Today we traveled north into Canadian waters and caught up with about 7 or 8 members of J-Pod just off Point Roberts; coordinates: 48°56.97N, 123°10.25W. As we arrived on the scene the whales were quite spread out allowing guests to look in every direction and see at least one or two. Other than San Juan Safaris, Western Prince was the only other American boat who had made the trek to see the return of the residents and man was it a show! A few members of the pod were Lobtailling and a curious male even began Spyhopping to check out the scene. It really was amazing to see just how large these animals can be with only half of their bodies rising above the surface.
As we started heading back, we caught up with Western Prince who had 3 more members of J-pod traveling parallel to them. We got to ride alongside this group for a while longer, watching them rise and dive multiple times until we gained speed for the trek home. On our way into American waters we stopped at East Point, just off of Saturna Island, to see the enormous Steller Sea Lion’s hauled out and resting up for their own trek they soon have to make back to their rookeries.
What started out looking to be a gloomy rainy day, actually turned out to be one of the best days on the water!
Naturalist Tara, San Juan Safaris