J Pod!

Received word that the whales were off the west side of San Juan Island moving north. Since they were close by we were able to take our time looking for other wildlife! We stopped to see the Eagle chick on O'neill Island, still hanging in its nest....this one was born very late in the season and will probably not fledge for another few weeks. Then we were fortunate to see an adult bald eagle on Speiden Island as well as mouflon sheep, fallow deer, and sitka deer all out grazing.

As we approached Henry Island the J Pod was moving north across to Stuart Island. Great views...a tight subpod with a calf...the Orcas were spread out...we had J19 and J41 cross by our stern offshore of the others. Looked like almost the entire J Pod was there, maybe a few members further south where the other boats were. We paralled J1 and the other Orcas swimming close by to him till they were off of Turn Point, Stuart Island. Throughout this encounter, we had a few direction changes and one great look at J1 on a deeper dive foraging. There was some splash activity...a few breaches, more foraging, and tail slaps. As we rounded Turn Point, it seemed the pod had not quite decided which way to go....north through the Gulf Islands or northeast through Boundary Pass.

We returned through John's Pass, getting a few more good looks at Harbor Seals hauled out near the Cactus Islands, and Bald Eagles perched keeping an eye out for prey. To top it off we even saw the beautiful schooner Adventuress out with full sails as we entered Friday Harbor.

-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist