7/3-4/14 Dinner At the Elwha and Breakfast on the West Side

Thursday/Friday, July 3/4
...Thursday morning...as suspected the L pod whales were seen heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca...
...J and K pods surprised us by showing up just after 8:00 a.m. coming down island...

...I had met these folks from Germany the day before...they were on the rocks in front of the lighthouse and I was at the south end of the park...they had told me that they had decided to stay another day, because they just could not leave seeing the whales!...good thinking...

...the whales came down fast...it was all of J pod - Group A and B and all of K pod...

...

...as they were coming down island...

...after Mako passed by he surprised us with a breach!

...and down island they went and headed off to the south and west..."oh, no!" many people were saying..."they're leaving, oh no!"...
...I sent a friend an email suggesting that maybe the whales were just going to the Elwha River for dinner and they would be back for 'breakfast on the west side' in the morning...yeah, right...
Friday, July 4th
...now why didn't I believe my suggestion?...5:00 a.m. "click...click...click..."
"oh my they really did come back for breakfast!"...off and running...
...it was quite early...I missed Granny J-2 up ahead...
...almost missed others too...

...if I lightened up the images it would lose the concept of just how early it was...

...the sun may have already risen in Friday Harbor, but it wasn't high enough to reach the west side, just yet...I saw the J14s go by as well as Eclipse...I assumed I had missed Eclipse's mom, Shachi J-19, who was probably up ahead with Granny...
...but no other whales came into view...I drove down the island a short distance and saw others coming...on my way back to the park these two eagles...well, I just had to stop for moment...

...when they reached the light, one hour and seven minutes had elapsed since the first group had gone by!...

...and farther off shore Onyx L-87 surfaced in the full sunlight!...it was now 7:07 a.m. and a beautiful day it already was!

...Mike J-26 was offshore as well...and they all continued north and did catch up to the rest of Group A...

...a couple hours later more whales came up island, but only for a few minutes...
...Lea K-14 and her two youngest, Yoda K-36 and Kelp K-42...they passed the lighthouse going up island...
...behind her was Sequim K-12 and her youngest Saturna K-43...
...then Lea made a abrupt turn around and headed down island very quickly!
...and that was it for the day...