Chances of spotting Orcas in September

Hello

While I know that no one can ever guarantee wildlife viewing, I am wondering what the chances are of seeing Orcas in September? My fiance has never seen Orca's in the wild and I would love for him to experience this. We are doing a 7 day Southbound Seward to Vancouver Sept 17 this year. I am trying to decided if we should plan a excursion for this or save the money for another excursion if Orca activity is limited this time of year.

Thank you.

Can't speak for the Alaska sightings but the salmon are running at that time of year in the Pacific Northwest. I often go to Vancouver Island for whale watching during the 2nd week of Sept. Even around Vancouver/Victoria this would be a good time.

But you're right, it's not guaranteed. I've been at that time frame and the orcas were very active, but other times not as many sightings. Never been skunked though. When I don't have time for a full week on the Island, I have done a whale watch tour out of Anacortes which is about an hour north of Seattle ..... great value, 10am - 4pm for $100. The whale watching companies generally have a SIGHTINGS log on their web site so you can get an idea of the activity.

Seeing orcas, with a priority is going to require a lot of effort, AND tours to hedge the bets. Orcas are not commonly seen by most cruise visitors. Tours out of Vancouver Island and Seward have probably the better chances. Out of Juneau, on average only seen maybe 2 out of 10 days with a whale watch. You have a route to take advantage of, with being out on a forward viewing deck your last sea day, coming back to Vancouver.

I'm out when the ship gets to the Queen Charlottes, Keep track of the ship map, will be on your tv. AND then stay out, meaning, skip dinner, shows etc. You possibility will go through a sighting area. My stats are probably 75% success. But HOURS are invested for a couple minute look. :) These would be the Northern Vancouver Island Resident pods (3). Few people are willing to do this.

I've been in Victoria with good and "bad" sightings. Fortunately a vendor I use, tells me, if within range, because otherwise, it is unknown by the customer, but the vendor knows - they won't be seeing any. They still go out. One trip, there were no sightings for the 4 days I was there. There is a huge network of spotters so, tracking is usually known.

Johnstone Strait is the premiere area for Orcas off Vancouver Island. It's a long, narrow strait that ends around Seymour Narrows. Robson Bight at the northern end is a mecca for orca watchers as they are known to go into the shallow waters and rub on the rocks on the bottom. The orcas were considered a pest by fishermen and they actually installed a machine gun near Seymour Narrows to cull orca. Fortunately it was never used. orcalab.org has a lab in the area and a live video cam during the summer months. The Marine Detective is a humpback researcher but also has a number of excellent blogs on her website about the local orca https://themarinedetective.com/category/marine-mammals/killer-whale-orca/

As BQ mentioned, Victoria is a good place for orca spotting.... I have some amazing photos of a pod of orca against the setting sun from there. Juneau can be good. Oddly, I've had better success with the cruise line boats (Allen Marine) than the smaller charters as they seem to be willing to travel further to find orca. They had a boat captain who LOVED orca and would always go out of the way to find them. I don't know if he will be there this year.

The lower part of Glacier Bay has orca as well. These are mostly Bigg's orca and eat marine mammals so they do a swing through the bay every few days to pick up a few meals. They tend to be harder to spot as they are less social than the resident fish-eating orca and don't surface as often. Ask your rangers about recent sightings....

Since you're coming down to Vancouver anyway, your single best chance of taking one tour and seeing Orcas leaves from right here in the city. Wild Whales out of Granville Island. They spend 3-7 hours sailing time compared to 3-4 hours for the tours from Steveston or Victoria. Depending where the whales are that's anywhere up to 4 hours extra potential viewing time - local resident orcas are here all year round with 'peak season' May to October when they're most often around the Salish Sea rather than the far side of Vancouver Island.

As BQ says, nobody has a 100% Orca record - over the course of the whole season every local outfit I've seen claims 90-95% depending on the year, but that might include a day or two or even a whole week where the whales are too far from port for even the fast Zodiacs and RHIB boats to get to them and return within the tour length. They all offer a 'no whales, another free trip' guarantee - but if you can't spare the time for a second trip that's worthless (and even going again the next day means they are more likely to still be out of reach - better to skip a few days before trying again). Hence my reco for Wild Whales - staying out longer means a better chance of reaching the Orcas on any single trip - and price-wise the ~$10 extra is the same price as a shuttle to Steveston docks for the cheaper tours from there.

Keeping your eyes peeled, especially through the Strait, may get results - but unless it's a Superpod (when multiple pods all join together to chase the same large salmon run) it's very unlikely you'll have enough time to get any decent photos from a moving cruise ship even with a great lens.

I've seen Orcas on every Kenai Fjords tour I've done in Seward. Their prices are very reasonable. Our favorite is the one to Fox Island that includes lunch. A good embarkation day tour. :)

My husband and I did a Kenai fjords excursion while in Seward. Weather was awful: windy and raining. Just as the captain was about to call it a day, he announced, "Here is your compensation for such bad weather...check out all those orcas on the port side". He then kept up with that pod for almost 20 minutes...one of the highlights of our Alaskan trip.

Similar to previous posts, we were on a SB to Vancouver and did see just a few Orca off the port side (from our balcony). We too stayed out a good part of late afternoon to sunset and that's all we saw but were thrilled anyway!

Out of Victoria or in northern Puget Sound make sure the vendor practices Whale Wise watching. Canada has similar regulations so the NOAA rules in the US apply to the entire Salish Sea (Puget Sound, Strait of Juan de Fuca and Strait of Georgia). The closest you would be getting (legally) is 200 yards.

Whale Wise

Local TV has had reports of recent studies about noise from whale watching boats disrupting the echolocation the whales use to find salmon and possibly contributing to the decline in population of the three resident pods in Puget Sound (J,K and L pods). I think they are down to less than 80 members. Any reputable operator will probably be very up front about about adhering to the regulations and why it is important. Some claim to come as close as 100 yards/meters of "marine animals" which is a little misleading because that includes seals and birds but for Orcas the limit is 200 yards/meters due to endangered species status. When selecting an operation look for long time PWWA membership (Pacific Whale Watch Association) as a starting point.

You have a better chance of seeing Orcas if you depart from Victoria or Vancouver, as there are resident pods that stay in the area. The further north you go, you will see transient whales...usually smaller groups of 3-5 whales. The resident pods are larger, and if several come together, you may have over 20 whales. We had a super pod of all three pods, (J, K and L pods) several years ago outside of Victoria....over 40 whales. Completely amazing.

^You're actually underplaying the local numbers! A superpod of all three locals usually contains over 75 whales - we actually saw a combo of J,K,L plus a bunch of transients simultaneously for in excess of 100 Orca on one trip. I didn't even know that the locals let transients hang out with them at all, but apparently when there's a big salmon run there's more than enough grub to keep everybody well-fed even when the transients are targetting salmon rather than seals..