Saturday, September 6th
...with great anticipation I hoped to hear the vocalizations of the Residents on the hydrophones during the night...but all was quiet...
...that didn't mean they weren't here...
...because here came Granny J-2 leading the way...it was about 8 a.m.
...Slick J-16 was traveling near Granny...Mike J-26 was in the mix...
...then came (in no special order) Onyx L-87, Alki J-36, Shachi J-19, Eclipse J-41, the J14s...but Echo J-42 was nowhere to be seen......it took close to two hours before Group A passed by Lime Kiln lighthouse...and Echo still wasn't there...
...it was not only a busy morning watching the water for the whales...a California sea lion came by - whale watching too it appeared - probably for his safety...
...a Kingfisher...
...and then some mergansers too...
...off in the distance, down island, we could see more blows...okay, who could this be?...
...Princess Angeline J-17, Moby J-44, Tahlequah J-35, Notch J-47, Rhapsody J-32, Echo J-42, and Mako J-39 - until he changed direction and moved on out to be with his brother Blackberry J-27 and sister Tsuchi J-31...behind them came Polaris J-28 and Star J-46...
...on up island they went...there were a few whales really far offshore...not sure who...but it looked like we had just about all of J pod going north...
...out on Maya's Westside Charters...we traveled with the whales until Turn Pt. lighthouse...I know Capt. Jim has been wanting a breach in front of Turn Pt. lighthouse...he got it today, thanks to Shachi J-19...I was almost too late but managed to get her as she was just coming down for the landing...
...this next part of the day is rather comical I think...we went into Roche Harbor for fuel and came down Mosquito Pass, which is on the east side of Henry Island...at that same time K pod was going up Haro Strait off the west side of Henry Island!...we had no idea we had completely missed K pod (except for K-21, K-16, and K-35)...
...but things always work out, because if we had known that K pod was so close we would have gone with them...instead we went down island to see the L pod whales...
...that's where the Plus ONE comes in...
...It is 2 years and one month since the last surviving baby was born into the Southern Resident Community. It's not only time to celebrate but maybe it's time to re-look at what needs to be done for this population to survive and grow again. We certainly need more than just hope.
Monday, June 3rd
...last night the L12s came back down island...while J pod continued north...
...image above is L-119...the image below is L-119's dorsal fin and you can barely see her tail beginning to come above the surface...
...and the last image is L-119's dorsal fin and tail and her mom, Matia L-77's head...the baby is rolling off of mom's back!
...Mega L-41...
...little L-119 was very spunky with her mom...well, I guess most babies are...
...there was a Minke whale out there all afternoon, going in circles in the same vicinity of the orca...
...Skana L-79, Spirit L-22, and Solstice L-89 were moving about very slowly...they may have had their own family resting group going on while the other whales were spread all over...
...as we were leaving, Mystery L-85 surfaced going that way (out)...was that an indication of what was to come???
...Ocean Sun L-25, Calypso L-94, and Cousteau L-113 were present today too...various times in the day we spotted bald eagles...
...we stopped for another bald eagle...this one was feeding the young in the nest...
...then the Capt. spots a kingfisher...it began hovering...I could hardly believe I actually got these images...
...I don't know what that is in her beak...it looks like something sticky or gooey...but all the images I took in this series are like that...
