9-13-18 Hope for Scarlet J-50 is Now Gone

I learned today, September 13, that it has been announced by the Center for Whale Research that Scarlet was last seen on the day mentioned below.
At that time I had to hold on to hope.
But now that hope is gone.
With tears streaming down my face, I am glad she is no longer suffering.

 Slick J-16 and Scarlet J-50

She was such a fighter, right from the very beginning.
As sad as I am, I am glad your suffering is over. 
You taught us all, to continue on, to not give up until there is no other option. We all must keep on doing all we can to restore this community of Endangered orcas. 
Scarlet, you gave us such joy when you were in our presence. I cannot begin to image the loss your mother, brother and sisters, especially Echo J-42 must feel.

~~

Below was written on September 7, when I still had hope.
Friday, September 7th
J Pod and many L Pod whales had been north for a couple days...they came down last night...likely via Rosario Strait.  Earlier there was a large group of Transients who were coming down ahead of them and they were looking like they were aiming for Rosario Strait.
Later, J Pod was in Boundary Pass and to us humans 'that means' they'll be coming down to Haro Strait sometime in the night and passing by the Lime Kiln hydrophones...NOT!

...instead of hearing J and L Pod calls in the night I heard Transient calls!

Now it's the afternoon, Sept 7th...
Ls and Js coming up island...
I love the lighthouse, but sometimes the lighthouse walls get in the way...
...inside talking to folks and based on info I had the whales were still coming up island...NOT!
...hearing one call on the hydrophones I chased everyone, including me, out the door!  Oh, my they're here already!
...the whales were spread, moving quickly with the current...Cookie J-38 was chasing a fish...Moby J-44 chasing a fish...and others were too!
...the last of the whales to come by were Slick J-16...4 minutes behind her were Echo J-42 and Alki J-36, sisters...4 minutes behind them was brother, Mike J-26...and 4 minutes behind Mike was Scarlet J-50...
...they were together, though not in a bunch...the physical distance between them was not that far...they appeared to be going up island at about the same pace...
...after passing Lime Kiln, I could see that Scarlet was moving offshore...

...'bye folks'...and off I went up island to see what I could see of the J16s...
...Soundwatch and a research boat were far offshore... 

...hmmm...where was Scarlet...lousy lighting and such distance I doubted I would see her...
...but then I saw someone coming back down - that whale was foraging...it looked like Echo J-42 (from my image) and another whale was foraging too - it was Mike J-26...
...I knew that Scarlet was in the area because Soundwatch and the research boat had her as their focus...of course...

...I did find out later that Scarlet, Echo, and Mike were seen together up island from where I had seen them...

...I know she is not 'out of the woods' yet...but they were together, sometimes spread and sometimes close...but still together.