OnBoard Tours Whales

J-44 & Family

May 15, 2009
A lovely, calm, sunny day on the water! From about 1:15pm to 2:15pm, we watched J-Pod very slowly swimming north across Open Bay, off of San Juan Island, against the ebbing tide.  They were bunched up into 2 close, tight groups. A beautiful sight to see all those fins coming up together and one after another, with glimpses of J-44 & J-45 tucked in the middle. Their yellowy-orangey patches really stand out! The Orcas seemed to be resting, almost treading water in the same area for quite awhile, then there was some tail lobbing from a few trailing whales and a surprise flash of a  “pink floyd”! Reports were of a few of K-Pod with J-Pod…
At about 2pm they seemed to wake up, changed direction heading fairly fast south, then they all dove for a few minutes, came up, turned back north, picking up speed as they swam toward Stuart Island. I can only imagine the ‘conversation’ that took place in deciding the directional changes! Lots of rotund harbor seals sharing space with 3 adult & 2 young eagles- feeding on a fish- on Sentinel Rocks, further awing our visitors with the diversity of wildlife that call the Salish Sea home!