6-18-13 It's Like the Party Was Over

Tuesday, June 18th
...it's not uncommon for L pod to come in spend the day and leave in the middle of the night, but this time they stayed...down the west side of San Juan Island they came this morning...we scrambled and got out on the boat with passengers just as the whales were passing the bay outside of Snug Harbor...spread all across Haro Strait...it was sort of like this...

...some were heading down island and passing Lime Kiln Lighthouse...others were offshore heading for Discovery Island - and that usually means 'bye-bye'...
...yesterday there was lots of socializing in many small groups...today it was like the party was over...except for a few still 'at it'...two males - Solstice L-89's flukes and Indigo L-100's dorsal fin...

...the food was all gone, so now it's time to leave...or that's how it seemed...
...Calypso L-94 began porpoising...

...and so did Cousteau L-113, her offspring...

...Mystery L-85 was traveling with them and he too did some porpoising, though his was a bit in slower motion...

...the L54s - Ino and two of her kids began porpoising too...

...the L12s, L54s and some others were headed for Discovery Island...but they slowed down enough so that on our second trip on Maya's Westside Charters we had the opportunity to see Mystery L-85 and some of those others again...
...at some angles Mystery's dorsal fin tip looks like a butter knife...

...here he is again with San Juan Island in the distance...

...we got word that the T65As and T75Bs and T75C, who had been heading up from Puget Sound all morning were near the bottom of Lopez Island...then we hear that there is another group of Transients spotted at the bottom of Cattle Pass...the Residents were heading south...we went to investigate...
...on our way we stopped for Marina L-47 and her offspring Mystic L-115 to pass by...way up ahead we could see more L pod whales, all who were heading southwest...'bye-bye'...

...and those Transients?...well what a neat surprise...T75, T75A and the T36As...I had only seen T75 and T75A once before and that was in June of 2011...not long after we arrived on this scene, they went after something...

...then the little one...(just too funny)...

...the big male, T75A...I noticed later when looking at my pictures, had tagging wounds on him...I had only seen him once before - June 2011 and he had none then...

...the Center for Whale Research was on scene this afternoon with these whales and I'm sure got much better up close images than I did...those bumps look pretty big for as far away as we were (glad for the big lens)...


...with the Southern Residents, as I've said before, they need food not 'jewelry' nor wounds from 'jewelry'...and as for Transients...I haven't a clue what someone's reasoning is for that...it's not like they are going to do anything about where they go...and they have plenty of food options everywhere they do travel, and if it's just curiosity then...
...just something to ponder...