July 31, 2011

Our afternoon whale and wildlife tour took us to San Juan Island again, a common occurrence for our summer tours. There, we encountered members of J and K-pod socializing in the waters off of Pile Point. It was a fantastic encounter, highlighted by the sight of Granny (J2), the perhaps 100 year-old matriarch of J-pod. The vocalizations through our hydrophone were absolutely magnificent, as we heard examples of calls and echolocation. We had a wonderful pass from a large group of whales, and saw a spyhop from an inquisitive young calf. We concluded our excellent wildlife tour with a stop at the Chain Islets, where we enjoyed the sight of many harbour seals basking in the afternoon sun.

On the evening trip, we headed back to San Juan Island aboard the Orca Spirit, where we encountered orcas north of the historic Lime Kiln Lighthouse. Almost immediately upon arrival, our guests were thrilled as we witnessed a rare double breach! Two orcas breached simultaneously, followed immediately by another single breach. Following this thrilling encounter to start the trip, we made our way north to another large group of orcas travelling southbound. Amongst the group of orcas was the J16 matriline, consisting of mother J16 (Slick), daughters J36 (Alki) and J42 (Echo), and the striking mature male J26 (Mike). We had a great pass, and our guests were suitably impressed by the sight of the huge male. After a few more breaches from several more orcas, we headed back towards the harbour after another great evening of whale watching.