We left Roche Harbor out of Mosquito pass and came out into Haro Strait and were greeted by the matriarch of J-pod J-2, better known as Granny! Granny was leading J-pod south down through Haro Strait headed towards to Strait of Juan de Fuca. Granny was with her usual family subgroup consisting of J-37 (Hy'Shqa), J-40 (Suttles), J-45 (Se-Yi'-Chn), and J-49 (T'ilem I'nges). It is very common to see the whales travel in their smaller family subgroups. We then let Granny's family group pass us and then came across the J-17 family group with Princess Angeline as the matriarch of the subpod! This group consisted of females and immature males so they were pretty easy to identify with no fully grown male in the group. The J-17's continued to go South and we headed North towards Henry Island and came across the Cookie Clan! They are always a great group to see out on the water. We stayed with the Cookie Clan for a bit and got to see a bit of surface activity including spy hopping! Spy hopping is when the whale brings its head and possibly a portion of the pectoral fins out of the water in a vertical motion. Some people call it "people watching" because it gives the whales a good look at what is going on above the surface of the water. After we spent some time with the Cookie Clan we headed to Spieden Island to get a look at some harbor seals that were hauled out on the rocks. We even spotted a bald eagle's nest on the way there and saw a few in flight. It was a beautiful day out on the water with some great looks at J-pod and the other wildlife in the San Juan Islands!
Rachel
Naturalist, M/V Sea Hawk