Day 4: The Orcas of Orcas Island

Day Four: The Orcas of Orcas Island

The day began with a cup of coffee (Joe) and tea(Lyn) and a sit on the back deck overlooking the lily-covered pond and entertained by the antics of countless birds taking their fill at the many feeders.  This was followed shortly by a gourmet breakfast, served by our hosts, where we were introduced to the other boarders - Dick and Carol, a couple from Colorado celebrating their 27th Anniversary; Butch and Judie, a couple from Bellevue Washington; and Ben - a young man from LA who was visiting his girlfriend who works at a summer camp on the island.  the three course meal started with a fresh homemade sorbet, followed by an oatmeal and then an egg dish. During the meal we shared our histories in the San Juans - or in our case, the lack of, and discovered that all of us but Dick and Ben worked in education. It also turned out that Carol was from Cleveland.

Immediately after breakfast we headed a just couple miles south to the Rosario Resort to catch our whale watching tour. We stopped to pick up a few snack items and sunscreen for our three hour tour and headed out to the dock to catch our boat.

We had made reservations online with Deer Harbor Whale Watching Tours and were met at the check in counter by the onboard 'naturalist' - Marta - a middle-aged high school science teacher who spent her summers enthusiastically on the tour boats. She informed us that there was already word on the radios of whale sightings. Our young captain was Peter - whose job it was to monitor both the airwaves and the sea waves to find the whales. Our vessel, the Pelagic - which means "open water" - was a 36' modified lobster boat designed to carry up to 20 passengers. There were about fifteen of us onboard on this sunny morning. I stashed the heavy coats that it seemed increasingly evident we would not need, under our bench.

After a brief safety demonstration by Marta not unlike that of a flight attendant, we cast off (Marta also served as crew). The boat included a cabin for the captain that could be closed in inclement weather, a 'head' (toilet) below deck in the bow accessible through the cabin, and a covered area for the passengers that made up the back half of the boat. We sat low to the water - the gunwale being only a couple feet tall - which kept us intimate with the sea, but mostly protected from splash, wind and sun by the front cabin and cover.

We headed south down the East Sound which nearly divides Orcas Island in two, then turned east around the southern point of the island where Pete's wife sat on a hillside waving as we passed.  Not long after we passed on the north side of two small rocky islands rising just a few meters above the water line.  Each one was donned by a bald eagle staring out across the water, and sunbathing harbor seals and pups waiting for high tide to draw them back into the sea.

On our way to see the Orcas via Deer Harbor charter "Pelagic" 

 

Leaving the islands behind, Peter sped north and east, passing the eastern end of Orcas and out into the channel between Orcas and Lummi Island. It wasn't long before someone spotted the first whale spout.... Peter maneuvered us closer then idled the engine to hold us in position while we watched and waited. Marta directed our attention to changes in the surface color of the relatively calm sea which marked the boundaries of currents flowing through the straits and were potential feeding grounds. We didn't have long to wait before confirmation appeared. Over the next several minutes three orcas surfaced, exhaled, and dove again to feed on the salmon stocks traveling in the currents below. There dorsal fins cut the water briefly before sinking out of sight, the mature males' tall and erect, the females and juniors curved and smaller.  We watched as the whales surfaced and dove repeatedly soon to be joined by others.

Meanwhile, looking out northwest across the strait - other whales were seen in the distance and soon Peter moved the boat to get a closer look.  Another group of orcas was moving southeast around the island on a converging course with the earlier group. As we followed along more and more whales surfaced their exhalations audible across the water.  After awhile Peter began to move the boat again - this after two whales had surfaced about 20 yards  out - well within the 100 yard minimum safety zone required by law.

The next group of whales we observed were traveling in a line parallel to the shore of Cypress island on the south side of the strait. Marta explained that they were probably driving a school of salmon to the underwater cliffs of the island to make it easier to feed.  As all the orcas groups converged their antics increased including tail slapping and breaching - evidently a 'showing-off' behavior that killer whales engage in when they meet other pods.

Over about an hour we saw so many orcas that even Peter and Marta were excited.  Evidently we had experienced a "Super Pod" - when two or more pods join up. In this case at least two, if not all three of the resident pods of Puget Sound had joined in a feeding feast of salmon. The "oohs!" and "aahs!" of our fellow passengers marked each appearance.

The killer whales, capable of speeds far exceeding our own, eventually moved on down the strait and we turned back toward our port of call. "I feel like crying!" one women finally exclaimed - a sentiment not far from our own!

Note: taking pictures of the Orcas was rather challenging; they were fast and they showed up in different directions...

We also tried to capture few short videos of the Orcas through our tiny iPhone - challenging as it was to try to hold on to our iPhone so it wouldn't fall to the vast sea of water however, the effort was worth it even though we are only allowed to post the shortest version of the video:
 

Orcas - in full view (this is not our picture)

 

We returned to port mid-afternoon, went to our lodgings for a quick change, and then returned to the Rosario Resort for a late afternoon performance and later, dinner.  The performance was put on in the former in-house theatre and included anecdotes and a slideshow history of Robert Moran and the building of the Rosario accompanied to live piano music and several pieces played on the resident pipe organ. Fascinating, informative and highly entertaining. 

After the performance and an examination of the historic mansion we left and drove to Moran State Park and the highest point in the San Juan islands, Mt Constitution.  We climbed a stone lookout tower at its 2400ft summit that had been built by the CCC back in 1936 and wondered at the views - the islands, the sea, the ships all overlooked in the far distance by the snow capped Mt. Baker and the North Cascades. Deer wandered comfortably about the tower as we climber down and walked back to the car to return to the Rosario for dinner.

The Rosario Resort ... at the Robert Moran's estate

on top of Mt. Constitution at the Moran National Park ...

 At the Twin Lakes at the Moran National Park ...

After a luscious dinner overlooking the cozy Cascade bay on which it was built, followed by an exploration of the grounds, we headed home - satiated in mind, body and spirit...