J pod returns to the Salish Sea and a minke on Salmon Bank

September 1, 2020 – Exciting news today – Our Southern Resident orcas from J pod came in from the ocean and were foraging in the early morning off of Eagle Cove on the southwest side of San Juan Island. The day before happened to be a rather somber day as many of us were acknowledging the fact that this was the first August on record where none of the Southern Residents were seen in the inland waters of the Salish Sea. No fish = no blackfish. The last time we saw J pod was when they showed up on July 4th and stayed for two weeks.

We began our trip heading south cutting inside of Turn Island passing a foraging great blue heron, some harbor seals and a bald eagle way up high in the trees. Winds were great for sailing and we made our way down the channel under sail until we reached Harbor Rock. The flood tide was beginning in Cattle Pass so we kicked in the engine to sail across to Kings Point to check out Deadman Island. There were many harbor seals resting on the rocks, black oystercatchers foraging and a bald eagle watching the tide go by. Crossing over to Whale Rocks we found many steller sea lions, cormorants and gulls making a raucous.

As we neared Salmon Bank we spotted a minke whale. A second one appeared in the distance lunging through a bait ball. While we were scanning wondering where it would pop up next, we were surprised when it popped up right alongside us near the bow. We had some great views, but decided to leave the minke whales to travel up the west side of San Juan Island to catch up with J pod who were also northbound heading away from us at this point.

The flood current moved us along quickly about 11 knots, but we didn’t catch them until we passed Lime Kiln Point State Park. When we arrived we saw a distant male orca who we heard was J27. Mother J22 and son J38 were foraging offshore and passed us going south. As we neared County Park we found a really nice social group including J31 with calf and youngest J pod member J56, J42 and sister J36, J46, J44 and younger sister J53. They were engaged in a cute “cuddle puddle” milling in circles, logging at the surface, spy hopping, with the young ones playing with one another. With the sun behind us we captured some beautiful “rainblows” when the orcas exhaled. We had our hydrophone in the water and heard really great vocalizations. Slowly we drifted up island together.

Coming south from Mitchell Bay was another large group including the J19’s, J35 with son J47, and all of the J14’s. It almost looked like they were waiting for the others to catch up to travel north with them. There were several tail slaps and more spy hops. Eventually they turned back north and headed to Open Bay for foraging. J39 showed up to join the others and was saw him do a cool half breach. Once the orcas reached Kellett Bluff they flipped back south, but it was time for us to keep going towards home. It was an incredible day and we were so happy to have had that sail with J pod today.