11-10-14 We Got Whales!

Monday, November 10th
...once November started, I kept thinking about several years ago - November 11, 2009 - when J pod whales showed up coming down island, passing Lime Kiln lighthouse...
...and that it could happen again...

...I was planning to go out on Maya's Westside Charters today for a noon time trip...but my hopeful memories told me to go scanning before the trip...
...maybe I'd spot a humpback whale, so when my eyes locked on the tall dorsal fin of a killer whale I about freaked!...I was so shocked I started to shake - LOL!!...and laughing at myself for trembling...and then I remembered November 11th, 7 years ago...okay, so one day off...

...back 7 years ago there had been a report several days before of whales seen to the north and they were 'swimming in circles'...all I could think of was 'baby', so when Polaris actually showed up with J-46 - yeah it was epic then too!

...okay, back to the present...November 10th, 2014...

...at first I thought that maybe they were Transients, mainly because I only saw about three whales...but then they spread out and that made me wonder, because the distance was greater than the way transients usually spread out...
...if I had been listening to the Lime Kiln hydrophones I would have known they were L pod whales!

...when I left them to head for the boat, they were heading down and were miles from shore...but when we got out there we were stretched to find them..uh,oh...
...earlier, from shore I had seen a sail boat near the whales, so we located a sail boat and the fellow let us know they had changed direction and were heading back toward San Juan Island...we headed that way...all of a sudden one of the passengers called out that something was just ahead of us...we got a brief glimpse and then nothing...
...we all wanted to see the whales and especially Noah, who had just studied killer whales in school - we just had to find them...

...Mark on Prince of Whales out of Victoria joined the search...he spotted blows up island...after seeing how far the whales were spread, the long dive times, and few surfacings in between...well, that filled in a lot of questions...

...Mystery's fin - what a hook it has!...but it doesn't always show like that...
...Lime Kiln lighthouse is in the distance on the left...the whales were at least three miles from shore when we finally saw them...

...still a puzzle to me as to which way they had come from...they might have come in, gone up so far and then back down...but what was most unusual to me was that when I saw them they were coming down from the north, at a steady pace and were miles from shore...KWDs (killer whale dots) at that time...

...they stalled out between Baynes Channel and Discovery Island and then came back towards San Juan Island, up past Lime Kiln - offshore - and then back down and headed out late in the day...

...the two moms and their little ones were spread way out...Mystery had disappeared for a while and showed up way north...

 

...then they began to come together...

...then Capt. Jim spotted some blows about two miles away...I grabbed a couple shots...it was Mega L-41 and probably Ocean Sun L-25...

 

...Dave from the Center for Whale Research zoomed over to verify who it was...


...Solstice L-90 and his mom Spirit L-22 were off from the others foraging...sort of like Mega and Ocean Sun - distance wise...

...just before Capt. Jim was about to depart I got to 'hop' (more like fall into) the Center for Whale Research boat and continue on with Dave Ellifrit from the Center...this is the last image I took from Capt. Jim's boat...

...while on the CWR boat we watched as the whales eventually all came together, Mega surprised us with a huge breach - and only once -and they continued their direction to the south and west...
...link here to the Center for Whale Research Encounter report, with images too, from today...

It was an epic November day!

NOTE:  a few days ago while out on the water a couple passengers commented a few times that they saw jumping fish - and they were big!...yesterday afternoon I saw that same thing three times...salmon leaping...and then today Residents showed up...interesting...

11-7-14 The Hydrophones A Busy Place

Friday, November 7th
...the Lime Kiln hydrophones have been a busy place lately...in the early hours today I heard transient calls...
...the calls occurred at three different times over about 1 and a half hours...
...here's a short clip...

...out on Maya's Westside Charters, we spotted a humpback whale...it was BCY0409, who has been nicknamed Yogi!...

...Yogi was heading down Haro Strait and toward Discovery Island lighthouse...eventually rounding the corner and heading a bit south and then west when we departed the scene...

...as far as I know those Ts I heard in the early morning hours were not seen and they can go where ever they want!
...maybe someone coming down Rosario Strait on Saturday, during the Round the County sailboat race will spot them!

11-6-14 More and Different Humpback Sounds in the Night

11-06-14
00:23 a.m.
Now these are totally different humpback sounds from what I have heard before.

Those are two clips extracted from a total of close to 20 minutes.

11-5-14 More and More Humpbacks This Year

Catching up on the Humpbacks I've seen since October 26th...and it's been almost daily, sometimes at close range and other times blows in the distance...

...October 26th...on the Western Prince, flat calm seas, sunny skies, north end of Haro Strait...

...October 27th...on Maya's Westside Charters...two elusive humpbacks...they were taking close to 10 minute dives and going in huge circles...

 ...oops, I said 'he'...I haven't a clue if Split Fluke is a male or female...

...October 30th...the helicopter at the lighthouse day...I was watching what the helicopter was doing and could see two humpbacks in the distance...

...November 1st...that was the morning when humpback sounds had awakened me...later in the day out on the Western Prince we encounter...

...we went down Haro Strait about another mile and met up with...
...Split Fin and this other whale...I have no idea who this one is...

...there were a couple other whales farther south than these two but we didn't see them...

...a few days later a friend emailed me some fabulous images of a humpback in the kelp near Kelp Reef...the whale in the image she sent me was the one I call 'Three Circles Left'...the only way I can remember it...but it's actually CS280 - CS stands for Clayquot Sound, on the outer coast of Vancouver Island, north of Tofino...I've seen that whale before, in 2011 and 2013, and I'm sure others have seen it too...

...November 3rd...there they are again...even though far from shore, I pointed them out to a couple...one of them had never seen a whale of any kind before and she was thrilled...

...then the humpback surfaced higher and she saw its back...more excitement!

...November 4th...taking a walk at County Park...there's the humpbacks again...same place as yesterday...don't know if they are the same ones...too far out...

...November 5th...I get a phone call from Ivan of the Western Prince that humpbacks are in San Juan Channel and they were continuing down the channel...so off to the south end of San Juan Island...Ivan got the images and from what I could tell, it was 'Three Circles Left' aka CS280 and MMY0024, both who have been seen in the last few days...

...each year there seem to be more and more humpbacks showing up...glad that there is a 2014 Humpback Catalog put out by the Center for Whale Research !


...this weekend is the Round the County Sailboat Race - totally fascinating to watch over 100 (I think at least that many) passing by...
...last year several California sea lions were just up ahead of the racers as they got to the park...
...maybe some humpbacks will lead the way this year...
...I'd rather the Residents show up when it's a bit less crazy...

11-1-14 Humpback Practicing Local Language?

Saturday, November 1st

Just listen to this...too cool...
It's all explained on the video.

...hope you enjoyed that as much as I did when I was awakened at 3:30 in the morning to all this!

note added:  Ken Balcomb, head of the Center for Whale Research, let me know that this is incipient song.  Thanks Ken!

...here's hoping we get to hear that song develop some more :)