The Resident Orcas turned up again on the west side of San Juan Island this morning. It was an awesome day on the water. Here are my photos and another great report from JB:

On our first trip, the whales decided to head back up the island after going south all morning, and we were very lucky to spend some quality time observing J1 Ruffles as he fed in the currents at Kellett Bluff. It was so cool to see a whale as large as Ruffles execute a 180 degree turn as he chased salmon in the strong tides. At one time he was periscoping (just his dorsal fin showing) and was actually swimming backwards!

During our afternoon trip, the whales had decided to break up a bit with K-Pod electing to hang out between False Bay and Lime Kiln in the choppier waters, while J’s & the “L7’s” headed north. We viewed the whales near Pender Island, and for awhile, we watched a small group of 3 whales foraging, spyhopping, and breaching along the shoreline. But we had to make way and move further off-shore when L57 Faith came by. Our passengers were truly awed by the size of Faith. As the group of 3 came close enough to put a telephoto lens on for IDs, it was none other than Oreo Doublestuff Cookie (J22, J34, J38). As L57 came up to them, J34 must have decided to show off with a beautiful breach. For an 11 year-old whale, he seems to be hitting his “sprouting” early and is on track to be a massively huge whale! We watched the whales head north, and as we pulled into the dock at the end of our wildlife experience, we heard that the whales were just entering the western entrance to Active Pass.
John Boyd (JB), Marine Naturalist, Western Prince