Killer Whales in the San Juan Island Waters

Killer Whales are a common sight in the waters off the San Juan Islands, and a spectacular sight. Each time you are graced with a sighting you are in awe of these amazing creatures. Recently, we were blessed with one such sighting prompting me to learn more about the species itself. It was about 10km off of Stuart Island in the San Juan Island waters and right near the Canadian border when a pod of Killer Whales surfaced to the left side of the boat. The first one was an adult that surfaced spouting water from its blowhole. There were about eight to ten adult whales and one calf that was swimming alongside her mother. The whales were about 20 feet away from the boat, and seemed to be headed in the opposite direction. Killer Whales can be playful creatures and they seemed to enjoy the wake generated by the boat, and didn't seem to be in any hurry to be rid of it. The pod was a continuous stream of alternating diving and surfacing, with the calf remaining near the surface the majority of the time. The calf rode alongside her mother's wake, and when she did dive down, her mother would nose her back up to the surface within about 15 seconds. Although, the calf looked unbelievably small compared to the rest of the pod, it seemed that she was still able to keep up with the pod, by relying on her mother's movements.

Inside the boats cabin there were windows that were almost exactly level with the whale's eyes. While looking out the windows at the Killer whales, it seemed that although we were almost exactly eye-to-eye, the whales couldn't see us. Their eyes are located on the side of their heads, instead of straight ahead like ours, and were completely black, quite small, and glazed over looking. Their eyes were so small that it was hard to believe that they could see much of anything at one time. It seemed that they would only be able to focus on one thing at a time, but as hunters of the ocean I knew that wasn't true.

The calf and her mother caught up to the peepholes, and rode alongside us. The calf jumping and playing in the waves that our boat generated. She would jump up and then flop back down, often flapping her tail down hard to cause a splash. Then she would roll over in the waves, sometimes just riding along on her back for a second or two. After just a few minutes though, the calf became tired after using up so much energy playing in the waves, so she retreated back to riding along on her mother's wake. While riding alongside her mother, the calf was directly in front of our little peepholes, and we were eye-to-eye with her, which enabled us to see how small she really was compared to her mother and the rest of the pod. Compared to her mother's tail, she wasn't even the entire width of the tail, but yet she was able to stay with the pod of whales. The calf used barely any tail movement, but instead attached herself directly to her mother's side, and rode along on the current her mother generated by her own movements.

The pod of killer whales finally continued their journey in the opposite direction from us. It was a continuous rhythm of diving and surfacing, with the occasional spout of water that would shoot straight up into the air and then arc over. We continued to idle along, so we could watch them, and I realized that this was not just a pod of whales, but actually a family of whales. They lived their lives together and were journeying throughout the San Juan Islands together, just as my family was journeying throughout the San Juan Islands. They were each other's lifelines, and kept each other happy and safe. This was an actual family of whales that would stay together for the majority of their lives. This family of whales would live the majority of their lives in the San Juan Islands, traveling throughout the waters. It dawned on me that this family of whales must encounter boaters quite frequently. Boaters are a frequent occurrence in the San Juan Islands during the summer months, and it was quite obvious that these whales enjoyed their interactions with the boaters. The Killer Whales are just as interested in humans as we are in them, and took the opportunity to stop their journey to interact with us, if not just for a minute of learning and amusing their curiosity. The last image I saw was the rise of one of the adults dorsal fins, and a spout of water shoot up into the air, and then the whale dived back under and was gone.