4-8-14 A Day Full of Whales!

Tuesday, April 8th
...it was a busy day with whales...first there was a report of 20+ whales inbound in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...being Ts, they would most likely disperse once they got closer...they did...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters for a morning trip we headed toward Victoria...on the way we learned of some whales already in Haro Strait going north...cool!...

...it was raining...visibility was less than a mile...not good for spotting whales...by the time we got closer to Victoria the rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through...
...and we found one of the groups of Transients, T75B, T75C, T36A, T36A-1 and T36A-2...

...these five whales were in travel mode, heading toward Trial Island and possibly toward Haro Strait...and it was time for us to head back to the harbor...
...in the meantime those early morning whales in Haro Strait were found...so out of the harbor for the afternoon trip we met up with the T49As and the T65As as they were entering Swanson Channel from Morseby Passage...T49A1 and T65A2 traveling together...the moms were traveling with the rest of their kids and they were spread out at least a 1/2 mile...of course, we wanted to see the babies...

...this baby has scratches that look like raised long welts- mostly on the right side...and then there was this one set of scratches on T65A-5 - 'J1'...for those of you who knew Ruffles J-1...it was a bit 'eerie' when I saw this!

...the whales slowly moved up Swanson Channel...we left them after they passed by the entrance to Active Pass and were heading up Trincomali Channel...

T65A-5's playful behavior about sums it up for just about everyone who was out on the water today and saw these most magnificent animals...