The Truth About Aerial Whale Spotting

The truth about aerial whale spotting is that it just doesn’t work in most conditions. So how do we find whales? Let me take the mystery out of our whale spotting system.

There are other companies who advertise they use spotting planes and imply they use them daily to find whales; this is nothing more than a marketing gimmick.

If you look at our dot graph (at right), which shows our whale sightings from previous seasons, you’ll notice that we’re often very close to shore. Island Adventures and other Pacific Whale Watch Association (PWWA) companies over the past 20 years have developed an extensive land based spotting network. These specific locations can see for miles and miles with spotting scopes.

Killer whales are very vocal creatures. There’s even a network of underwater microphones that you can listen to 24/7. Check out orcasound.net and listen for Killer Whales from anywhere in the world. (If you’d like a heads up when Orcas can be heard on these hydrophones, join Orca Network and friend them on Facebook.)

The hydrophone network is a very valuable tool. Even when it’s foggy or dark, we can still keep track of the whales. All of the Anacortes fishing guides and many other boaters in the area have Island Adventures on Nextel Direct Connect (a secure private radio system through our cell phones that most commercial companies use in the San Juan’s). These are often the first reports of the day.

All PWWA companies are required to report all sightings to one source, which then immediately sends out group text messages and emails to all companies. There are no secrets. All whale sightings and information is shared amongst the commercial whale watching boats.

The companies that have the highest sighting success rate and can guarantee whales are the companies with the best range. Range is figured by vessel speed, length of the tour and location of the departure. This is why Island Adventures has been #1 for many years. The Island Explorer 3 saw whales on 262 out of 266 tours in 2011. No other company even compares. You’ll notice that other companies don’t post their specific success rate each day — online or anywhere else — like Island Adventures does. Check out our Blog for a report of sightings on each of our tours.

Island Adventures whale watching is a dedicated whale watching tour company, which means we do not stop at a port of call. Any company that stops along the way is a Ferry and does not hold a high enough sighting success rate to guarantee whales on every tour like Island Adventures.

The best days for our Captains are when we find the whales first — and this happens a lot! The pilot house on the Island Explorer 3 is over 25 feet off the water, and is a very stable platform while underway. With the help of a $1,000.00 set of binoculars, we can see whales from as far as six miles away!

Planes are the fastest way to see the areas that haven’t been covered by boat, can’t be seen from land or are in an area with no hydrophones. One problem with spotting from a plane is that you must maintain a respectful height so that you don’t disturb wildlife from the air. This makes it difficult to see Killer Whales unless the water condition is perfect.

Below are some photos from one of our past flights.

Can you find the whales in these photos?

Another problem with spotting whales from the air is that sometimes whales stay under water for up to 5 minutes. In this time it’s easy for planes to fly right over and not see them. This hurts the overall search effort because the whales are now in an area that other searchers assume has already been covered.

Now that you know the truth about aerial whale spotting you may want to take a closer look at other claims being made by these companies. Ask direct questions and expect real answers. Remember you get what you pay for.

Feel free to call or email our office. I’ll be happy to answer any questions that you have…just ask for Shane.