1-21-12 Same Time Next Year They Said!

Saturday, January 21st


...a call from a friend who saw whales - oh, my!...
...at first there were maybe 4 seen, with one adult male...then they were down for a long time...hum...
...the LK hydrophones had been quiet of whale talk ever since two mornings ago...
...maybe they were Ts...

...a call from Capt. Jim and we were off the dock in 30 minutes, whales just outside of Snug Harbor - but of course!...
...we saw that first group of 4...
...then another group was coming up from south of us...so we waited for them...
...at first I though Ts...then Capt. Jim saw that notch that Polaris J-28 has and then Blackberry J-27 surfaced with a clear view of his saddle patch......all right we had at least Group B...
...Blackberry J-27, Tsuchi J-31, Mako J-39, Oreo J-22, Rhapsody J-32, DoubleStuf J-34, Cookie J-38, Princess Angeline J-17, Polaris J-28, Tahlequah J-35, Moby J-44, Star J-46, and Notch J-47 (13 total)...

...taking pictures was a bit challenging...wrong focus point!...back in 2010 the J16s spent their time with Group A...in 2011, when J Pod was split (which wasn't as much as 2010) they moved back and forth between group A and B...and today, when we first arrived on scene, the J16s were up ahead of Group B...Polaris J-28, Star J-26 and Blackberry J-27......guess who this is......DoubleStuf J-34 was present......so after getting pics of the larger group we went to see if more than the J16s were up ahead...
...Mike J-26...notice the wave...there were a lot of those today......it took several surfacing sequences to get a saddle patch on him......mom, Slick J-16 was traveling with Echo J-42 next to her, but we didn't see her new calf J-48. When we first saw Alki J-36, she was surfacing with Rhapsody J-32...and by that time Group B and the J16s had melded into one group of 17 whales...
...some Group B members...that's Cookie J-38 just surfacing on the right......the whales were moving very slowly and this was the only 'extra action' other than their surfacing......we left the whales at 12:45, heading north, towards Turn Pt.......perhaps they will come down the west side in the next few days...and they will be chatty!...then again they might go down San Juan Channel, where it'll be ferry people who may spot them!


...Granny's group (Group A) consists of Granny J-2, Spieden J-8, Onyx L-87, Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, Samish J-14 and her kids - Riptide J-30, Hy'Shqa J-37, Suttles J-40 and Se-Yi-Chn J-45...

...one year ago actually on 1/22/2011 Group B and the K Klik (Cappuccino K-21, Raggedy K-40, Opus K-16 and Sonata K-35) were traveling south on the west side of San Juan Island...they headed out...the next day they came back in and several days later they were seen in San Juan Channel going south...
...it was a good Blackmouth salmon season last year...fishermen were saying...

...we'll see if it's good enough to keep the whales around here...
...maybe Group A and Group B will meet up...
...wonder where the K Klik is and the rest of K pod...could they soon be heading for California with L pod?...but then again I don't think K pod has been seen down there in a long time...