10-19-15 What a Bizarre Day It Was

I'll start with Monday the 19th and then go back to Sunday the 18th
...it's been foggy...most of the Southern Residents had gone up north...but we'd look for humpbacks and hope that the Residents would come back soon, that is unless they have more salmon up there.
...on the 19th:
...a bizarre encounter with two deer...not whale watching but wild just the same!...Capt. Jim had gone up to get the passengers...just as they were about to start coming to the boat I saw a deer coming down the hill from behind the two story building at Snug Harbor...the deer walked up to the people and from what I could see was just standing there...huh?...what in the world?...then came a buck...but it looked like he didn't do much either...they tried to scare them away...well it took a while and then...

...and then another bizarre incident that we only got to see the end results of - but if we hadn't we might have wondered if it really happened!..It did...thank you Orca Spirit Adventures zodiac for sharing that with us.  You all got to see it happen...we got to see the end result!

...okay, here are a few not so bizarre images from the day...
...little did he know (maybe) but three adult male Stellers were heading his way and fast...I wonder if they got any of that fish?

...this is the whale who almost swallowed 30 gulls...

...we heard about this humpback whale yesterday, the one with the very weird tail flukes...and we got lucky...she was still here today...

...they had been calling her 'Gnarly'...I can see why!

...on the way home we briefly stopped for a California sea lion ripping apart a salmon...

...and this gull...well I don't know if he dropped that huge piece or not...

...then backing up a day to the 18th...it took a long time to find this whale...

...while I was searching for an ID of the above humpback I came across this image...the humpback is upside down, in the middle of a breach...but check out that eye - wide open!...cool...

...these two Steller sea lions and the harbor seal were just fun...

...the harbor seal looks like he/she is striking a pose like the Stellers do...

...these next two were taken on the 19th...

...great couple of days with humpbacks...and on this day, in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, at one point we could see blows, in the distance all the way around.