5-30-13 A Day Full of Whales!

Thursday, May 30th
...I love being awakened by the whales...

...and then to run out the door to meet them...
Slick J-16 and two of her offspring were in the lead as they came down...whales were spread for miles...I saw a big splash at least 4 miles away and then several moments later the sound carried over - yep, that was a whale...
...there was a play group of kids, Slick's other offspring Echo J-42 was in the play group with one other female - Star J-46...

...that image looks like there are only 4 whales, but on closer look in the next frame...

...the others were Mako J-39, Se-Yi-Chn J-45, and Notch J-47...I would have expected Moby J-44 to be in that group, but he was with his mom and Polaris J-28 and they were the trailers as they passed by the lighthouse at about 7 a.m.

...and then home I went to get ready for the day (ha!)...and then run back down to wait for them...
...I could see dorsal fins in the distance but up close a California sea lion surfaced!...maybe he saw them too...

...as some came in close to shore at the park...

...looks like Polaris may have added to her 'body art'...

...someone having some fun...

...then back home to watch from there...
...Hy'Shqa J-37 and baby J-49...

...a different playful group from this morning...

...Samish J-14 and Rhapsody J-32 with some others...

...and then one more time...the whales started to go back down island!...a quick trip to the park to see if they all came back down...and then to the boat - whew!...out on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon we went down island to see the whales...but of course they were coming back up again!...
...in small groups, spread out...
...Se-Yi-Chn J-45 lost his brother Riptide J-30...who did not return in 2012 and is believed to have died (Center for Whale Research)...Riptide and Se-Yi-Chn were seen together often...and it was so neat to see the 'littlest one' (that's what Se-Yi-Chn's name means) with his brother who was 14 years older... 
...so when I saw Se-Yi-Chn and DoubleStuf J-34 (who is 15 years old) together today it reminded me of how often I had seen the littlest one with his big brother...now Se-Yi-Chn has a nephew, baby J-49, who maybe he can be 'big brother' to in the future...

...with them was Cookie J-38, also a male - 10 years old this year...Cookie is DoubleStuf's younger brother, and the three of them were being very playful...
...Cookie J-38 and Se-Yi-Chn J-45...

...the last group of whales to come up were the J16s and this time all four were traveling together...
...Harlequin ducks flying along behind Alki J-36...

...as they were moving up island they abruptly changed direction...looked like Mike J-26 might be after a fish...a few minutes later Alki was off to her self...she was far away, I couldn't see a fish but I could sure see her teeth!

...I hope she had a salmon in that mouth of hers...
...and not to miss the Victoria Grace a fine sailing ship...

...like I said before...it's like 'magic land' around here!