September 30, 2011 Friday
Autumn has arrived, we’ve had a gale come through, yet the whales are still here looking for salmon! They had been in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, so I checked the tides and saw a strong 8.6 flooding tide, peaking around 6:30pm. I thought if they were going to stay in the Salish Sea, they would take advantage of the last of the currents to head up Haro Strait. I drove (by car) to the San Juan Island Westside Land Preserve at about 5:45pm, no Orcas, so I headed south to see if they were still milling about. Pulling over at False Bay, I spotted a trailing group of whales heading northwest! So I went back to the Hannah Heights area at 6:30pm, delighted to see the Killer Whales all spread in small groups, out in Haro Strait traveling northwest. After awhile I noticed a female with 2 youngsters stopped, just logging-resting at the surface. Then the whales up north turned and swam back, rejoining the other groups. I wonder if that female was a matriarch deciding they were going back south, enjoying the slack water, utilizing the ebbing tide?! The sun had set, light fading, 7:30pm now, yet I stayed until I couldn’t hear their strong breaths anymore. They were going out of sight and sound, time for me to go home too!
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