J17 & J44
Eagle Pt,
San Juan Island
May 18, 2009
Photo by
Jeff Almquist

May 18
Well, I wasn't too thrilled to be doing outdoor work in the rain today, but it sure paid off later! After getting completely soaked over on Stuart Island, I figured I'd head home via Haro Strait since it was so flat. As we rounded Turn Point, we saw an eagle diving with talons extended fully and try and grab a salmon (he missed). Then I got a call that J-Pod had slowly made it's way past Kellett Bluff (they were at False Bay early this morning, so they were definitely not in any sort of hurry! With only 2 boats within 10 miles of whales, it was very serene as the whales slowly meandered by. We saw J17 and new calf J44, as well as J30 Riptide doing very long dives. Even J1 Ruffles was easy to spot in the flat calm water well over a mile away! Blows would carry so far across the water that many times we'd hear the blow and turn to look for the whale and only see a footprint on the water. After watching for about 15 minutes, we were so thoroughly soaked through that we had to reluctantly head for the dock and the warmth of home. It was a gray and rainy J Pod day!
John Boyd (JB)., Marine Naturalist, SSAMN Member, Friday Harbor