A Killer Whale of a Time

It was November last time we were in Washington, and the whale watching season had ended (at least outside of your local Walmart). This time around, we weren't going to miss the opportunity. The San Juan Islands sit within the Salish Sea, comprised of the numerous coastal waterways that lie between Washington and British Columbia. It's an area renowned for its three pods of resident orca whales, and we were determined to see them.

We began our morning with a meander through the picturesque grounds of Washington University, before catching a bus to the South Lake Union area. I never get tired of universities, so long as there's no study involved.

U Dub

Unless SeaWorld is your thing, there's always a chance you won't see orcas. With this in mind we took out an insurance policy of sorts, in the form of a seaplane. We boarded at Lake Union and flew to the San Juan Islands, landing quite literally in Friday Harbour. The idea was that a seaplane flight would lessen the disappointment if the whales didn't show.

Seattle from the Seaplane

Lake Union

The San Juan Islands from the Seaplane

Friday Harbour

I'd joked before leaving Perth that we'd be lucky to see a humpback whale, and so, of course, upon  boarding the tour naturalist announced with excitement that a humpback had been spotted on the other side of the island. No mention of orcas. Devastated. I've seen humpbacks up closer off the coast back home.

Humpback

It wasn't until later that the naturalist told us the resident orcas hadn't actually been in residence this year, and it had been one of the worst seasons ever for orca watching. The residents eat salmon, specifically chinook, and there just wasn't enough of it around. I gave up all hope at this point and tried not to be too miserable as we headed toward a minke whale.

Mr Minke

Our photographs of Mr Minke confirmed that there was also a Mrs Minke. The boring thing about watching humpback and minke whales (both baleen whales) is that they surface for twenty-odd seconds to breathe and then dive for anywhere from two to twenty minutes. By this time we'd also seen sea lions, porpoises, jumping fish and harbour seals (which are like the dogs of the ocean), and the boat had started to head back towards Friday Harbour.

NEK MINNIT...

Orca!

We had happened across a pod of transient orcas. These are your true killer whales, the ones which hunt and eat (and play with) marine mammals. They're not generally as rambunctious as the resident orcas, so they weren't breaching. In fact, they were hunting, and we think they were probably hunting Mr Minke... There were six or seven of them in total, and at least one juvenile.

Wild orcas aren't considered a danger to humans. There have been only a handful of potentially threatening incidents and none have been fatal; most can probably be attributed to the orca initially mistaking the human for prey. As for attacks on humans by captive orcas, expert opinions differ as to whether these are intentional or accidental. In any case, these are extremely intelligent, social, large and active creatures, who can swim 100 kilometres a day in the wild. Put them in a tank and their life expectancy plummets, their dorsal fins collapse, the females are forced to breed at a younger age than they would normally and the survival rate of calves is low. If the attacks are intentional, who can blame them.

The most magical part of this experience was seeing these majestic creatures in the wild, in their own habitat, just living their lives as they do. It was a privilege.

P.S. Unfortunately iPhoto has decided to disappear from my laptop, so I'm unable to process the photos. Apologies for them being a bit raw.