11-3-13 Every Trip An Adventure

Sunday, November 3rd
...after yesterday full of stormy seas, rain and wind, today was just the opposite...out on Maya's Westside Charters for an afternoon trip...
...on our way to Victoria to see a humpback...actually two humpbacks!
...one is nicknamed Split Fin...

...the other humpback...

...while we were watching the humpbacks we got word that killer whales were on their way in!
... off to the west we headed...passing Race Rocks lighthouse, stopping to see the sea lions and elephant seals...

...south of Race Rocks we began to see the whales...
...BUT first we began to experience ocean swells...wild!

...Capt. Jim said the swells were about 8'...

...as we and the whales moved east we all got beyond those swells, otherwise we would have hardly seen a whale!
...the whales were spread for miles, so, once again it would not be a day to document the presence of all...but I did see Granny J-2...

...Onyx L-87 was present too, but he was the only L pod whale I saw...
...Lobo K-26 and his little brother Kelp K-42 appeared from our other side...they too were disappearing behind swells...

...Polaris J-28 and Star J-46...

...one of the whales surfaced straight on to us...then with the next surfacing had turned and surfaced up ahead...

...it looked to me like the whales were heading toward Puget Sound...

...on the way back someone spotted a rainbow in the distance...

...nice for that harbor seal to be hauled out...
...we left behind the rain...

...as we were pulling in Capt. Jim called out about a Hooded Merganser...so instead of taking the line to tie the boat I grabbed the camera!

...with lots of whales in the area...things are staying quite interesting...and we just never know what will happen next...