...I have blogged several times in the last few years that the waters along west side of San Juan Island, north and south of the Lime Kiln lighthouse a couple miles in each direction, were just about void of life in the waters for a good part of the summer...that is except for small forage (species I don't know), and sometimes harbor porpoise...
...there were very few and sometimes one gull that could be seen for miles...
...the SRKWs had not been here since early July and that was for two days only...
...the whales were on their way east in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Aug 14...
...they arrived to Haro Strait on Aug 15, being heard over the Lime Kiln hydrophones at about 3:00a.m....
...the seas came alive...stunning to see pink salmon leaping their way up to the north...long lines of them leaping throughout the afternoon, sometimes lasting for 20 minutes...then soon more would come through...
...they didn't get too far out of view when they turned and came back south...
...later, at about 6:30 a couple whales came up and past the lighthouse...they were not traveling close together, about a half mile apart some of the time...they soon came back down island...
...if it hadn't been for the whales being where they were, at this time of day, I would not have gotten to see this sunset...
...it is said that the whales don't eat pinks because of their small size - 4 to 6 lbs - they need the biggest bang for their 'energy buck'...so there are likely sockeye (which they eat some, but they are about 8-10lbs) but more likely Chinook salmon (bigger) passing through too...
...the Albion test fisheries in B.C. had a bump up in their counts of Chinook salmon... Yay!!
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