Monday, June 20, 2011

6-20-11 Twelve Spyhops and One More For Good Measure

Sunday/Monday, June 19/20th
Sunday
...in the afternoon the whales came up the west side of the island...it was a shore day for me...the seas were quite wild, so even seeing a whale could be a challenge...I got a glimpse of the leader - Skagit K-13...traveling farther offshore and parallel to her was Blackberry J-27...there were others in the mix but I only got fin tips of them...
...Shachi J-19, in a bit closer with a lunge - that helped!
...the whales were spread for miles...the last two groups were the J16s and the J14s...Riptide J-30 with his mom and one of his sisters...(little did we know that Riptide would go missing over the winter)...
Monday
...when last seen last evening, the whales were going up island, but this morning the K13s showed up coming up island!...so we know what they did sometime in the night...this is Deadhead K-27 - we didn't know it, but she was pregnant and soon to have a baby!
...it wasn't long before they came back down island again...
...and then up island again, only this time Group B of J pod and they were in a resting line...

I didn't delay this time and headed up island to see if I could see them from another location...whale watching through the trees...

...out on Maya's Westside Charters a short while later, we didn't go very far to find the whales - like a 1/2 mile out of Snug Harbor...the whales had been in a resting pattern for quite a while and it wasn't too long before they 'woke up'...a spyhop here another over there...
...other surface actions...some 'hugging' moments or so they look like that...

...the K13s, who had stayed south, changed direction and came up island too...
...as we were coming back in to the harbor, we learned that echolocation clicks were being heard from the Lime Kiln hydrophones - ah, Group A was around somewhere!
...I couldn't make it to the park, but located the whales farther north...a kayaker was paddling out from shore and setting himself up to watch the whales go by...what happened next was the funniest thing!



...sometimes I wonder
 if the whales are having
 more fun than the humans!