Heading north out of Friday Harbor, Captain Craig, Andrew, our eager guests, and I crossed the Canadian boundary line in search of the elusive K Pod. Up until two days ago, K Pod had yet to show their beautiful black and white faces in our region. Once across the boundary line, we met up with a few K Pod members interspersed with J Pod members. It was great to see K Pod out and about!
After we left the group of J and K Pod, we decided to try our luck a little bit south where we intersected with a few L Pod members. Although the pods weren't all together, it was an amazing opportunity for our guests, as well as our crew, to see members of all 3 Southern Residents!
As of now, K Pod has 19 individuals in their pod, which makes them the smallest of the 3 resident pods found in the Salish Sea. The other two resident pods found here are J and L pod. J Pod has 26 members, and L Pod has 37, making L Pod the largest of the Southern Resident Community. Each year, researchers do a roll call to see who has returned, who hasn't, and if there are any new additions to the pods. As of July 1st, 2013, we have a total of 82 individuals!
Caitlin, Naturalist- M/V Sea Lion, San Juan Safaris