West Seattle Whale Watch: Orcas off Fauntleroy, again

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

10:54 AM: Just got this note from Lori:

My son, Ian, is currently on the ferry from Fauntleroy to Southworth right now (10:40 a.m.) and is watching at least 3 orcas. He says they seem to be just kind of hanging out again between Vashon & Lincoln Park. They’re rather surface active. He saw quite a bit of tail slapping. He estimated them to be about 200 yards from the boat.

That follows the Friday and Saturday sightings (KING 5’s helicopter caught them on Friday – the video is included in our update). 11:28 AM: We’re on the south LP waterfront – no luck, aside from a sea lion sighting. 12:25 PM UPDATE: Finally gave up to head back to HQ – but we ran into Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail, who was on the phone with a contact on Vashon who had clear view of them off the north end of the island – perhaps a little too close to the Southworth side for viewing from here. Updates as we get them. 1:18 PM: Donna called – she can see them now from Lincoln Park, south side. 2:26 PM: KING5‘s helicopter got video again today – and we’ve embedded it atop this story. 5:10 PM: Rode the Fauntleroy-Southworth ferry round-trip at mid-afternoon in hopes of whale sightings – saw spouts in the distance off the Arroyos – but now we have word from Facebook friend Krista that they are heading north “toward Alki Point,” as of a few minutes ago.

enviromaven March 15, 2010 (11:38 am)

Perhaps the sea lion you saw is the reason the orca have been hanging around lately?

m March 15, 2010 (1:05 pm)

they are still there! just SE of the vashon ferry and swimming all around a small boat!

WSB March 15, 2010 (1:06 pm)

thanks – was about to go to higher ground to look again :)

Noreaster March 15, 2010 (2:38 pm)

I want to thank a really nice stranger, Steve, that I met today at Lincoln Park. Thanks for being so kind in sharing your binoculars with me and pointing out the orcas. It sounds silly but you helped make a dream come true. Without you, I probably would have missed them again for the umpteenth time… So thank you steve! :-)

Chuck and Sally\'s Van Man March 15, 2010 (3:02 pm)

Hey Noreaster,

You are very welcome!! I’ve lived in Seattle 26 years (and W. Seattle for 18) and that was my first time seeing them as well. I talked to a guy after you’d left who said they had been only a couple hundred yards out from the ferry earlier in the day–I would have loved to have seen them so close in!

Take care,

Steve er, “Chuck” ;)

WSB March 15, 2010 (3:07 pm)

Thank you all for being so kind to each other. We are very happy to be able to pass news of the sightings along … when we got down to Lincoln Park earlier, a woman in running gear stopped by and asked us, clearly whale-watchers as we squinted into binoculars, “Did you read about it on ‘the blog’?” and Patrick and I replied in unison, “We ARE ‘the blog'” … well, the facilitators, anyway. Meantime, I am going to try like h**l to catch a ferry before day’s end … one more try … TR

Jen March 15, 2010 (3:28 pm)

The whales are still out there. They are very close to the Vashon shoreline. South of the Vashon ferry terminal. They seem to be headed north again, toward the terminal. I’ve seen at least 3 fins and a lot tail slapping.
There is a small boat following the whales, I can’t tell if it is NOAA or not. The boat might help you to spot the location.

WSB March 15, 2010 (3:35 pm)

Thank you – I have just gotten onto the 3:35 to Southworth from Fauntleroy and will be keeping watch! – TR

Jen March 15, 2010 (3:39 pm)

Perfect! From my vantage point, I am looking NW to the Vashon terminal, they are very close to the Vashon terminal, just about to enter the ferry lane.
There is at least one big male.

Lori March 15, 2010 (3:58 pm)

The small boat with the whales is most likely a team from Cascadia Research. http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/
John Calmbokidis and his crew do wonderful work!

I. Ponder March 15, 2010 (5:35 pm)

The film clip is great. Looks choreographed.

Chad Maglaque March 15, 2010 (6:16 pm)

my daughter and I just saw the Orca’s horsing around off Alki Point. sorry, didn’t get the camera out in time. um, too distracted ;-)

JanS March 15, 2010 (7:04 pm)

that was the synchronized swimming competition in the Orca Olympics :)

Brynn\'s mama March 15, 2010 (8:07 pm)

Thanks so much for the updates – we didn’t see the whales this evening, though we tried! That said, it sure was a nice night to be near the water. Met some nice folks also out looking for the whales – this blog really does help to bring the community together!

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