...and it continues on the same...
...except that on the 30th some L pod whales were seen!
...the J16s, of course, who stayed south again and evidently went west in the night, were seen coming back in toward the west side and not far from there were other whales spotted coming...I heard they were the L12s, but I wasn't out there and didn't see them...
...all day long they stayed south...each year it used to be the L12s who 'took up residency' down there, but in the last few years others have taken their turn spending time in that down island area...
...some of the days Granny and her group - Group A and sometimes Group A Minus (minus the J16s) would either be going up island in the morning or down island in the early evening...but who and when were ever changing...
...and some of the time I watched from shore and other times from the Peregrine...
...while waiting for whales a kingfisher showed up...
...a little while later...
...glad to be there early in the morning...sun had reached the whales off shore but not the whales who were in shore right in front of me...
...out on Peregrine and up to Boundary Pass...now I think I know why J-50 is having to 'CatchUp' all the time...she's goofing around so much!
...J-50 was on her back along side of mom, while mom took a breath...'CatchUp' didn't need to catch up this time...but soon she might!
...off in the distance as we entered the Strait of Georgia...
...others came up and back down in the afternoon...the west side - busy with whales...
...June 30th...if you know my blog you already know I like to get these kinds of trees and whale pics...they are usually out of focus...I got lucky this time!
...June 30th...while waiting for the whales I noticed the Heermann's gulls are back...very cool.
They skim across the surface, using their feet for momentary brakes and get a fish with their beak and eat it as they keep on flying!
...then a Minke (pronounced mink-key) surfaced!...and kept on several times, heading down island...
...still waiting for the whales...not sure if this person knew how cold this water is and I wasn't sure of his intentions, so I kept watch for a couple reasons his well being and the whales' (who were still farther to the north)...but he got out of the water rather quickly...so all was well...
...and then they came...and even those who have seen these whales more times than you might imagine were still in awe...
...what a great way for us humans to end the day...hope the whales find enough food to fill up and keep on going...