K20 & K38

June 11
We had an incredible experience today (6/11) with the L12's and K20 and K38 off San Juan Island, offshore from Cattle Point!! Lots of playing, multiple breaches by K38, and lots of tail lobbing! It's good to have them back! The Picture is K38 breaching.
Gary Sutton, Wild Whales Vancouver

K38 is a boy!

K38 breaching
From markings on his belly,
he is now identified as a boy!
June 10, 2009
Photo by Jim Maya


June 10
K 38 was jumping a lot today. He seemed much happier to have other Orcas around.
It's a boy! I'm so proud! (Big tears welling in eyes.) Aw shucks, it was nothing. These photos I took today are the first of the underside of K38.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

K20 & K38

June 9
Capt. Jim Maya called to report K20 & K38 were up near Active Pass, and heading south toward East Pt, Saturna Island at 6:15 pm.

June 9
Jeff Hogan called to relay reports of orcas off west San Juan Island at 10 am, no ID on who it was at the time. (we believe this was likely K20 & K38, due to other reports)

June 9
The "fearsome twosome", "the dynamic duo", K20 and K38, continue to roam these parts, ending up tonight heading south just outside of the east entrance of Active Pass at 6:15. There was a tremendous amount of Eagle activity in the pass this afternoon.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

June 9
K20 and K38 were spotted off the west side of San Juan Island around 10:30 a.m. Center staff Erin Heydenreich and Emma Foster responded to the sighting and encountered the duo off Battleship Rock (48° 36.980N; 123° 12.211W) at noon. The mother calf pair were traveling slow and tight heading north. The encounter ended at 12:48 pm at Turn Point with the whales continuing north toward Boundary Pass (48° 41.261 N; 123° 14.720 W) .

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

K20 & K38

K20 & K38
South of False Bay, SJI
June 7, 2009
Photo by Capt. Jim Maya

June 7
Photos from this evening (6/7) of K20 & 38 (see above) at 5:40 ish, headed S, 2.5 M. south of False Bay, San Juan Island.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters

And a comment on Jim Maya's post from yesterday, about these rare instances of several Resident orcas traveling alone:
I read your post on Orca Network regarding K-20 and her calf and your obvious concern for their current situation. Her separation from K pod is not entirely unprecedented. In 1998 (maybe 99) J-22 (Oreo) gave birth to J-34 (Doublestuff). We would find her miles and miles from J pod, traveling at a higher than normal rate of speed every time we saw her, for at least ten days, maybe longer. Eventually, she rejoined J pod without any obvious negative impacts to her or her calf.
All we could think of while watching J-22 and her newborn do laps around San Juan County at 10 knots, was she was a very young mom for an orca in the wild, she was approximately 11 years old. Perhaps she was uncomfortable with this new baby and didn't know how to be a mom.
Whatever the case, both mom and calf appear to be doing well today. J-34 is very very close to the hearts of those who were out there in those days. That little guy had to apply the afterburners at the very start of his life. He showed us a will to survive. We all thought he wasn't going to make it and maybe mom was trying to loose him. None of us ever saw J-22 stop or slow down long enough to nurse, feed herself or rest. She was constantly on the move.
However, seeing K-20 and K-38 by themselves and many miles away from the rest of K pod is troubling and very concerning. Two weeks ago a few of the L- 12's were traveling by themselves, now K-20 and her calf. In addition, J pod being gone for 10 days plus, is something that I don't remember happening during early June.
Tom Averna, Deer Harbor Charters

June 7
I left K20 and K38 2.5 miles S. of False Bay headed in a Southerly direction at 6:30 this evening.
Capt. Jim Maya,
Maya's Westside Charters,
San Juan Island

June 7
Jeff Hogan called to relay he had heard reports of K20 & K38 in the San Juan Island area again today (6/7), still with no other orcas present.

K20 & K38
East Pt.
June 6
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy

June 6
Two members of K pod were encountered yesterday Saturday June 6th, off East Point (Saturna Island), between 2-2.30pm by the Ocean Magic. It looked like K 20 and her youngster K 38. Conditions were excellent for spotting other orca but alas, none were seen. Where was the rest of this family group I wonder?
Marie, Orca-Magic, Prince Of Whales, Victoria B.C.

June 6
You probably have gotten this by now, but six (likely Ks) Orcas were reprorted at the County Park yesterday morning about 9:00 AM. By the time we got on scene, 10:15, there were two. K20 and a calf, probably K38. They headed N toward Turn Pt. then up Boundry toward the Coal Docks. I last saw them at 3:30. The other four were never seen, as far as I know.
In all my 20 yrs. watching Killer Whales, I've never seen just two SRKW's on their own for such a long time. Several years ago, I saw J1 nip at a female, and for the next few days she and her small line, three offspring as I remember, wandered the Islands by themselves for a week or so. Very interesting.
Capt. Jim Maya, Maya's Westside Charters, San Juan Island

K13s west of Race Rocks

May 22
K13 family group.
Photo by Marie O'Shaughnessy


May 22
Hi Susan,
Just in from an exciting ride in Mark's Zodiac, west of Race Rocks, where we caught up with the K 13 family group of 6 whales. Mark Malleson had spotted this group on an earlier trip. They were bucking a flood tide with 2-3ft chop at 2pm and moving fast. No time for foraging, although one seem to stall for a moment and possibly catch a fish or two. Plenty of white caps out there, near Church Rock, Sooke where we met up with them. Difficult to see these whales at times and to anticipate where they would surface due to the waves, but a great trip anyhow. We left them heading west still.
Marie, Orca-Magic POW.