Wow, we are already into October, and continuing to have some fabulous days on the boat. Our resident orcas have still been spending a good portion of their time traveling through these inland waters, and though showers were predicted for this afternoon, it ended up being a bright, breezy and beautiful day. Saturday bought us another morning with no early sightings, but soon changed for the better with the exciting news of some resident whales spotted up by Henry Island heading down in our direction. Just in time for our 12 noon departure! Gotta love that!

We headed south down San Juan Channel, with a brisk north wind hurrying us along, stopping to view a bald eagle perched in a snag on Turn Island.  Just about 20 foot above the water, it sat calmly watching us while we,  more enthusiastically, admired it. With current roaring through Cattle Pass and water upwelling all around, we viewed about 30 Steller Sea Lions hauled out in various poses on Whale Rocks, some sleeping, some posturing, some diving in the water or clambering out. One of the great treats of the fall season is getting to view these majestic animals hanging out in our backyard. Little Harbor Seals sunned themselves nearby, their smaller size and gray color contrasting very much with the robust proportions and golden hue of the sea lions.

Out into the straight we traveled up the island to encounter the orcas. Spread out in small groups, they were traveling in a very slow and mellow mode. We were treated to a glorious pass by from J2 Granny, J-Pod’s 98 year old matriarch, showing us her distinctively notched dorsal fin. What a survivor she is! Traveling not too far away from her, as is  commonly seen, was J1 Ruffles. His huge wavy dorsal fin is for many people the easiest fin to recognize out of all the orcas. At close to 60 years old, he is also an amazing survivor who has hopefully passed his good genes onto many of the youngsters he has fathered in this community. Other whales we were able to identify later were L7 and L53, still spending a lot of time travelling with J-Pod. We were able to turn our engines off and sit quietly while whales moved this way and that in these small and spread out groups, with blows misting the air in all directions. An occasional spyhop and half breach kept our passengers on their toes, never knowing quite where to look with all that was going on around us

All in all a beautiful fall afternoon .

Chris