Baleen Whales of the Salish Sea Excursion
Welcome to a recap of August 24th, 2024’s vessel excursion—a surprisingly delightful trip that had all participants—including myself—in utter disbelief at ALL THE THINGS we saw in one, 4-hour excursion!
To be blunt, it was a helluva week behind-the-scenes leading up to this trip; the windy forecast was making life difficult from many different perspectives, resulting in LOTS of back and forth on decisions and options to find a way to make this excursion work, as scheduled. In the end, “make it work,” we did. And I couldn’t be more grateful for the flexibility of the participants and where all the hullabaloo led us!
Leaving Skyline Marina in Anacortes with Outer Island Excursions, we began to make our way south, southwest. What was supposed to be a small group excursion on a private charter shifted to us joining a larger, public tour due to sea/weather conditions. The forecasted 15-20 knot winds around the islands would have made trekking out on the water in a little vessel quite dicey, and I was concerned for everyone’s safety, comfort, and the overall enjoyability of the trip. By joining the public tour on their larger vessel, I knew we were gaining safe passage, stability, and comfort—meaning no one would be begging for the tour to be over due to feeling sea sick! Now… would we find any baleen whales?
Our Route on 8.24.24 departing Skyline Marina in Anacortes at 3:30pm
I really have to hand it to Captain Karl and Naturalist Brooke on this adventure. I know full well that all whale watching outfits prioritize finding and viewing Bigg’s (Transient) killer whales, which was not ideal for a group that was meant to focus on baleen whales. Karl and Brooke knew what our intent was prior to us leaving the marina, and they made sure to head out in a direction that would provide us the greatest opportunity to scan for, and potentially locate, humpbacks and/or minke whales. We covered A LOT of water, and both Erin Gless (ED of the Pacific Whale Watch Association and invited speaker/guest for this Connection Course) and I helped to scan. There were SO MANY birds and frenzied bait balls—an indication that these areas could have been a forage fish buffet for baleen whales, but alas, we did not see so much as a blow (whale exhalation) a good hour into our excursion. Having heard over the radio that there was a group of killer whales not far from where we were doing our searching, Captain Karl turned toward them to spend some time watching these whales. We all knew we had to head back the way that we came and could search those open waters again, so we weren’t about to give up hope, just yet. We shifted our focus and prepared to enjoy some time with killer whales—but none of us had ANY IDEA what an amazing encounter we were in for!
Karl worked his way over to intercept the T49As who were about 6 miles north of Dungeness Spit (off the Olympic Peninsula!). They had been joined by more killer whales before we arrived on scene, but we weren’t sure who these whales were just yet. The group had taken down prey and were almost finished sharing it amongst themselves when we arrived. Gulls and common murres were in a frenzied state, picking up the scraps that were floating at the surface; dorsal fins and black backs were cutting the surface at many different angles, zig-zagging as they went. It was unclear what they were preying on, but not long after our arrival, lots of play behavior and socialization began to occur. With Brooke’s help, the joining orcas were identified as the T46Bs, making the group total 12 individuals.
The group was lively amongst each other, rolling, pec slapping, and surfacing right on top of each other in many instances. T49A3 “Nat,” T49A4 “Neptune,” and T46B4 “Quiver,” were just off the port side of our vessel, all three tail flukes waiving in the air. T46A6 “Sol” joined the trio as they began more rolling and circling. The water looked like a jacuzzi at times, bubbling up just before the four would break the surface. The rest of the whales (T46B “Raksha,” T46B7 (no nickname yet), T46B2 “Akela,” T46B2B (no nickname yet), T46B3 “Sedna,” T49A “Nan,” and T49A6 “Charlie II”) were still surfacing in zig-zagging patterns, possibly finishing up the last of the meal.
The tight group eventually turned into two groupings of whales as even more play and socialization began happening. T49A3 was the social butterfly in the mix, starting out by porpoising with, and romping around, the juvenile whales–T49A4, T49A5, T46B4, and T46B6–before heading to the second group, about 100 yards away. That juvenile foursome of whales seemed as if they were above the water more than below it, with high arches, rolling, and high fluking as they played. The rest of the T46Bs and T49As were also socializing, with calves rolling on their mothers, and T46B7 doing handstand and tail wave after handstand and tail wave. The entire boat was in awe, audible gasps, cheering, and excited chatter occurring as we watched all the excitement. I caught large grins on the faces of several of “my” passengers—a good sign that things were going well, even if these whales had teeth ;).
