Another beautiful day in the sunny San Juans and an opportunity to see J Pod on both of our trips today!  This morning we headed north and found J Pod foraging off the west side of San Juan Island.  J-27, Blackberry and sibling Mako made some very exciting passes while they were foraging in the choppy water.  It was such fun to watch these incredible hunters as they chased the fish we could only imagine.

This afternoon we headed south and out through the amazing tidal currents in Cattle Pass.  On the west side we found water conditions that changed from calm to choppy, to calm, to dancing current and back to calm.  This time we found J Pod up past the lighthouse, and just as we arrived they seemed to group up, start rocketing south, then stopped and swirled around with some definite breeding behavior.  There were lots of tail slaps and pec slaps, and then the breaching began!  What a lot of Orca energy out there this afternoon!

As we continued north Granny and Ruffles cruised by as they headed out into Haro Strait.  On the way back to Friday Harbor we found lots of Harbor seals hauled out and two new pups near their moms.  There were Harlequin ducks bobbing about the rocky shore and a group of Pigeon Guillemonts.  The Mouflon sheep were grazing the side of Spieden Island and a pair of Bald eagles watched us from high in on a tree top.

Our ride down San Juan Channel was breezy and cool.  What happend to summer?  How did we switch back to hot chocolate weather so fast?

~Nan