Tuesday, May 5th

J-POD!

Today Captain Brad and I (naturalist Jenna), headed out on our afternoon trip in search of the elusive black and white whales known as orca. After having heard of whales being spotted yesterday morning but having to turn back on our afternoon trip due to bad weather, we were hopeful that the seas would be calmer in today and we would be able to find the whales again. Thus far this season they have eluded us, but we went out with our fingers crossed and sure enough we found J-pod near Eagle Point of San Juan Island. We were able to identify Polaris (J-28) thanks to the obvious nick in her dorsal fin. We also got to see Samish (J-14) and her new calf J-45. The group put on a good show with lots of tail slapping, a couple of breaches, and even a cartwheel! After the main group passed by we headed a bit farther off the coast where we spotted the oldest and most famous members of J-pod, Ruffles (J-1, est. 58 yrs old) and Granny(J-2, est. 98 yrs old!!). Ruffles really put on a great show with lots of surfacing and direction changes, obviously chasing something good! It was my first time seeing these beautiful creatures and I think the passengers enjoyed them as much as I did!