Here is Alison’s report from today accompanied by Jeannes great photo’s.

I checked in this morning to see if we had a trip today and was delighted to hear that we had a trip and that J & K pods had just passed Lime Kiln heading south.  With the beautiful fall weather I had high hopes for another “Super Tuesday.”  We all know that the season is winding down and there may not be many more days like this so fellow naturalists Chris and Sara hopped on board along with Jeanne Hyde from the Whale Museum.

Stellar Sea Lion on Whale rocks

We headed south in San Juan Channel and stopped to view 20+ Harbor Seals on the rocks just south of Turn Island.  Nearby we also saw Harlequin ducks and several Marbled Murrelets.  Next we headed for Whale Rocks.  There we found many Stellar Sea Lions on the rocks and frolicking in the water.  We also spotted two California Sea Lions.

K26 Lobo, 16 year old male

The whales had continued south and we soon found them out past Salmon Bank.  They were very spread out and appeared to be foraging.  We saw K12 with K37, then K16 with K35, then had a nice pass of K14 and 3 offspring which includes K26, K36 and K42.  I could also see J1 and J27 much closer to shore.  As the sun glistened on the water there seemed to whales in all directions off in the distance.  It appeared that J’s were grouping up near False Bay slowly heading up the island.  Then!!!!!!! we got news that 15-20 Orcas had been spotted in San Juan Channel heading south.  This was going to be the day that kept on giving.

L pod in San Juan Channel

As we approached the scene Captain Hobbs slipped back into to Soundwatch Captain mode and alerted two private vessels to the oncoming whales.  Rumors were flying that it could be Northern Residents, but we quickly realized it was the group of L pod that had been spotted up in Blackfish Sound a few days ago.  They were traveling in a tight group which included the L43’s, L4’s, L21’s and L’26’s.  L92-Crewser was in the lead with a few other whales. He rolled over to show us his Sea Snake, and seemed to be a busy guy.  We spotted a small group of Harbor Porpoise on the way back in to port.  Another incredible day in the Salish Sea.