The T419s, a family of three orcas likely from Alaskan waters, spent eleven days threading through the heart of Puget Sound and nobody could stop watching them.
J Pod
J Pod moved southwest through Boundary Pass and down Haro Strait on March 29, visible on the Lime Kiln webcam at dusk and audible on the hydrophones into the evening. J22 was confirmed traveling with her son J38 at San Juan County Park that morning.
March is historically variable for Southern Residents, but recent years have seen real mid-month J Pod activity in these waters, and this week fits that pattern.
T419s, T46s, T137s, T36s, T36Bs, T99s, T65As, T49As, T49Bs, T117s, T123s
The T419, T420, and T421 trio were the story of the week. Bearing cookie-cutter shark scars and previously only documented near Anchorage, they spent eleven consecutive days in central and south Puget Sound, spotted from inside Port Orchard Marina at 80 feet on March 27, hunting past the Seattle Aquarium on March 29 and April 1, and still working Case Inlet on April 5. On March 31 they spent much of the day traveling with the T46 family. T419 is the matriarch; T420 is the sprouting male.
The T137s had their own sprawling week, covering Hood Canal March 27–28, Saratoga Passage and Penn Cove on March 31, then South Sound through Pickering Passage, Carr Inlet, and Nisqually Reach April 1–3. Jack, Tempest, Wright, and Loon all confirmed. The highlight on March 27 was a massive gathering: T36/T36Bs and T99s joined the T65As for a run from Sinclair Inlet through Bremerton and a double-group pass under the Agate Pass Bridge, an estimated 30 animals with observers lining the bridge above.
The T49As were in the San Juans March 28–29 with matriarch Nan’s seventh calf, T49A7. The T49Bs made a rare Strait of Juan de Fuca appearance April 4 with T117A, T117Bs, and T172, their first documented encounter in four years per OBI. The T123s closed out the week in Haro Strait on April 5.
The T419 trio had not left the region by the end of the reporting period, and with the T137s and T36/T36B/T99 group still active, this stretch may not be finished yet.