Yeah yeah, cheesy title. What can I say, it's the end of summer..I'm running out of whitty titles :).
On to the whale encounters!
Captain Brian & Naturalist Tiffany had another “very awesome” whale watch, as Tiffany put it. The Sea Hawk met up with the Southern Resident killer whales near Beaumont Shoals, near the False Bay and South Beach area on San Juan Island. Tiffany said that they were traveling FAST!
They quickly determined the whales were Js and Ks, and surprisingly, L78 Gaia (male, born 1989). Tiffany and Brian said there was a TON of breaching, more than anything they’ve experienced before. Even the males were jumping around! J26 (Mike, born 1991) and J27 Blackberry (male, born 1991) each breached over and over. There was also lots of spyhopping.
Our guests got another great look at the new calf. K44, unofficially nicknamed Garcia, and his mother Deadhead swam right near the Sea Hawk. This travel group surprised everyone, and instead of motoring out of the way, Captain Brian shut down the Sea Hawk to let the whales pass. Little Garcia stuck out like a sore thumb! He’s still an orange-yellowish color, and will keep this color for several years.
The most interesting encounter on this whale watch, however, was when a killer whale “vocalized” above water. Well, it wasn’t really a vocalization, but more of a farting noise! This whale was farting and blowing raspberries from its blowhole. Ewww groooossse :).