...7:15 a.m. I hear transient calls on the Lime Kiln hydrophones...they only last a couple minutes at the most...they could be anywhere out there...
...2 hours and 15 minutes later, after a quick run to town, I stopped to scan ...and oh, was I in for what ended up being an awesome whale day!
...the water was good for scanning and within just a minute or two I actually found whales! I could hardly believe that...a group of what looked like females and kids...no big males......I wondered if it was the same whales Ivan had seen yesterday morning from Cattle Pass, but no one ever found them after his sighting...
...then again there was also a report of whales going through Pole Pass on Sunday...who knows...I only knew I had whales, maybe 6 or so and they were heading toward Discovery Island...they were about three miles offshore...
...(click image to enlarge) there is an almost imperceptible dot in the middle of the pic...that'll give you an idea of how far away they were...
...I figured I would just enjoy watching them as they headed away from San Juan Island...then I lost them and it took about 25 minutes before I found them again...but this time there was an adult male surfacing with another whale, and they weren't too far from the other group......things started to get exciting when the group with the moms and kids surfaced and through my binos I could actually see more than just little killer whale dots in the water!...
...they had changed direction and looked to be heading up Haro Strait - whoo-hoo!!
...the big male surfaced coming directly toward shore, almost right at me...then before I knew it he turned and headed up island...
...I bolt to the car and get to Land Bank as fast as I can...
...he's already passing by...
...off to the next spot...fluke prints...
...to the next spot...
...he is going so fast...Ivan arrives in time and gets his binos on him while I'm trying to get pics...it's T30A!......he is still going fast...and to the Park...look how close he is to the wall...that's the top of his dorsal fin as he dives...he's just off the kelp below the wall...
...there was no way I could make it to the Park...so I just watched...he went out of view and it seemed he was going to keep on going at his fast pace...but he came back into view and headed offshore......I headed for Capt. Jim's boat of Maya's Westside Charters...Dave from the Center for Whale Research was on his way...Ivan of the Western Prince, was keeping an eye on these whales for as long as possible...
...out of the harbor we all went...it had only been at the most 20 minutes since Ivan last saw them...we couldn't find them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no!!!!!!!!! not again!!!!!!!!!!
...just how far could they have gone in that shore period of time?
...just who else was there?
...T30A has three other family members: his mom T30 and two siblings, T30B and T30C...were they part of that group of about 6 whales?
...but then we could see that group had some little kids in it too, so that wouldn't be the other T30s...
...we went to where they were last seen...we scanned and scanned...after being convinced they weren't where we were, Capt. Jim said he thought they had gone north...and of course he was right!...he spotted them north of Kelp Reef...this picture taken later in the encounter, but it shows Kelp Reef marker to the south of us...
...the whales seemed to be heading for Hughes Pass or just east of there still going up......they made a direction change...seems they found a harbor seal...
...here's the harbor seal again in the middle of all that froth...whales had just zoomed on by the seal causing quite a stir!
...the whales we saw were not the T30s, not even the big male! where did they go?...hum......Dave ID'd them right off as the T49As and T49Bs...two sisters and they each have some kids...it's a bit confusing...T49A...her oldest is sprouter T49A1...and she had/has two younger kids...earlier this year it was believed that T49A2 was 'no longer'...but guess who was here today?...yep, T49A2, as well as younger sibling T49A3...
...but who wasn't here today was T49B's oldest offspring T49B1...but T49B2 was here today.
...we saw this happen with another group last year...so T49B1 may just show up with someone's group...who knows maybe T49B1 was off with T30A and whoever else...of course no telling where they are...a bit confusing, but I'll be updating the pages in The Book to reflect all that!
...I noticed some interesting 'stripes' on T49A3...well they aren't scratches but I'm not sure what they are...if the calf was a lot younger it might be contributed to fetal folds, but this calf is older...I looked back at some pics from the spring and I could see only the one 'stripe' in the middle of the saddle patch...but now there appears to be three...
...someone was feeling good...Lime Kiln lighthouse in the distance...
...T49A2 is full of scratches...is covered in them and on both sides too...looks like someone with lots of tattoos!
...the two moms/sisters...
...it was now time for lunch...(click on image to enlarge)
...the harbor seal is in the kelp to the left of T49A......they spent quite a bit of time, maybe giving the kids some lessons on how to capture lunch, before actually having it...then they slowly began to move along...
...T49B2 surfaced ahead of mom and was playing around...did a headstand and showed enough of the white belly markings to indicate that this little one is a male!!
...it's not a lot to go on, but a male and female belly markings are very different...because of the long marking it makes me think this is a male......last April, T75B1 did an aerial leap that showed enough of her belly to reveal a female...here's that post
...I guess anyway you can get them works!
...I don't think that T30A was seen again today...will we get lucky enough to add another piece of the Puzzle of the T30s tomorrow...I can only hope so!
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