I have always loved orcas, even though I had never seen any before. In fact the last time I encountered cetaceans were almost 10 years to the day. The week before I saw my first ever orcas, the T065Bs. However most of the sightings I had during my 10 magical days at the Salish Sea were of the T036Bs (with T036) and the T099s. I started being able to recognize an orca myself! T099B would end up being my favorite Salish Sea orca, and in fact a mascot in future.
As an orca enthusiast and someone who studied marine biology at university with the hope of one day becoming an orca researcher, the San Juan Islands was always a target destination. Life event happens and it hasn’t yet materialized, but I would not be an enthusiast if I didn’t go to maybe the most well known place in the world to see orcas. For me, I feel some sort of spiritual connection to these intelligent animals.
So in 2024 I made the trip of a lifetime. I had my motivation back, and had had an amazing time already, better than I could hope. I had two days left in the Salish Sea. I had conquered a dream, even seen my first Mysticeti (2 minke whales). I was content, but little did I know what was waiting for me the last two days. I won’t talk about the last day because that could be a story in of itself. My story is about the second to last day.
I was on a whale watching trip with San Juan Safaris, and it was aboard their smallest and coziest vessel, a zodiac. We went in pursuit of a sighting of Biggs. They had already been identified as the T036/T036Bs and T099s. I was accustomed to this family. I never once questioned in my head that they were sisters, and this was a family gathering. This was after all, my 4th straight day of seeing them together. I don’t know where we went, but we went north, past Victoria, we definitely crossed into Canada. We found them in open water, split into 2 groups. One of these groups was skirting the coast to the left, and disappeared for a bit while we were with the orcas on the right. Someone on the boat said they saw seals over where the left group was.
A successful hunt was not observed, but suspected, as the two groups converged, a few of them even slowing down and stopping as if waiting for the others. Then they went through this small narrow pass. We followed them, staying a respectful distance behind. Then the orcas seemed to stop and turn around. No other vessels made it through the pass, before the orcas decided to ‘mug’ us. We turned our engines off as they turned around. They surrounded the small boat, becoming a little surface active with tail slaps, spyhops, but no actual breaching, the water was perhaps too shallow for that.
I saw T099B, the orca I could recognize, because of her very iconic dorsal fin. She surfaced close, really close to the boat. I was at the bow, and had a clear view in front. I saw her very subtly start to turn. I got this feeling and pictured things I had seen on youtube, and thought, what if? I looked down to see if I could see the orcas under the water, what if? Then I saw her, T036 herself, the super grandma, slowly surfacing, making eye contact with me. I tried my best to get my camera pointed at quick as I could, which was already filming. She made eye contact with me, and swam under the boat, along with who I believe was T036B. Then a second later, T099B surfaced right in front of me, directly facing me. I watched her as she swam peacefully and effortlessly under the boat. This is a moment that touched my soul and will never leave me.
After a further hour, our boat trip had massively ran over, the orcas had moved on, and we were far enough to fire up the engines, and ended the encounter.
This along with the next day after would be highlight points of my life.
This encounter changed my life because it filled me with the drive to not just hope that one day my life would become closer connected to orcas, but filled me with the will power to proactively make it happen.
-Danny (aka Cravone from Whale Talk Podcast)
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