds for sailing with the flood current in our favor and enjoyed the views as we sailed downwind wing on wing. To our surprise the orcas actually took Mosquito Pass behind Henry Island making a brief stop in West Cott Bay before making their way through the pass to Roche Harbor. They stopped to circle Pole Island, a National Wildlife Refuge, in the busy narrow channel where harbor seals were hauled out on shore. After making their exit out of Roche Harbor they traveled to Battleship Island (another National Wildlife Refuge) where they circled the island a few times. Its likely the orcas caught a seal because we witnessed one of the females swimming backwards which is something we see when they are eating. The orcas were definitely in hunting mode because their next stop was Sentinel Rock (another Wildlife Refuge) where the harbor seals were hauled out. After circling the island and the kelp bed many times they moved easterly in Spieden Channel and we decided to break off to explore Spieden Island and New Channel.

On the south side of the island we spotted two bald eagle chicks one of which was hopping on the ground and the other was practicing his/her flight. A few Mouflon sheep and Sika deer grazed on the hillside. As we came around the north side of the island we found a bald eagle perched in an orange Madrone tree. We went in between the Cactus Islands and over to our favorite National Wildlife Refuge, Flattop Island. Our timing was perfect because the orcas had made their way down Spieden Channel and were heading to Flattop Island, too. With beautiful lighting illuminating the layers of the island we watched the orcas hugging the shoreline as they circled the island. Eventually they moved on to the north and we continued south towards Jones.

We had a great sail down the channel towards San Juan and tacking to Shaw Island and back into Friday Harbor. What a phenomenal day.