K20 & K38

June 8
I heard that the lonesome twosome (K20 & K38) were at Partridge Pt. headed SE at about 5:30 this evening.
Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

June 8
Orcas by Ebey's Landing (W-Central Whidbey Island) at 4:30 pm - might be more whale watch boats (4) than orcas, hard to tell, slowly moving south.
Al Lunemann, Coupeville

June 8
We went out to try to find the orcas off W. Whidbey, but after several hours of searching gave up with no luck (darn, from Jim's report above, it sounds like they had turned north after the 4:30 sighting, & we were looking S. at that time!). We believe it could've been K20 & K38 (see reports above & below), given the timing & direction of travel from this report. We did see quite a few porpoise off Ebey's Landing and Admiralty Head, but unsure whether they were Dall's or Harbor.
Susan Berta & Howard Garrett, Orca Network, Whidbey Island

June 8
Today we made the long trip across the Strait of Juan de Fuca (it was calm and beautiful!), to see K-20 and K-38 off of Ediz Hook from about 2:15 to 2:30pm. They were traveling southeast with the flooding tide at a fair pace. In my 12 years of observing the SRKW community, I have not seen just 2 whales without the rest of their family, pod, or other community members reportedly in the general area!? We have made many trips these last few weeks, into Haro Strait and I have noticed a lack (not one sighting) of Dall's Porpoises, although we have seen harbor porpoise in all the channels and straits around San Juan Island. Mysteries abound!
Caroline Armon, San Juan Excursions

June 8
Well, the day started with all sorts of sightings, and it was hard to decipher which one was the most accurate. Early in the day we had reports of K20 & K38 inbound, and a rumor of more whales "somewhere around Race Rocks". Well, the grapevine was buzzing, and it wasn't until later that we figured out that the "other whales" were just K20 & K38 being reported in several different locations. We headed out towards Constance Bank at 1200, but with the large flood tide, we finally saw the whales several miles east of Dungeness at 1330. The mother/calf pair were moving at a fairly good clip, with K38 sometimes ahead of mom, sometimes behind. Both appeared to be in good health and moving well. It was a bit choppy, but everyone was very excited to see the whales, and many questions arose as to why we thought this pair had separated from the rest of the pod. While we have seen matrilines sometimes "do their own thing", this is the first time I've seen a mother/calf separate from the other 4 members of her matriline (especially this pair). The three whale watch boats in the area were all giving them plenty of room and things were going well until we got a call on the radio to move several miles away from our location. Seems the Navy had a submarine they were escorting to Bremerton, so we pulled away. We last saw Spock & Comet heading east at 1420. On the much quicker return trip (thanks to the big flood tide) we had a group of porpoise working a bait ball, and stopped to see if a minke would join the party, but none were seen. A couple of bald eagles fishing in San Juan Channel were the finale for the day.
John Boyd (JB), SSAMN Marine Naturalist, Western Prince

June 8
Well, today (6/8) we left Friday Harbor on the Odyssey and made the long trek south to meet up with the rouge K20 Spock and her calf K38 Comet just off the Dungeness Spit. There and back fellow naturalist Caroline and I had the chance to discuss this unusual occurrence of finding just two southern residents by themselves for at least 3 days now. Several theories popped up - - Maybe political differences with the new matriarch K11 Georgia? An injury or illness keeping them from traveling with the community? Or maybe there is just so few salmon around Spock decided she needed to take care of her calf and start searching for food sans 80 other whales. Are the J's, K's and L's all somewhere together looking for the two missing orcas? Once on scene, we were looking for signs of a peanut head (a sign of starvation) or visible injury, anything to help us explain it all. The two just continued to travel east, not speeding but not milling either. It was a little eerie seeing them out there all alone. We'll probably never know what's going on (leave it to them to stump us yet again!), but it will certainly be interesting to watch events fold over the next several days. Either way our guests were thrilled to see even the two, and you'll probably have a few more orca network newsletter sign ups since they all wanted to know when they'd meet up with the rest of their pod!
Heather Harris, San Juan Excursions