A pod of orcas were observed in Lynn Canal close to Gull Island. As we sat and watched them, the pod approached us and swam underneath our boat. It was an amazing experience! There appeared to be a young calf with the pod. It was very small and still had a peachy coloring to it. A positive ID has not been made, but I have reason to believe the orcas were AG pod of the Alaska residents.
Throughout the day we saw six humpbacks near Shelter Island. We also saw a pod of Dall's porpoise, although I was unable to get any pictures of the porpoise.
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Prepping the boat when a pod of 6-9?? orcas were out in front of the deck, near shore hunting and lingering in the area before heading south. After launching the boat at Mtn Point we motored up George Inlet and again saw them near shore, in deep water. They were travelling approximately 4.5-6mph with about 4 minutes between sightings. After a while we motored up to Coon Cove and beached the boat, at which point the pod showed up again across the channel, lingering for about an hour below Mahoney lake/creek area. On the way out of the inlet, the pod again seemed to be leaving at the same time, and we observed them to just north of the cannery, then left.
We contacted a group referred to as the Northern Resident Orca Population (see a link to their Facebook page to learn more under our "Links" tab) in the hopes of identifying the orcas we photographed. Much to our delight, they were able to identify a few individual whales and their pods. If you have any pictures of orcas you would like to share, follow our link to their Facebook page. The orcas we observed on this day were a pod of transient orcas (mammal eaters). I suspected they were transients, as I believed I was watching the whales pursue a sea lion. All from our deck. Below is shaky footage of the whales in George Inlet, post stablized as best we could. Amazing video from Oasis Alaska Charters of a solo humpback bubble feeding literally right next to the Clover Pass docks.
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Saw humpbacks travelling northwest from South Point Higgins into Clover Passage, around Pup Island, then back out Clover Passage. It appeared to be a group of three, bubble net feeding over and over again as they made 2-3mph progress NW into Clover.
Same as 8-21-15 post. Whale a little further out in channel, swimming towards Clover Passage.
Just north of Potter Point. Frequent surfacing and lunge feeding as the whale swam towards Knudson Cove.
Solo humpback swimming all around us, with our motor of for a couple hours. Tail slapping, lunge feeding. Great show.
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