Day 1 of the Study and 2 HBs show up!

The Study? Since 1990 a wonderful fella began a study regarding the Southern Resident orcas - J, K and L pods. He has retired now but the study continues.  It begins each year on May 20th and today whales showed up! It wasn't J, K or L pods but it was a mom and calf humpback!

At least the first day of the study there was something to put on the sightings board!  yay! There have been several humpbacks returning to the Salish sea in recent weeks and there will likely be more coming in. They don't come in large groups but instead sometimes there is just one humpback that passes by and other times there is a mom and calf.

Here are a few images of the mom and calf who passed by Lime Kiln lighthouse today and today they were much closer to the San Juan shore than the previous HBs!  More will likely be coming.

It is hoped that the Southern Residents return soon but it's still a bit early and they need to be where their food source is.

Two Humpback Whales Today

They were far offshore when spotted by others.  At first some thought it might be orcas but there was definitely a humpback out there.

Though distant images showed that what looked like it could be an orca it was actually the tail flukes of the adult humpback.

There was another humpback present & it might have been an offspring.

If so this might be the first of this season's mom/calf pair coming up Haro Strait.  Too cool!

The land in the distance is Vancouver Island.  That's when others began seeing the exhale of the Humpback.

This was zoomed in enough to confirm that what may have looked like an orca in the distance was actually the tail flukes of a humpback...and with a smaller HB.

The underside of the tail fluke shows there is a lot of white and the skinny thing sticking up is the other tail fluke.

These next two images indicate that one was much larger than the other....hum...mom and calf??

Difficult to see - there are 2 'things' barely on the surface that are actually the tip of the tail flukes of the larger HB.

Terribly out of focus... it is the left tail fluke & shows a distinct 'hook'.

Shows location...See the blows?

The one on the right might look like an orca but those are the tail flukes of the HB.

Great spotting of these far from shore whales today!  

Thanks everyone!

4-30-16 Breaching Baby Humpback

Saturday, April 30th
...the last several days in April...
...the T65As and T65Bs (2 sisters and their offspring) were in Rosario Strait almost to the Annacortes Ferry Terminal on the 27th...

...the next day not seen and the next day, April 29th seen north near Sucia Island...and on the 30th they were on the west side of San Juan Island heading away...they do get around...that is just what the T65As (the T65Bs are not always with them) do at this time of year!

...on April 28th, the third day after J Pod had gone north they came back down...but they came down traveling through some very unusual places for them...Samsun Narrows then past the Swartz Bay Ferry Terminal...and down through a very narrow pass (wish I could have seen that!), and on down the west side of Haro Strait...it was thought that all of J Pod was there...but they weren't!  
...someone 'picked up' the J16s as they were at the top end of Boundary Pass...and since the water was getting really nasty in Haro Strait...on Peregrine with Andy at the helm we headed to calmer water and the J16s...we met them just north of Java Rocks...Mike J-26 was by himself...and mom and the rest of the family in shore...

...we left them south of Blunden Island close to shore on the west side of Boundary Pass...we learned later that David and Barbara of All Aboard Sailing met them and last saw them on the east side of Boundary Pass near Ripple Island...
...so when on April 30th we hear of Residents way north off Texada Island...were those the J16s? (or could it have been some Northern Residents that far down?)
...because if not then it would be some Ks or Ls - Whoo-Hoo!  ...after all it is just about May and soon L Pod usually shows up in May...hoping! 

...also on April 28th another humpback returned to these waters, the first sighting of her this year...Big Mama - BCY0324...and she brought her new calf with her...Mark Malleson, who has tracked these humpbacks, said this is her 6th calf...
...so far she and the calf have been along the west side of San Juan Island for the last three days...
...day one with mom and new calf on Imagine with Spencer...Jeff and Debbie from Oregon were on the boat and since we stayed with the two humpbacks until another boat arrived, I told them they were now official humpback babysitters!

...day two...I watched from shore...

...day three - from the Peregrine - doing what baby humpbacks do!...and Jeff and Debbie came out on this trip too and boy did they get to really see that baby :)

...it may have been slow to begin and now all of a sudden...just like Big Mama and her calf and their energetic actions...spring has arrived !

Now we need to see salmon coming in here.  One thing I have noticed over the last three days is more birds congregating and loud = food is in here...according to the areas I have seen...not enough yet ...hope it's a start...
 

 

6-7-14 Breaching Humpbacks-Killer Whales-Js and Ts

Friday/Saturday, June 6-7th
...no killer whales did we see on June 6th...and glad for that or we might not have gone to see the humpback mom and calf, #BCY0324, and commonly known as 'Big Mama'!
...let me backtrack a couple days to June 4th when we first saw them...these two had been in the area for a few days prior...and this was our first encounter with this humpback calf...aren't all babies cute?

...jump ahead to June 6th when we got our next opportunity...and what a sight it was!...thanks Capt. Jim...

...and then mom decided to get in on the action...that's Orcas Express in the Distance...

...the J pod whales and Onyx L-87 had gone out on the 6th...
...the morning of June 7th...the two humpbacks came up island...

...a different look from the day before...but a real treat to see them from where you live...

...out on Maya's Westside Charters in the afternoon...word just came in that some Ts had been seen coming our way...oh, goodie...at first we heard there were about 7...then, when on our way we learn there are 30+ - wow!...
...it seemed they were on a mission...porpoising, porpoising, porpoising...

...passing Turn Pt...

...they slowed down a couple times and milled about...it seemed they were taking a rest for a few minutes, then all of a sudden they would take off again...was this an exercise program? :)

...even T65A5 kept right up...this little one is just a couple months old!

...they had dispersed by the time they reached us...thanks to Dave Ellifrit of the Center for Whale Research who ID'd the T77s, who were traveling with the T65As...T65A4 leaping behind mom, T65A in Open Bay as the whales continued south...

...Capt. Jim had taken a family out for a quick view of the orca, since one young fella, Dillon, didn't get to see an orca whale during their earlier trip...oh, my was he excited...I was afraid he would fall off the boat...but his mom was holding on tight to him!...we left the whales after they passed the entrance to Snug Harbor and the folks followed me to Lime Kiln Pt. State Park where we arrived just as the whales were entering the park...and amazingly enough they slowed down...there were multiple spyhops too...

...and on they went...having left my cell phone at home all day I was completely out of the loop...out of the park and on my way home I saw some boats coming up island...what? did those whales turn around?
I knew that some of J pod were on their way in but last I had heard they were too far to make it to the west side...wrong!...it was J pod coming up island...amazing...Granny J-2, Mike J-26 and several others passed by the lighthouse going up island...sweet...
...but it was getting dark...

...so Granny J-2
and most likely the whales 
who have been with her 'this time around' had come back in...

Is that a good sign or a not so good sign?

More salmon coming?

Or 

No more out there than in here?...