Sunday, served up another San Juanderful day.
Capt. Pete, Alex, and I headed toward the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is the major channel that connects the island to the North Pacific Ocean and all its glory. Lucky for us it was a calm day as we approached Middle Bank. This a shallower area in the strait where schools of fish love to gather due to the swirling currents that concentrate food in one place which is probably why when we got near we started to see some delightful dorsal fins slicing the waves. As we approached we saw that a group of J pod and K pod from the Southern Resident Killer Whales milling about a fishing! We ended up paralleling them for awhile and got to see the J-2's with Granny (J-2) and T'ilem I'nges (J-49) traveling close with each other again. It's been interesting to see these two the past few days travel with each other especially since J-49 is in the fourth generation of Granny's family! The K-14's also gave us some great looks as they scooted by. Soon though we had to scoot on home, but we stopped and saw some Steller Sea lions on the way and gawked at their 2500 lb of fur, fat, and flippers hauled out on the rocks.
Whale folks until next time.
Naturalist Erick
M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris