4-11-2024 What a wonderful surprise to first hear J Pod calls over the SMRU hydrophones located at Lime Kiln.  I wasn't there but since The Whale Museum has webcam and SMRU has the hydrophones...  Little did I know that J Pod was in two groups.  The first group had already passed County Park, going north and since I am a bit farther north of there I stepped out the door to listen for their blows.  Yes!  Awesome!  I could not see them and they were far offshore, so when their blows faded into the distance I went back inside and opened the web cam site:  ..read more

It started at about 4pm when faint calls were detected over the Lime Kiln Hydrophones. I went to the TWM web cam where I could hear and see at the same time. Right now it's 3 hours later and J Pod is still in the area. They did not appear to be close to shore as they came down Haro Strait. The web cam scanning was going on in attempts to locate the whales and after a while it did. Difficult to tell how far offshore but they seemed to be a mile or more (just a guess). At one point there were very loud echolocation clicks making it seem that some were in close. Could be or not.  The se ..read more

 TODAY - November 18, 2023 It's nice to be back on-line... have had to stay off since Sept 5th due to a concussion and a shattered left arm. Computer light and outdoor light too bright, and they still are. And confusion - yikes, that was awful. My arm will take the longest to heal. ...one day at a time ..still a long way to go. So I... LOOKED BACK TO November 18, 2021, 2 years ago. It was interesting to see that J, K, & L Pods came into the inland waters on that day and went north, which is what they did today. here is the link to that day's post https://whale-of-a-porpoise.blogspot.c ..read more

August - one day joy and the next shock & sadness. J Pod & the L12s were last seen in the inland waters on July 4th and last seen heading west in the Strait of Juan de Fuca on July 5th. K Pod & the rest of L Pod had not come all the way in to Haro Strait yet this season. Now, 8/17, members of J, K & L pods were incoming! It was mid-afternoon when they were seen coming up island toward Lime Kiln lighthouse. They didn't just pass by.  Instead for the next few hours there were very many energetic whales. It had been a long time since seeing such a large grouping with lot ..read more

 August 6, 2023 J Pod and the L12s came inland to Haro Strait at the end of June, as most are already aware.  The L12s have two calves, estimated to be a two to three months old. It was great to see all of J Pod too!  The L12s, as they have historically done, spent their time along the west side of the island and most often off the lower section of it, making it not easy to see them.  But they did come up to Lime Kiln lighthouse a time or two.  When they came in, J Pod continued north and spent time in the Strait of Georgia, as they usually do. On July 4th J Pod came b ..read more

The L Pod sub-group known as the L12s was seen with a new calf about a week ago off Tofino, B.C. Yesterday, June 29, J Pod and the L12s came in to the inland waters late in the day and went north into the Strait of Georgia, B.C.   Today, June 30, while researchers were looking for the new calf, they found that there isn't 1 BUT 2 new calves!   Read about and see images of the Center for Whale Research encounter on FB or their website or in the news!  It's great news and adds more hope for this population.  It's early and they have a lot of growing to do. We h ..read more

 ...far behind in posting, but had to add today's encounter with J Pod. J Pod came into the inland waters late in May and stayed for a few days.  They went north into the Strait of Georgia for a couple days and came back south.  They were energetic and actively chasing salmon when they came in and again on the last day they were here in early June.  (During their absence in the inland waters during most of June, several times a Humpback whale was seen. Not not sure how many actually came through or one or two who were changing direction and showing back up again! In additio ..read more

Since my last posting there was a long stretch of quiet for seeing the Southern Residents.  That all changed when they returned on May 30, in the dark of night and lucky for us, with lots of chatter in range of the Lime Kiln hydrophones. That changed quickly, when the next day after they had gone north the prior night, were already coming back down toward Haro Strait and hopefully they would come through Haro Strait and WOW!...they did! All afternoon on May 31, the whales did what is called 'the westside shuffle' spending the day going down island, up island, down island again and then la ..read more

All the way through May 8, Transient orcas have been in many places among the San Juan Islands, in Puget Sound, and north in Canadian waters. I saw them a couple times, missed them a couple times too. Here are images of two groups...actually one group was by themselves one day and then they were with the rest of their family the other day. This family hasn't been seen traveling together, at least when seen in the U.S. waters in many years. So the second day was pretty special, seeing them all together. While waiting, a vulture did a fly-over.  First day of the T65As. Some had grown al ..read more

 It was a crazy day attempting to see J Pod.  Some were seen coming up San Juan Channel from Cattle Pass and a few others were seen a good distance off South Beach area, in Haro Strait. The whales stayed basically out of view, to the north of the pass, for quite a while. Eventually those in San Juan Channel came south out of the Pass and appeared to be heading up island. I went to the Park hoping they would come up island.  Well, a few did ..read more