Today was a very interesting day indeed! I always like to say that you never really know what the whales are going to end up doing. Today I was proven more than correct.

This morning we all expected J-Pod and K-Pod to show up somewhere in Rosario Strait or Boundary Pass heading south from the Fraser River (which is where they went last night). Well, after an exhaustive search, by many boats, of the areas we expected them to show up, a boat from Vancouver Whale Watch heading home found J’s and K’s resting off of Matia Island and heading north! This made the private charter group on the boat this morning very happy (we weren’t too far away when the report came in), but left me a little perplexed as to what to do for our afternoon trip.

When we left for our afternoon trip the whales were already at Point Roberts (very close to our normal limit in range) and still heading north. I decided to head north to see what would happen. If the whales were moving slow and foraging we might have a chance. By the time we arrived at East Point (the place where I had to make a decision) I was getting reports of some of the whales porpoising north and others foraging back behind. The trailing group was just a couple of miles south of the Coal Docks (the furthest point I have ever gone, or want to go). I calculated it out and decided that we might be able to catch up with them if they were moving very slow, which is the report I got. Then about half way across the Strait of Georgia I found out that the trailing group was no longer foraging and were now passing the Coal Docks. Uh Oh!

Well, the skies were sunny, the seas were calm, and I just couldn’t bring myself to turn around. So we kept going and going and going, running at about 23 knots (with a little help from the flood tide) the whole way up. Then we came upon the almost mythical “T14″ buoy (well mythical to me because it was the first time I had seen it) and that is where we found a most wonderful group of J-Pod. Immediately upon our arrival we were treated to several beautiful breaches. Then lots of socializing, tail slapping, more breaching, and several pec slaps that seemed to be waving hello at Vancouver, BC in the background.

Our long run home took us via a gorgeous route through the middle of the Canadian Gulf Islands and back to San Juan Island. It was more distance and more fuel than I ever hope to see again, but I have to say it was worth the adventure and the encounter. And believe it or not we even managed to do the whole trip in only 4 hours (with a little help from the ebb tide coming home).