Eventually, both groups went on a deeper dive and stayed under for roughly 4 minutes before materializing just off our port side, all grouped up again. Again, the “whale jacuzzi” was bubbling, T49A5 with a spyhop, and then multiple breaches occurring, one after the next after the next. Going over photos, T49A (the oldest orca in the group at 38 years old) was the effortless breacher! I love that the younger whales aren’t the only ones that enjoy a good frolic!
As with every tour, the encounter eventually comes to an end. We watched these orcas continue to circle, zig-zag, and socialize as we began to head back toward Anacortes. We were still on the lookout for baleen whales.
Remember when I started this blog post off saying that this encounter was surprisingly delightful? Well, during our transit back north, we skirted the west, northwest side of a little island known as Smith Island. Here, in the summer, Tufted Puffins come to breed and nest in burrows that they’ve dug out along the west side of the bluffs. The rest of the year they live their lives out over open ocean. With this island being the last of two remaining breeding colonies for these puffins in the Salish Sea (they are a state listed Endangered species), any time we spot them it’s a treat. Imagine having the opportunity to introduce these colorful little seabirds to participants… then imagine, even more remarkably, getting to introduce them to an even rarer bird that has been hanging around at this location: a Horned Puffin! Not seen on every trip out to Smith Island, people come from far reaches to try to catch a glimpse of the Horned Puffin—a bird who is well south of its average range. What absolute luck to leave a group of super active killer whales and then find not one, but TWO puffin species!
Left: Tufted Puffin | Right: Horned Puffin
We were really beginning to tally up remarkable wildlife and behaviors in this single trip—so much so that both Erin and I can’t think of any other Salish Sea trip we’ve been on where we have seen so much behavioral diversity, and so much RARE wildlife! And we’ve been hanging out on the water for many, many years!
As we continued north into Rosario Strait, with Anacortes on our horizon, we were almost resigned on our baleen whale search… until another tour vessel happened upon a feeding Minke (pronounced Mink-E) whale just west of the Deception Pass area! Now to try and reacquire such an elusive, slinky little baleen whale!
It’s rare that Minkes have a visible exhale, which typically makes finding them a wait-and-see adventure. They also tend to zig-zag as they feed, hot on the tails of forage fish who are scattering as they’re being pursued. They’re not very surface active, tend to travel alone, don’t fluke (bring their tails up above the surface) and maneuver very quickly. Not particularly large whales (22-30 feet in length), killer whales are Minke whale predators, and so keeping a low profile in an area rife with marine-mammal eating orcas is essential to survival. So you can see why there was a chance we may not find the whale regardless of this very recent report!
Slowing down near the area of the Minke report, we came upon two Steller sea lions taking a snooze on a red channel marker nearby. This delighted many on board, with a couple participants in our group saying this was their first Steller sea lion experience! I loved being able to check these guys off our list—we were really rounding out our marine mammal sightings for the day. As most people continued admiring the sea lions, some of us were watching for the Minke, one of the baleen whales we’d centered this entire trip around in hopes of sighting!
Captain Karl noted two large groups of birds that were about 400-500 yards apart, calling loudly, and fluttering around the surface—an indication that they were feeding on pockets of bait fish beneath the water in those areas. Sometimes, Minkes will use feeding birds to navigate towards the forage fish they are looking to eat, as well. As a few minutes began to tick by, suddenly the call rang out, “there it is! Minke whale!!” And low and behold, this individual was sweeping back and forth between the two bait balls/groups of birds, along a visible tide line. We were able to see this individual quickly and erratically surface 5 or 6 times, often disturbing the birds into flight when coming up for a breath. Another “first” for many people on board.
With the light fading on us, and our tour time now about 30 minutes beyond what was scheduled, we were FINALLY able to tick off BALEEN WHALE in the 11th hour of the excursion before calling it a night. I was super relieved, though even if we hadn’t spotted this individual, feel that our little group still had a wonderful experience on this outing. I may take Erin’s advice and schedule a KILLER WHALE Connection Course next time so that all the baleen whales show up, instead *wink wink*! Isn’t that how it seems to work? :)
This whole adventure was a reminder that you can have a plan A, plan B, plan C… you can have a wish list and a trajectory based on really, really good information… and even with all of that, the trip might not go as you had planned or hoped. But sometimes things go even BETTER than imagined. That’s truly the magic of the Salish Sea. Pairing that magic with an adventurous spirit and a willingness to find joy in whatever the journey may have in store for you is what made this trip a truly remarkable one with a great group of people. I am honored to have connected with everyone in this small group, leaving it enthralled by your smiles and stories, and looking forward to the next time we can adventure out on the Salish Sea together!
Until then, take care!