Did we jump into September and no one told me?  Apparently the whales think so.  As many people know, I’ve always loved September whales.  Well, I think I’m starting to love August whales nearly as much!  We started our trip this morning with a report of whales near Java Rocks (BC), so we made our way north.  While waiting for the whales to make the crossing down Boundary Pass, I explained to our passengers why we were positioning ourselves on the offshore side of whales and the importance of staying at least 100 yards away.  Soon whales began passing the boat heading for the Turn Point Lighthouse (1115).  As a few whales got close enough to ID, we were happy to find we were viewing J Pod & K Pod.  The whales seemed to be very active, with lots of surface percussives–spyhops, tail lobs, headstands, and a few breaches by the calves.  But the fireworks really got going when the whales hit the tide rips near Turn Point.  They were actively working the line between the strong floodtide and the upwellings, and soon a group consisting of L2 Grace, L78 Gaia (his rakes are healing nicely), L90 Ballena began to breach one after the other.  Five breaches in a row, where one whale would breach and before that one was finished, the next whale would breach.  I haven’t seen a big male breach in quite some time, so it was amazing to see how huge these whales truly are!  We left the whales and began to head home and discovered L Pod traveling down San Juan Channel!  It was an amazing thing to see them heading down this way.  They were spread in groups of 7-8, with whales from mid channel all the way to shoreline.  It would have been even more amazing, but private boaters began to pour out of every harbor like an ant mound kicked over, and we did all we could to stop boats from running over whales at full power.  Finally the whales made the turn at Turn Island, and most of the private boaters lost the whales.

For our second trip, we joined up with the L’s still moving down San Juan Channel (1530).  By this time, there were only 2-3 boats on scene, all giving the whales 200 yards or more.  It was amazing to see these whales working the tide–they would find the back eddies and use them to power against the current.  These L’s were probably the most active I’ve seen in quite some time with over 15 breaches, tons of tail lobs, porpoising, and other surface percussives.  And for only the 3rd or 4th time in the last few years, I watched residents work the shore along Cape San Juan and Goose Island.  Then the whales headed right for the Cattle Point lighthouse, giving the shore watchers a nice viewing as well.  We left the whales at 1630, and they were porpoising towards Eagle Point (J’s & K’s by this time were at Lime Kiln, so I imagine they were hearing each other).  This would rate as one of the most aerobatic days I’ve had viewing whales in probably 3 years.  Perhaps they found some good eating??  I certainly hope so.