J Pod's Return Brings Us Into International Waters

Keeping the north western San Juan Islands to port (a.k.a. travelling around them, keeping them to our left side), we headed towards Turn Point on Stuart Island. After a few days of the orcas being out in the open ocean, we were excited to hear word that the orcas were back! We met up with members of J Pod, one of the pods in the Southern Resident Community (a pod is a family group of orcas), as they travelled past Turn Point headed toward Canada.
As we moved alongside J19, Sachi, and her young one, J41, Eclipse, we crossed into Canadian waters. This gave our guests the excitement of an international journey to go along with their whale watch tour. With North Pender Island not far off in front of us, we watched J26, Mike, pass behind our boat. As he travelled away, guests got a fantastic look at Mike's tall dorsal fin, which leans to the left. Male dorsal fins can reach up to six feet tall in their twenties. This is after they start to grow straight and tall, or "sprout," which happens to male whales during their teenage years.

It was yet another majestic day out on the water. Just as they had yesterday, the Cascade Mountain Range (particulary Mount Baker) provided a beautiful backdrop for our wildlife viewing.

Ashley, Naturalist