Today I did a double shift, therefor this post will have double the images and double the text. We set out in the fog this morning towards Hanna Heights, San Juan Island. JKL pods returned last night around 6 pm as they had gone west for 3 days. I sure picked the perfect day to get out there. When we arrived in thick fog, we could hear blows almost immediately and before we knew it, a mother and calf porpoised passed us but then dissapeared again into the thick fog. This was my first time being out in such dense fog and it was quite a unique experience. We managed to tip toe our way north a bit where the fog was lighter, and cought wind of the action happening along the San Juan Island shoreline. Many animals were hunting, breaching, doing bellyrolls, cartwheels, spyhops, tail slaps and more. We could hear it very clearly however were in and out of visibility. Just as we departed, we caught a good glimpse of the animals multiple breaching.
This afternoon, the animals had travelled past Stuart Island and were heading into Boundary Pass in a sleeping pattern. WOW. The animals were traveling in tight family groups. We arrived on scene to find a huge group of L's and K's and caught some cartwheel action. They continued to swim very close to the shoreline. As they entered Boundary Pass several animals spyhopped, what a beautiful sight that was. J's then came down in their group and saw J1 & J2 matriline swimming closely together. They broke off and headed up Swanson Channel while the others grouped up into smaller groups and continued up Boundary Pass while exhibiting some wake up behavior. Just as we were leaving, one large group started to roll around on each other, tail slapping, belly rolling, breaching, lots and lots of socializing behavior. I noticed that in one of my photos (see above) that two tails are snug together facing one another. What a treat. We left the group and headed home. What an incredible day it was, welcome home southern residents, we sure missed you over the past few days!
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