3/16/16 Orca Tongass Narrows

Spotted pod of orcas right out front of Bar Harbor Marina as we were launching the boat.  We continue out the west channel of the Narrows at 5-6mph as they stayed out ahead of us, heading towards Nichols Passage.  Towards Nichols Passage, but still in the Narrows, they turned around and lingered close to the west shore.  A few times they surface very close to the boat.  

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.

These whales have been identified as transient orcas (mammal eaters).  The female with the notch is T68 and the male is her son T68A.