5-10-15 An Afternoon Full of Whales

Sunday, May 10th
...on an afternoon trip with Capt. Jim we headed north to meet up with others who were watching the two humpbacks, Windy MMY0006 and Big Mama BCY0324...they were definitely into boat watching today...
...sometimes they watch us while we are trying to figure out where they will surface next and other times we watch them while they leave us alone - really.
...at one point, we were getting ready to go a bit further north to see a minke whale that just showed up, when we hear that killer whales were also just spotted but much farther away...
...after a few calculations we were on our way...just hoping the whales would continue to come our way...
...they didn't, but we got there...
...what a combination and what a challenge it was to figure out who was there...
...T124E and T101B were pretty much to themselves...two teenage boys...

...T102 passed up this sail boat...

...I had seen T124 - she has the most pointed dorsal fin of all the Transients in this regional Transient community...and with her was T124A1 - that would be one of her grandkids...there is one whale in between these two, who is just surfacing, and that is T124E...note that T124D and her offspring T124D1 were not present today...they're off traveling with others...they'll be back to visit mom and the family from time to time...

...when I had seen T102 and T101B, I figured that T101A and mom - T101 were around...

...and now for mom...

...but there were two others a mom and a juvenile...and it took me until I got home to figure it out...it was T100B and her first offspring T100B1!

...so today we had all the T101s and T102 is considered to be part of them; two of the T124s and there are five of them; two of the T100s and there are six of them; one of the T124As and there are six of them...
...you can see how they split up...that's how Transients are...you just never know who will be with who...the next time they are seen they might all be with their family groups...or not...
...that's totally different from the Southern Resident Community - they never leave their moms - thank goodness!
...we didn't have long to stay with the whales...we had come a long distance...one of the passengers had her first look at orcas in the wild...I think she was pretty happy!
...as we were leaving and they were going the other way...

...not sure the name of that cliff face...but it's beautiful, especially with whales in front...


...note on J Pod...they've been gone...today is the 9th day since they were here...from what I saw there wasn't much food here when they came in the last time...that's based on where they traveled, which wasn't very far before they turned and left...
...someone said the other day, "bring in the whales"...I replied with "bring in the salmon" and the whales will then be here.

It's May...
Will J pod return with salmon and L pod whales?
Will L pod come in without J pod being here?
They did that last year. - highly unusual.
Will K pod show up with no other pods in here?  
Last year they did in April?  Will it be May this year?