San Juan Whale Watching

So, last night K-Pod was seen heading south on the west side of San Juan Island. But where did the J-Pod whales that were with them go? Then this morning no sign of K-Pod anywhere and no reports of the J-Pod whales that were north yesterday. However, the J-14’s and J-16’s showed up on the west side of the island heading north. So we had two wonderful trips with the J-14’s and J-16’s.

This morning we joined them off of False Bay where they were actively fishing. Lots of changing of direction as the whales sliced through the water after Salmon and several beautiful breaches as well. On the way there we found a huge group of Harbor Porpoises foraging near Henry Island. I shut down the engines and drifted for about 15 minutes as close to 100 Porpoises surfaced all around us. This was one of the coolest porpoise encounters I have had.

This afternoon we found the whales heading north up the west side of the island. We spent most of our time with the J-16’s swimming along as a family group, with little J42 popping his head up with almost every surfacing. I always love to see these little guys. They are so energetic and full of life.

As we were heading home this afternoon I received a report that the rest of J-Pod was finally found heading south down the east side of the San Juan Islands in Rosario Strait. Now the J-14’s and J-16’s are heading north and the rest are coming south. Once again, it looks like the two groups will end up on opposite ends of the islands.