Whale Watching Report

Today the oldest members of J-pod were playing like little kids. We found J-pod south of False Bay today, spread out over several miles. They were heading south and we started out watching the leaders in the pod. The first orca we saw was J2, Granny. She swam over and did a big spyhop for us right off the bat! A few minutes later she followed that up with two breaches in a row! That's pretty good for an orca estimated to be 98 years old. Next we watched J8, Spieden for a while, and not wanting to be out-done she breached for us too. J33, Keet was also swimming nearby Spieden. Soon after Spieden's breach Granny breached yet again for a total of 3 breaches today! Later we cruised out into open water to watch J1, Ruffles, as he swam by himself. Captain Michael positioned us so he was lined up perfectly with Mount Baker as a backdrop. Right after that all of the orcas did a sudden change of direction heading right toward us, and out to the west. They were swimming very fast, presumably to meet up with L-pod orcas that were coming in from Canada. It was hard to leave the orcas, but our day wasn't finished yet. On the way back we spotted a minke whale that surfaced several times for us at close range. It was a fantastic day! Naturalist Bart Rulon