6-12-14 I Love Watching J Pod Be J Pod!

Thursday, June 12th
...the title of this post may sound a bit strange...however, when you get to see J pod whales looking like they are finding more salmon in these waters, their chatter increased, their actions explosive, very playful...etc...well maybe just for today anyway it was a good day for them...
...the day began not knowing where the J pod whales were...last we heard Oreo J-22 and her group were up in the Strait of Georgia...the other J pod whales who have been in here were heading that way...but by the end of the day they had not met up...

...today...no word of J pod whales and word of some Transient whales, on Maya's Westside Charters we headed over toward the Canadian side of Haro Strait...the T137s and the T86As...the other day we got to watch them in a resting pattern...today they were not resting, just moving along...while watching them someone had located the J pod whales, so off we headed back over toward San Juan Island as they were coming up from the bottom...

...the seas were pretty choppy and viewing had its challenges, but it was awesome to watch them as they would get into some fish...it was almost as if one was calling to others, "over here!" because we'd see several dorsal fins turn and head toward one whale and then lots of lunging and zooming at the surface...
...I managed to get one image of a fish tail...

...and I managed to get one very strange looking image...

...it looked like there was something there - what I don't know - but in the end it was the lighting and the water, etc....weird...

...they were coming up island...some were heading in toward the lighthouse and others were far behind...
...when we came out of the harbor for a late afternoon trip whales were right there...we didn't even go a 1/2 mile! 
...some of the others had caught up...DoubleStuf J-34 was here...that meant that the rest of his family would be here too...and soon we saw them...(they weren't with the other J pod whales yesterday)
...they spread out and chased fish again...and when they continued on they got very playful...Rhapsody J-32 was once again breaching - so glad to see her doing this again!
...they were definitely in the kelp beds as they traveled...Rhapsody carried this piece of kelp for several minutes!

...okay, so he is far away...but still very cute!

...Rhapsody J-32 was a bit closer and of course larger...it was so good to see her breaching - and a lot - today!

...Onyx was off by himself at times...

...he seemed to be having a great time!

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...the whales continued to move north...the most energetic I have seen them this year...it seemed they had a good salmon day...at least for today...