7-31-14 Breakfast At Bellevue Lunch at Turn Pt

Thursday, July 31st
...so we begin the day with the K14s coming up past the lighthouse at about 6:30 a.m....continued on to Bellevue Pt. and there they 'had breakfast' of fresh salmon...and came back down island at about 8:00 a.m.

...Group A was somewhere up north and hadn't been seen yet...it wasn't long before they were located north of East Pt (Saturna Island, BC)...out on Maya's Westside Charters to meet Group A as they came down...four whales were in the lead - Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, Granny J-2 and Alki J-36...Granny and Alki were traveling as a pair, which was unusual (note to self: pay attention to Alki)...as they were getting into some choppy water...

...Shachi did several dorsal fin slaps - is that possibly a 'scare up the salmon' tool they are using this year?...with a loud 'thwack' it certainly get's my attention and it might get the 'attention' of any salmon that might be near by...
...they continued on down Boundary Pass and by the afternoon trip the whales were just about to round Turn Pt...
...and so was that ship!

...that's a great example of distortion of distance perception on the water.

...after rounding Turn Pt. they began going down island...

...like they used to do...but no...they turned off shore and crossed over to the west side of Haro Strait and stalled out...we could see lots of foraging...and as we watched..."there's a whale going north"...a minute later "there's another facing north" and pretty soon they were all moving north into Swanson Channel...

...they may have been waiting for the K14s who were heading up island...


...eventually they all went up Swanson Channel, through Active Pass and on toward the Fraser...
...two days in a row they made that loop...for a reason too...FOOD.