WHALE WATCHING: Orcas off West Seattle

| Seen at sea | West Seattle news | Wildlife

2:57 PM: Texters tipped us to Southern Resident Killer Whales heading this way, southbound – Orca Network‘s last report was that some of them were seen as close as West Point on the north side of the entrance to Elliott Bay, so we’re awaiting word of whether they’re visible from this area, and headed downhill with binoculars just in case. Let us know if you see them!

3:46 PM: ON has them off, and much closer to, Bainbridge. We are looking from Constellation Park & not seeing them. (4 mins later … just spotted two along S. Bainbridge!)

(Photo by Monica Zaborac)

4:03 PM: Still visible SB, from Constellation, as they approach north Blake Is. Among those here is Donna Sandstrom from The Whale Trail – her group’s winter gathering for orca updates is tomorrow night (see our calendar).

(Photo by Kersti Muul)

4:17 PM: We have to head back to HQ but as of a few minutes ago there were a few still in view off Blake, still southbound.

6:57 PM: While we were glad to be able to see the whales, we were there only with binoculars, not a camera (our photographer was busy elsewhere), so we are appreciative to receive two photos we’ve just added above.

Gary December 11, 2017 (3:05 pm)

Several orcas steadily moving south now not quite even to the Bainbridge ferry terminal, spread over a good bit of the sound, far to the west side. NOAA boat out with them observing.

annika December 11, 2017 (5:56 pm)

Thank you WSB for posting about the orcas coming our way. I check your website more often than Facebook, so if you hadn’t written about it, I would have missed them!

Kersti Muul December 11, 2017 (6:55 pm)

Whales were very far west in the channel, but it was a beautiful night to watch them go by in the sunset

Kersti Muul December 11, 2017 (6:56 pm)

Male very far west in channel, heading towards the southerly tip of Bainbridge

Sunset colors made their distance worth coming out!

WSB December 11, 2017 (7:12 pm)

Thank you, Kersti! I’ve added your sunset photo to the story, as I was adding another photo that had just come in. While I got to see them, I didn’t have a photographer along this time – given how far away they are, I don’t know if our longest lens would have done even that well anyway! Hope they are finding fish … TR
- Kersti Muul December 11, 2017 (10:18 pm)
  
  Yes they were waaaay out there 🤣
  
  It’s always fun to see everyone out there. We have real diehard orca fans in west Seattle. No matter the weather or distance, people are happy.
  
  Lots of foraging going on Tracy. It’s been a joy to have them here so much!

annika December 11, 2017 (7:11 pm)

Beautiful photos, Kersti. Thanks for sharing them! :)

Kersti Muul December 11, 2017 (10:20 pm)

Thank you 🤗

I didn’t send a whalescout text out because of the distance. In hind sight, I really should have. The scenery was incredible

So glad you saw it on the blog and got out!