It was one of those classic Pacific Northwest day, grey, foggy, eerie making everything look a little more magical than they usually do. We had some rumors of some Southern Residents just off of Salmon Bank on the south end of San Juan Island, so that's where Sarah, Capt. Mike, and I headed with a boat full of great and enthusiastic people. The ride kept bringing images of the Black Pearl sailing through the ever shifting fog to mind especially when we passed the old schooner Spike Africa in the distance, "Pirates". Soon though the feelings of eeriness were replaced by those of excitement as the first few dark dorsal fins sliced through the fog. J and K pods! They were in so many different areas around the boat! Everywhere you looked there was a different family group either traveling or milling for their favorite food, Chinook salmon. We had the wonderful opportunity to follow a few family groups as they milled then breached then milled again and then we started to parallel one particular family, the J-19s. This family is one that has one of the new calves, J-51 the son of J-41, Eclipse. This family was sooo goofy they kept playing with each other, pushing against each other, and Eclipse at one point just stopped moving and started blowing bubbles with her blowhole, goofball. They played as a family pushing the new calf on top of their melons, started spinning under water and did several spyhops. We at one point cut the engine and dropped our hydrophone and got to listen to J pod speak for a while as we saw them goofing around. It was too much, There were whales on all sides playing with each other, breaching, spyhopping, and then a few spyhopped and started making vocalizations above the water...woah! Those were some magical moments. It's probably not the case but sometimes it's nice to think maybe they want us to join in on the fun too. We eventually had to take our leave of this little family party and let them drift back into the fog.
On our way back to Friday Harbor we stopped by Iceberg Point on Lopez Island and saw wait for it... SIX PUFFINS! These tufted puffins are one of my favorite birds in the area, They have black bodies, a white face mask, orange beaks and awesome, yellow feathers swooped back on their head. Their sort of like our penguins, beautiful birds and experts and fishing since they can swim super fast as they use their wings to both fly and swim.
Whale folks until next time,
Naturalist Erick
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris