Something's fishy...

With a report of Residents heading south from Turn Point, we cruised to the west side. Once on scene we had reports from other boats that there were Js & Ks already south of Lime Kiln Lighthouse. Fortunately out of the blue we saw a few dorsals south of Henry Island, but still north of the Lighthouse. At first the big male looked like J26, open V saddle patch...with the Orcas moving fast and spread out a little tough to confirm it. We were able to parallel a female that was offshore a bit, with an open patch, notch on the trailing side 1/3 from the top, and a nick at the base of her leading edge dorsal....L67. These little differences on the dorsal fin allow us to distinguish one animal from the next. According to the Center for Whale Research's updated guide, apparently L67 is ill as of 9/13. I don't know much about this...so I'm curious to learn more about how L67's health. As for that male, it leads me to believe perhaps it was her brother L78, Gaia....

Further south and offshore, we had great observations of L26 a 52 year old female doing some foraging with 15 year old daughter L90 and 13 year old grandson L92. It was really wonderful to watch these three work together, changing direction, arching on their deeper dives as they hunted for salmon.

The Orcas today were so spread out, we really had to make our way offshore before returning through Cattle Pass. On Whale Rocks we encountered one sleepy Stellar Sea Lion, the typical group of Harbor Seals hauled out, and downwind we experienced that pungent aroma of Gull and Cormorant guano! A few Stellar's swimming in the water, circling Whale Rocks and then we saw several Harbor Porpoise in San Juan Channel. No sign of rumored Transient Orcas in the channel, but we certainly did observe a plethora of active wildlife today!!

-Jaclyn Van Bourgondien, naturalist