I just got off the phone with Captain Brian who has just returned to Roche Harbor from his 11:00 whale watching trip. He said it was amazing! He reported that J-Pod and about 15-20 members of L-Pod were traveling south through Boundary Pass from Canada. By the time our trip went out, the whales were right outside of the harbor in Haro Strait. Captain Brian and Naturalist Kendall as well as their guests viewed the whales traveling south and had some up close and personal looks at the whales which is quite special and is something that cannot be planned for. It is a guideline for all boats to stay 100 yards away but in this situation, Captain Brian had situated himself at that distance but while the boat's engine was shut down, the whales had changed direction and headed right towards the boat. At that point, the whales became too close for Brian to turn back on his engine to move out of the way, so they had whales swimming underneath and around the boat. They were even able to see a female orca named Princess Angeline (J-17) and Brian and Kendall observed that she appeared pregnant so they contacted the Center for Whale Reserach and the Center had the same observation. We don't know for sure but we will find out in due time. For your information, the gestation period of an orca is 16-17 months.