Most of my more than 5 decades has been as a San Diego resident. I didn’t even know for the first 4 of those that orca actually made appearances off our coast. Really? How could I not have known that? Once learning this, it became a mission of mine to experience them for myself. Easier said than done.
Dana Wharf Whale Watch excellently summarizes the ecotypes of orca that we see of our coast in Southern California as follows.
Dana Wharf Whale Watch
Offshore
Large pods that can number from 20 to 100 individuals is not uncommon for offshores. Latest studies show there might be approximately 250-300 offshore killer whales off the coastline of California, Oregon and Washington. Offshores have been to known to be one of the most well traveled killer whales. One individual was seen in Dutch Harbor, Alaska and then here in Dana Point, that is a 2756 mile journey! Their dorsal fins tend to have a rounded tip and tend to have a closed saddle patch (the white patch located behind the dorsal fin). The diet of offshores consist of large fish and sharks. Offshores have been seen eating blue sharks and sleeper sharks. The rough skin of these sharks causes another unique feature of offshores, worn down teeth. Bodies of mature offshores recovered have shown teeth that are almost worn down to the gums.
Transients
The transient killer whales range covers pretty much the entire West Coast of North America. A transient killer whale that has been seen by Dana Wharf Whale Watching has been seen as far North as British Columbia, Canada. Pods of transients can number to about 10 individuals. Estimates of California transients have not been recently determined but, guesses by biologist range from 105 to possibly 180 individuals. Transients are known to be one of the larger, more heavy bodied ecotypes of killer whales. They tend to have a pointed dorsal fin and closed saddle patch. Marine mammals make up the diet of transient killer whales. Common dolphin, sea lions, harbor seals and elephant seals have been seen being consumed by transients off the coast of California. Gray whale calves are also a frequent prey item for these killer whales.
Eastern Tropical Pacific’s (ETPs)
The Eastern Tropical Pacific killer whales spotted by Dana Wharf Whale Watching have not been placed into a ecotype by researchers at this time, there is still much to learn about the ETPs. The term ETP is used to describe the area these whales are seen, as far South as Peru and as far East towards the Hawaiian Islands. About 195 ETPs have been identified in a catalog published in 2008. A faint to almost non-existent saddle patch is common on these killer whales. They are known to eat marine mammals and have been witnessed preying on bottlenose and common dolphins off the coast of Baja California, Mexico. There is also a case of ETPs preying on mammals as large as a blue whale.
Last week a video surfaced on the news of fisherman on a boat with orca “chasing” them reportedly for over an hour, playing in their wake just 35 miles from San Diego.
Yeah, game on whale enthusiasts! Let’s play follow the orca. So I kept checking the different whale watching boats sightings logs, Facebook posts, the news and found they had been seen off Newport Beach. Being a late night internet surfer, I decided to set my alarm for a couple hours from that point and head up to Newport Beach for their first trip out in the morning.
I’ve chased these guys this way before, not really the best method as they move quickly and follow food so they don’t exactly linger in any one area, but it was the best chance I had and any day on the water is better than housecleaning so…
I like Davey’s Locker Whale Watching in Newport Beach so I went out with them.Davey’s Locker Whale Watching It was a beautiful, warm late summer morning, slight swell, but no wind chop so visibility was terrific. Our captain was communicating with the other boats out of Newport and Dana Point, hoping to acquire the orca, but in the meantime there was no sign of marine mammal life to be found. We headed south and after about 45 minutes he announced that boats up ahead were on a pod of orca. I was a little surprised that the other passengers didn’t completely lose their minds at this point, but it didn’t stop me! Enthusiasm is contagious and with some excellent narration from the captain the passengers’ excitement grew as we drew closer.
We could see even from a distance the tall dorsal fins and spouts as the whales seemed to go back and forth between the boats that were observing them. When I pause and worry about the negative effects of whale watching on the whales themselves, I remember things like this. Those boats were idling and the whales were actively investigating them, fully capable of diving and disappearing quickly if they were bothered by the activity. When we approached, we became part of the whales’ path of exploration, offering us excellent views of this most rare of Southern California sightings.
Pardon the video quality, cell phone in bright sunlight in the hands of an overly excited amateur…
As you can see from the video, the saddle patches on these particular whales are quite pale, almost difficult to see on a couple of them which is one of the characteristics of this ecotype, the Eastern Tropical Pacific or ETP. This made it an even more exciting sighting, as they are rarely seen in our waters. We were able to spend about 20 minutes with the whales before we had to head back in to dock. They were speeding south at a pretty good pace, but I hoped they would turn around so I took the next trip out too. They did not turn around and we did not catch up to them on the second trip. That is how hard it is to anticipate finding them based on when they were just seen!