7-11/12-16 Wonderful Whale Watching Days

Monday,Tuesday, July 11/12
 
Monday, July 11th
...all ready to run errands in town, I get an invite to go out...of course...
...town is nuts right now...no parking places to be had...and if you are going to be away from your car for over 4 hours you might as well plan on a good walk from wherever you get lucky enough to find an 8 hour or non-designated time frame spot to park...ugh!
...with Capt. Spencer at the helm of their new boat, out of Friday Harbor we go...J Pod whales are coming down Rosario Strait - yes, again - like I said before "it's the month of May in J Pod Land" - this is what they used to do in the month of May.  As long as they are finding salmon...
...we meet up with the whales, spread out, coming across the bottom of Lopez Island and heading for the west side of San Juan...
...Shachi J-19 was the first whale we saw...she has been up in front a lot lately...

...Oreo J-22 has some rake marks on her saddle patch...

...the whales were spread for miles, eventually split off, some came up the west side but flipped and went down island while Granny J-2, Onyx L-87 and the J16 family were way south and heading west...uh,oh...would they be here tomorrow...

...and 'tomorrow' July 12th - they actually had come back in and were here in the morning...started coming up island at about 10 a.m. 
...in town when word came I made it back to the west side, up island from Lime Kiln by a few miles and saw Shachi J-19 off shore from Granny J-2...

...Granny appeared to be 'on the move'...others soon came along, very spread out...but it was only Group A of J Pod...they weren't close to shore...
...got side tracked by...

...a little while later another group of whales came up island...it was the J17s...they got only so far past my place and then flipped and went back down island...
...and there started their trend for the rest of the day...up island a little ways and back down again...the J17s mainly did that closer to Lime Kiln and the J22s for sure and possibly the J16s - not sure...they are an independent family group and will sometimes split off for a day or more...
...out on Peregrine with Capt. Andy we go up island to see Group A...
they too were spread out...some in close along Pender Island...
...Samish J-14...

...as we watched the whales approaching one point...there was a flag pole with the Canada flag...it's red and white colors were standing out on this sunny day...I commented, "now if you would please breach just under the flag, that would be great."

...surprise!...that was amazing...there's a fellow sitting on the rocks as an added bonus  :)

...back on shore and heading down to the park where the J17s were...sounded like the other J Pod whales were further down island...
...watching from shore the whales were distant...oh, there is the 'dog boat' and Tucker the whale poo sniffing dog.  you know he has his own FB page !

...the J17s were in the three groups hanging out...some logging, some baby leaps and breaches, fun to watch but not for taking pictures into the glaring sun and the whales at a distance...great to see no matter what...
...someone else was watching - me and my friend and/or the whales too...

...the J17s and even the J22s...not sure who else came up past the lighthouse and spent a couple hours there, up island from there, and then back down island at close to dark...
...so at the end of the day Group A was miles to the north and at least the J17s and the J22s were down island...since I wasn't on the water at the south end of the island I am not sure where the J16s were yesterday - they are an independent group and could be 'anywhere'!