8 February update - As of the evening of 5 February when J27's tag turned back on from the day before the whales had continued to remain near the western entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. By the following afternoon (6 February) the whales had moved southwest to the continental shelf break. The duty cycle on J27's tag reverted back to every day on 6 February such that we were able to follow the whales movements that day and the next as they followed the edge of the continental shelf slope northward before turning east and reaching the coast of Vancouver Island near Tofino. They headed south and were back near the western entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca by afternoon of 8 February. Northwest Fisheries Science Center 2015 Southern Resident Killer Whale Satellite Tagging

5 February update - As of the evening of 3 February when J27's tag turned back on from the day before the whales were still out at the the western entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. By the following morning (4 February) the whales had moved several miles to the east off the southwest coast of Vancouver Island. Northwest Fisheries Science Center 2015 Southern Resident Killer Whale Satellite Tagging

2 February update - Based on the trajectory of travel on the afternoon of the 29th J pod was expected to show up in Puget Sound on Friday the 30th. Although they never arrived (but K pod did), by that evening when J27s tag turned back on we observed that they had returned to the western entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca. They spent the next day again meandering around the western end of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Last night (1 February) and this morning's locations continue to show the whales remaining that same general area. Northwest Fisheries Science Center 2015 Southern Resident Killer Whale Satellite Tagging

12:10pm - 7-8 Orca approx 3/4nm west of Race Rocks heading east. 12:00pm.
Jason van der Valk

Recapping the visit by K pod into Sinclair Inet, Susan Marie Andersson writes:

What a thrill to have K pod in our local waters for the afternoon. I'm pretty excited by the fans/eager learners we are starting to see line up on our shores when the whales are near. The car line up on Beach drive in Port Orchard went on and on for what seemed like miles.

I heard that orcas had been spotted off Vashon near the Tahlequah ferry terminal and were headed north up Colvos Passage. A slight detour had me at Manchester park and then Manchester pier around noon after Connie relayed Kelly's report of the orcas "hanging out around an anchored freighter. While looking from the pier, I met the wife of an orca fan who's husband saw them near the Southworth Ferry dock. We waited together for almost 30 min. before members of the whales appeared from behind one of the three gigantic freighters parked off Blake Island. Due to the longshoreman's strike the area north, west and south of Blake Island has been the holding spot for numerous freighters for months now. I'm wondering if these giant ships threw the whales off? It was weird behavior from the get go.

At some point Brad Hansen and the NOAA Zodiak appeared. The ships blocked a lot, and I'm wondering if NOAA attempted a tag in this time frame? Anyway, there was a lot of milling and direction changing by K pod, (pretty sure at that point who we were seeing) but no real foraging behavior that I could tell. K Pod and NOAA started to head toward Restoration Point off the south end of Bainbridge and I turned to leave.

Before reaching my car, which was at a higher vantage point, I saw that K Pod had done a 180 and was headed rapidly back toward Manchester and Rich Passage. It was foggy, and visibility poor, and those damn freighters were like high rise buildings on their sides.

I was still able to stick with them most of the afternoon by following the shoreline from Manchester to Port Orchard. Port Orchard roads are narrow, there are few view point but tons of traffic. I was able to stick with K pod all the way into the Bremerton Navy shipyard where they hesitated. Up to that point they had stayed pretty close together the entire way up from Blake Island. As they reached downtown Bremerton they spread out, and did a lot of back and forth movement, almost like pacing...

At this point word was out and the narrow road along the beach was clogged with traffic. There must have been close to a hundred people or more lined along the shore. It reminded me of a classic summer bear jam in Yellowstone! We all watched from shore as a large male, K25, went over to the Manette Bridge. You could hear an audible gasp from the multitudes of onlookers now lined up along the shore here and there in both directions as far as the eye could see. Many were remembering when L Pod got stuck in Dyes Inlet for 30 days in 1997 and you could hear lots of stories being exchanged. After what looked like a close approach to us on shore, he turned and joined the rest of the pod that were now heading back out and east. Phew, what an adventure!

Orca sighting in Manette-Bremerton. My dad stopped at Bachmann Park about 2:30pm in the afternoon & bystanders had seen whales.
Ruth Blakeslee

Orca whales off Bachman Park in Manette/Bremerton. Video by Steve Erland

12:00pm - 7-8 Orca approx 3/4nm west of Race Rocks heading east.
Jason van der Valk