What follows is a chronology of the stranding of two transient orcas near Sequim.

Data downloaded from the VHF radio tag on the rescued male transient

On the morning of January 2, 2002, a resident on the bluff overlooking Dungeness Spit discovered an orca in shallow water, moving very slowly, and notified officials of the Dungeness Recreation Area. Workers from the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge were the first on the scene. Officials from the National Marine Sanctuary were notified, and they in turn contacted Brent Norberg of National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). A dead whale was later spotted by a Seattle-based helicopter crew flying over Dungeness Bay.

Within hours the dead orca, a female, was located near Dungeness Spit, while the other, a male, remained almost immobile inside the spit in shallow water. Teams consisting of NMFS, DFW (Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, the Center for Whale Research and Cascadia Research were on the scene by 4 PM. The male orca was helped out to deeper water, but as darkness fell he had returned and was still inside the spit, swimming slugglishly.

On January 3, a team of scientists arrived on scene in the morning to conduct a necropsy of the dead female orca to determine cause of death. Meanwhile, rescue crews, some in the water or on the orca's back for hours at a time, attempted to tow the male to deeper water. The orca repeatedly slipped out of the tow ropes and beached himself. Although he was vocalizing, he seemed disoriented and oblivious to his surroundings, even colliding with floating driftwood at one point. He remained aground during the night, where volunteers covered him with blankets to keep him wet. He became dehydrated and blood tests showed signs of stress.

In the morning of January 4 rescuers were able to once again tow him into deeper water, but were not able to get him outside the hook-shaped sandbar of the spit. All through the day the male orca evaded repeated attempts to tow him to deeper water. At midday rescuers decided to attempt once again to tow the whale out to deeper water before his condition deteriorated further. By 4:30 the rescue team was finally able to successfully tow the male orca out of Dungeness Bay. As the sun set he was independently swimming west out the Strait of Juan de Fuca at a steady pace of around 4 knots.

On January 5 Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research identified the two orcas by the saddle patch below their dorsal fins. Both had been photographed in a group of 10 whales in Coos Bay, Oregon on Sept. 12, 1996. They were confirmed to be mammal-eating transient orcas, rather than the fish-eating resident types usually encountered in Washington's inland waters.

Initial results from the gross examination of the dead female identified no clear cause of death. There were no apparent injuries or illness, and the remains of at least two freshly killed seals were in her stomach.

Around 10 PM on January 7, the male, outfitted with a suction-cup radio tag, was detected by Brad Hanson of NMFS from a hilltop just south of Neah Bay. The orca was swimming normally a few miles SW of Neah Bay.

On January 29, Seattle Times reported that Joe Barton of Shelton, Mason County, was beachcombing near Ocean Shores the previous week and chanced upon a time-depth recording tag that had been attached to the male orca in Sequim. Data on the device showed the orca had been traveling at 2 to 3 mph, regularly diving between 50 and 80 feet, then surfacing for about a dozen breaths before diving again. All of which suggests he was doing well.

Thanks are due to:

Steve Jeffries, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was probably the central person coordinating the rescue efforts onsite. Dyanna Lambourn-Hughes, Monique Lance and Tammy Schmidt of DFW played crucial roles.

Brent Norberg coordinated all activities from NMFS. Brian Gorman, Robyn Angliss, Marilyn Dahlheim and Brad Hanson, all from the NMFS National Marine Mammal Laboratory, were key in all aspects of the operation.

Ed Bowlby, Andy Palmer, Mary Superkarno and Liam Antrim of the Olympic Coast Marine Sanctuary provided constant support.

Jeff Foster, Jennifer Schorr and Greg Schorr did much of the in-water work with the live whale.

The necropsy on the dead female was conducted by John Calambokidis of Cascadia Research, with Stephanie Norman and Gina Iatelo of NMFS, David Huff, Steven Raferty, Lance Barrett-Lennard and Brian Sheehan of Vancouver Aquarium, Rich Osborne and Albert Shepard of the Whale Museum, and Dave Ellifrit of Center for Whale Research, who also ultimately identified the whales from photographs.

Debbie Nelson, of Olympic Medical Center, tested the blood.

Pete Shroeder, Mary Sue Brancato, Mac Peterson, Kelley Balcomb-Bartok and Joe Gaydos were helpful in a variety of ways.

The U.S. Coast Guard did several surveys of the region.

Battelle Marine Science Laboratory Northwest provided equipment and logistics.

Port Townsend Marine Science Center provided volunteers.

The Dungeness Salmon Hatchery provided cold storage.

Farmer Gary Smith allowed his field to be used for the necropsy.

Steve and Mike provided their oyster barge.

Many other nameless citizens from the Sequim community helped out however they could, including the pizza delivery guy.